Driving my son to college this morning and all of a sudden there was a terrible noise coming from under the car. I wasnt going fast, I had just turned into the college entrance and everyone stopped to see what the noise was, anyway I drove it a few more yards to get clear of the entrance and got out expecting to find the exhaust hanging off. Turned out to be a huge piece of plastic trim hanging down in the front of the car. I couldnt actually pull it off so I pushed it back up and drove home carefully.

This is the result of the damn speed bumps from hell that seem to multiply and grow taller every time I go out. I have noticed the bottom of the car scrape a few times as I have gone over them recently and it makes no difference how slow I am going or how carefully I tackle them, and my car isnt lowered either.

I guess I am going to have to jack the car up and get under there to see if I can secure it. Its never a good time to have stuff fall off the car but my eldest son is getting married on Saturday in Cardiff and I dont want stuff falling off when Im dressed up in killer heels and false nails and going down the M4. Not happy

That'll be your under-tray.

Well worth getting refitted securely as they're expensive to replace if ever actually lost.

I bet it is the engine undertray.

Speed bumps are rediculous, one used to catch the sump on my old Bravo no matter how slow you went. After a four or five times I had to start driving a different route. That car was on standard suspension

I'd have to say it makes a hell of difference on how well they're fitted.

I had lots of problems with mine at one time (touching speed bumps) but after the main dealers refitted it correctly, with better fittings, it's been a lot better.

Half the problems seem to come from sloppy servicing when garages (or owners) don't refit it properly most likely due to losing screws etc.

I have a horrible feeling I am not going to like the response I get to this but here goes.

I jacked the car up and found that the plastic that had dropped down was a rectangular piece that sits along the underside of the car from the front bumper back to where the wheel arch ends. There was a missing screw. I dont have one that size so I have improvised with some wire for now. The thing is, there is one on the other side the same size but nothing sitting between them. I am guessing this engine shelf that you are talking about is supposed to be in the middle? I can see the engine and my shiny new gearbox from the underside of the car.

I went and checked my sons car expecting to see something there that isnt on mine and his is exactly the same. So do we both have missing engine under trays?

I wouldn't be too concerned Fiona,

Many of the cheaper models (1.2, 1.4 etc) never had under-trays in the 1st place although to add some confusion I think at least some of the very earliest did.

The side trays (your problem by the sound of it) were fitted to ALL models

Thanks Argo, I just called the place that did my gearbox to see if they had forgotten to put it back on but they said there wasnt one. However they did tell me to take it back and they would secure the loose bit (side tray).

Mines only got the two side trays, nothing in betwen. Nothing to worry about

The complete undertray is made up of 3 seperate parts. A curved section on each side screwed to the car body and a flat section screwed at the front below the bumper and also screwed to both of the side curved sections. It sounds as though you only have the right hand (driver's side) and middle sections.

If you need to buy any new sections, all 3 sections were modified during February 2004 and the individual sections currently available from from Fiat will not fit onto earlier sections. Fiat's solution to this is that if you need any one section for a pre February 2004 car, you have to buy all 3. The right hand section is about £55. The left hand section is about £35 and the center section is about £120.

If you choose to get any individual sections from a breakers, they would need to be from a car that is the same side of the modification date (Feb 2004) as your car. There are also different versions for different engines. 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 are the same but 1.9 and 2.4 are both different.
.

Thanks for that info Davren. I actually have the two side pieces but nothing in the middle, same on my sons car. I will make sure the side parts are secure but aside from that I will leave it. I have spent in the region of £1000 on this car since buying it in June and I have the MOT coming up in December. If its not an essential or a legal requirement its not going to get done. I have way too many other expenses right now.

Argonought said:

I wouldn't be too concerned Fiona,

Many of the cheaper models (1.2, 1.4 etc) never had under-trays in the 1st place although to add some confusion I think at least some of the very earliest did.

The side trays (your problem by the sound of it) were fitted to ALL models

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Only problem with not having them is that there's a slight chance that road debris could get into the auxilliary drive belt. If that belt broke, bits of it could get into the timing belt and cause that to break.

Hopefully it's only a slight chance, because my center section has been missing since I bought the car 2½ years ago.

FionaB said:

Thanks for that info Davren. I actually have the two side pieces but nothing in the middle

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Davren said:

my center section has been missing since I bought the car 2½ years ago.

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I think there must be a lot of garages dotted around the country with stolen Stilo undertrays in their rubbish bins.

more than likely kwik fits have them all cos they cant work out how to put them back on after unscrewing the fixings with a hammer.

Davren said:

I think there must be a lot of garages dotted around the country with stolen Stilo undertrays in their rubbish bins.

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I am a bit lucky my current 1.8 96' Bravo still has its undertray. Its the first one ive seen on any Classic Bravo/Marea.

As someone already mentioned, not all Stilos have the whole area protected by a cover. As your car, FionaB, is an early model (non-facelift) & not a diesel (which more often seem to have covers) i would bet it never had a cover over the middle section. I presume the fitment of the covers is engine and/or age-dependant and not dependant on trim level (Active, Dynamic etc).

With even something like engine covers varying so greatly in design and presence on Stilos, it's no wonder the car nearly made Fiat go under - they must've spent a fortune will all these different parts (gearboxes & headlights are another minefield that springs to mind).

I can confirm the thing about the 3 parts that need to be bought because I went up a pavement border that was kind of high and hit it till I was feeling resistance when pulling forward. The girl I was in the car with at the time said it's no problem look at all the cars next to it, how did they get there... We went out and when we came back, out of curiosity, I checked underneath and center piece took the right piece down with it and everything was sticked to the border. Still she was convinced the car was fine. Then I told her to have a look for herself at what happened because there was obviously no way I could reverse it, and she called my car crappy because it's not as high as "all the others".

A few hints about what happened next:

- she phoned a friend
- she took some wire out from somebody's house
- girls were holding the sun shield in the headlights, surrounded by complete darkness so I could secure the center piece to the right piece by wire :yum:
- no second date

2 days later went to the dealers, they said all the pieces need to be changed (not the center one). I told them no, just secure it, and of course they did a sloppy job and if more than one person is sited in the car I scrape it on the slightest of pot holes.

One of my neighbours has just told me that some of the speed bumps have already been lowered because BUSES were getting stuck on them!

vladof said:

A few hints about what happened next:

- she phoned a friend
- she took some wire out from somebody's house
- girls were holding the sun shield in the headlights, surrounded by complete darkness so I could secure the center piece to the right piece by wire :yum:
- no second date

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Hi i have sourced them under trays and soon will have them for sale complete 3 pcs set at circa £85 + PP just wondering if any of u guys here will be interested as i can see many of them is missing on our cars.
Chers

I would be interested in a set for a 04 plate jtd mw at that price too.