Just Lost my engine shield

first i've heard of that. is it part of the oil change door flap?

 

Here is a parts diagram with parts numbers of the suspension crossmember and Under Cover for the 2010 Prius.

 

At the dealer, it will cost you $300 plus........OUCH!

 

Did some road debris cause it to pop off? If so, insurance would cover it (collision if the debris was stationary on the road, comprehensive if it was airborne). However, your deductible might be more than the price of the replacement part.

 

You're in Maryland. I'm in Northern VA. I do most of my own maintenance. Check Midatlantic Toyota Parts website. They're in Richmond. I replaced the under cover for my 2007 Prius and all mounting hardware for a very reasonable price, about 1/2 what local dealer wanted. Also got air, cabin & oil filters; gaskets for transaxle coolant and ATF drain plugs. Good site to find your part numbers. Shipping costs reasonable on this light stuff.

 

Can't hurt to comparison shop and take the best deal. I had to replace mine because of one too many parking blocks I went a little too far forward over.

 

Only problem: The flap is a flap. It's not a separate part, it's just a thinner bit of plastic on the undercover that makes a hinge, so the cut-out area acts like a door.

There's people around here who have cut off the flap at the thin piece of plastic area and, with pop rivets and a trip to Home Depot for some hinge material, have made the thing into a true door. Others just curse under their breath and leave the panel as is. And there's been semi-documented cases where oil change people have ripped it off by hand rather than play plastic fastener bingo. But since the flap is missing, you're out of luck. Unless you want to fabricate one from scratch, possible, I guess.

There's been arguments back and forth about how necessary that panel is. My thought: The Prius engine compartment is sort of designed to retain engine heat, the idea being that the engine has to be kept warm so when it turns on and off it meets EPA requirements, not to mention it's more efficient when it's warm. That panel does something about keeping air flow off the engine, so I'd argue that keeping a closed door in there improves gas mileage some. It probably matters less on long trips in warm weather since the engine would be running constantly anyway, but more in cold weather and short trips since it's then when it'd be more difficult to keep the engine hot.

Mine door started scraping shortly after an oil change at one dealer, then started grinding along badly whilst traveling the Garden State Parkway. Ripped it off by hand at that point, took the car to another dealer, and kvetched about dealer maintenance since, the last time I had seen the door (after changing my own oil), said door had been in good shape. They gave me a little argument, then replaced it for free. Around that time there also was a TSB on the undercover, presumably about busted doors and things being misshapen in general. Since the 2010 I had was subject to the TSB they probably got a refund from Toyota for the work.

I note that the door is arranged so the hinge is towards the front of the car, the opening being towards the rear. That means that if the obvious happens, like, say, somebody forgetting to put the plastic fasteners on, the wind stream would tend to keep the door closed without things dragging on the ground. The fact that the doors on my car, another Prius I spotted from a distance with their door dragging (funny that one can see under a car from the rear if one's far enough back), and others on this forum were all hanging down like an air scoop implies that the doors broke free either when the the car last saw maintenance (i.e., idiot oil-changing person, probably most likely) or it somehow just snapped standing there (a lot less likely). The idea that the door got damaged by running over a road hazard, unless it was a really significant road hazard, doesn't seem that likely to me, given the amount of flex the underpanel has.

Good luck!

KBeck

 

Have you checked ebay for the part?

 

I replaced the clips with rivet nuts and stainless steel metric Phillips machine screws.



http://www.carolinarovers.info/croc-stuff/tips/259-make-your-own-rivnut-tool

 

I wouldn't worry about it. My oil change door was absent when I bought my Prius (66k mi). I haven't missed it.

 

Won't see it. I've looked for 18 months.

Some overseas company could make it cheap, but they would have to make a lot of them to justify the molds. Then, again, it could be vacuum formed on a wood or plaster mold.

 

My Prius was missing the oil pan cover/door when I bought it. I took a piece of sheet aluminum and made one. Snip, snip, bend, drill holes, done. It's fastened with machine screws through some of the original factory holes already present underneath the car.

The aluminum replacement part actually "stiffens" up some of the adjacent factory plastic panels so they don't flop/flex as much.

I have to remove 4 machine screws to take it off. I change my own oil/filters.

 

I used the same approach with a slightly different insert.

 

The two large holes that take the large clips with the grey center are exactly 9mm in diameter and takes the 9mm OD of the rivet nut inserts perfectly without drilling.

One of the large clips hold the trailing edge of the permanently fixed edge of the bottom panel and the other one fixes the main part of the door flap.

Just replacing these two clips and using a 20mm long M6x1.0 screw and 1/4 inch fender washers is a great improvement. Practically, this will keep the flap of the door from ever coming loose and drag on the pavement. Even if the two other clips on the door pops out and are lost, the one screw will keep the door from dropping on the pavement. That's about a cheap $10 bit of insurance.