The Mechanic I asked about it discouraged me from getting it done, implying that it wasn’t worth it. But I don’t think he is a Honda expert.

For what it is worth, I live where there snow through a significant minority of the winter.

I’ve been seeing conflicting opinions. Any insight is appreciated.

 

My mechanic said the same. Mine didn't come off, just loose, a couple times, and he said folks just take them off when this happens multiple times.

 

Many people leave it off, some just hold a battered one in place with zipties. Definitely wouldn't be a bad idea since you likely live in a place that gets road salt. The block and oil pan, being aluminum, won't be hurt, but all the fasteners everywhere else will seize in there and cause headaches down the road.

 

The under engine shield will provide protection against road crap including salt being thrown up into the engine compartment as has been pointed out. It will also probably provide slightly better fuel economy by smoothing out the air currents under the car which was probably Honda's intent..

However the shield is a pain to maintain and without it there might be better airflow through the engine compartment and out the bottom, cooling engine components including maybe the battery.

Your decision. Flip a coin. It would have been nice if Honda had done a little better job designing and manufacturing that thing.

 

when mine fell off I never replaced it. one thing to ponder... it is NOT a sealed cover so the benefits claimed of preventing road salt and other gunk from affecting fasteners and other components is without merit. as with all other underbody covers I've seen, they actually trap the bad stuff where you simply don't want it. I have an 18 Accord and HAD a 15 FIT. When I change the oil on the Accord and changed the oil on the FIT all I can remember is how incredibly dirty the 'shielded' areas are/were. That and getting eyefuls of sand and dirt when removing them is/was a pain, literally. my suggestion... don't waste your money. as others have said, the only benefit I can see if that of providing better airflow under the car and that you'll never notice.

 

My engine shield partially fell off, then was half ripped off on highway. The balance was ripped off on the highway a month later. Then the shield under the center of the car came loose. Zip tied it. Then the left wheel well liner came loose at front (same attachments as engine shield). The fender liner fell down in the front, the wheel drove over it. This ripped it completely out.

Ordered new engine shield and fender liner from Amazon. Replaced them at the same time I replaced the broken fog lamp. They are all interconnected - some shields mount to each other, some to the body.

Engine was a lot dirtier without the shield. Since I am an expert in utilizing my imagination, I think my gas mileage went down by 2-3MPG.

End result - Honda knows more about engineering than I do. So I replaced the shields.

 

Mine fell off a few years ago. Been running without it since then. Makes it easier to drive over speed humps.

 

Bet all those losing the shield had the Honda Fit worked on by someone else and not a DIY. So if you had someone else worked on your car, they probably didn't care too much about the shield and just slap it back on without properly securing it back.

 

i have religiously preserved the shield....with a bunch a zapsrtapts or "well nuts: as i have done. skated trough a giant puddle on highway 1.....may have been worse without...do you.!!

 

The plastic push pins which secure the rear of the shield should be replaced every time the shield is removed but I'll bet that never happens. Those things fail quickly if you re-use them. I do that every time I do an oil change and my shield is on as solidly as when I bought the car.

 

Hello. What size push pin do you use for the rear?
please and thank you for your comment

 

Push pin size is defined by the size of the hole that they are intended to fit. In the case of the Fit bottom panel the holes are 10 mm in diameter so you need push pins intended to fit that 10 mm opening. If you do a search on Amazon for "car push pins" you'll see a wide variety in different sizes listed. I just bought a package of the one size although multi-size kits might come in handy since these may be used elsewhere on the car (eg bumper area) in other sizes. They are also fairly common fasteners on many cars, not just the Fit.

 

Thank you woof for such a great and timely answer
yes. I have had difficulties as many others have had with the fasteners not working for our beloved Fits
this is the only glitch I have ever had with ownerships of Hondas since 1973

 

I track our mileage religiously, it definitely saves some gas, and keeps the engine a little more safe from road debris as well.

Mine is in pristine shape still, mostly because I have done all my own work so far, and I did upgrade the rear hardware to some nicer stuff.

 

Honda went to the trouble and expense to design, manufacture, and install it. It should be there. Unfortunately, they let an idiot design the rear attaching points - small plastic screws. We've had four Fits, and every one of them has had those plastic screws fail. They get to the point where they just spin and cannot be removed without using force. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

 

For example? I used (I don't know the name) a pin with a safety clip through it.

 

I bought push pins that fit other places on the car, but they are too small for those holes at the rear of the pan. I'll measure them.

I ordered these. The set includes both long and short 10mm pins.
More choices -

10mm -
These say Fit Bumper 2007 - 2010 -

 

Just bought a 2019 Fit. The sides of this shield are present but the center is missing. It made the oil change much easier. Still, with the amount of road salt (mag chloride mostly around here) I am wondering if replacing it would make good sense. You all have given my both sides of the argument nicely, thank you. I found one at Carparts.com for $71 after shipping. Looking at it, the center looks to be riveted to the sides, implying that the entire panel needs to be removed to do an oil change. Can anyone confirm that or correct my assumption that the center panel is not easily removed from the sides?

 

Mine was missing when I bought the car, didn't know it was supposed to have one until signing up for the forums here...bought it used , built new in Jan '15, bought used in June '16 ... never seemed worth the trouble to dick around with it and replace. Can't miss what I never had

 

Yes, it must be removed. There are about half a dozen Phillips head screws around the edge, with two stupid plastic screws at the rear. I just bought a set of plastic push pins to use in place of those plastic screws. They say that 10mm is the correct size. I painted the Phillips screws yellow to make them easy to see.

Splash shield - =2019&vehicle[make]=Honda&vehicle[model]=Fit&vehicle[submodel]=EX&vehicle[cylinders]=4&vehicle[liter]=1%2E5]CarParts.com - Discount Auto Body Parts Online, Cheap Aftermarket Parts

The splash shield retaining clips that Carparts lists do not fit the Fit. 😢