Always greater than 40 mpg in highway driving. I have no issues without the undercover off since the first free dealer oil change almost 3 years ago.

 

supposed to be a snowy winter this year here in the northeast , we'll see how the shield holds up .i'm going keep using the original hardware as long as i can , i think the shield is keeping the engine compartment pretty clean compared to all my previous cars , but yea , not a great design . i wonder much more substantial the shields are in the more expensive hondas ?

 

What is this "snow" you speak of?

Not much of that here in Louisiana, though our cars do make trips up to Pennsylvania and other snowy places. Here we have had a couple of months with astonishing and record-setting rainfalls, one with eight inches per hour. Drainage systems all over town were overwhelmed and hundreds are cars were trapped in rising water. We got caught out in one of those incidents and briefly drove through 2-4" of water. I suspect that may have contributed to the cover coming loose.

I still believe it was missing or improperly tightened fasteners, particularly the two on the leading edge, that caused our initial problem. After driving various cars up north, I seems to me that engine bays accumulate more settled spray from slush and salted roads than they do from just rainy conditions. I would try to keep the shield intact if at all possible. There is so much more electronic equipment under the hood now, with more connectors, harnesses, and devices, and none of that will be easy or cheap to fix.

 

It's a good reminder to:

• torque the bolts
• keep spare replacement (plastic) fasteners handy

for those that are changing oil or having to access systems behind the removable panel. I'm keeping my panel in place only because I've witnessed: (a) my oil pan peeled open on my 1994 Civic VX from flying debris that was on the Interstate that I couldn't avoid and (b) tools that fell off a truck and took out our lead driver's oil pan on an RX-8 during a rally. That panel is there for protection and lower aerodynamic drag reasons.

 

I've read enough on this forum that it sounds like the aftermarket plastic grommets aren't as robust as Honda's square peg in a round hole design. Zipties seems like the better option - plentiful, easy to add and cut, easy to check to see if installed (if you keep the tails hanging, and the like.

 

You know, if the cover frustrates you guys you can leave it off. The ge fits don't get one in the U.S. But they do elsewhere. Honda figured us service departments aren't responsible enough to reassemble the car properly if its in a place the customer can't see. Yes, the lower engine will wear faster when exposed to water. But it's all thick steel stuff down there, surface rust for the most part

 

The splash guard threads and posts have the most traffic in this forum, ever. Honda should fire the guy who came up with the attach idea. However, I have never had any problems with mine. It came off and stayed off since the first oil change.

 

Once my splash shield was taken off by something on the road 3 or 4 years ago I've never put it back on. I haven't noticed any drop in gas mileage. But that's just me.

 

The "splash" shield is mostly there to help fuel economy.

 

Yea, it's one of those great idea to spend $$$ for replacement fasteners and headaches to save a few cents in gas even though there is no data to prove it.

 

I still believe the splash shield was designed to help underbody airflow and maybe give a slight increase in fuel economy, but I've come around to thinking it doesn't actually provide a noticeable benefit. Mine was torn off getting high centered on a pile of snow, and in the months since the car seems to act exactly the same. I'm not buying a replacement since the mileage hasn't changed enough for me to tell.

 

Honda wouldn't have spent the R/D to have that shield unless it had a benefit, whether it was aerodynamics or weather/debris protection. Mine is still in place and hopefully will be for a while as I'm the only one that removes it for oil changes.

 

I agree. On some of the car review shows on YouTube they lift a new car up on a hoist to look at the underside and many of them now have these panels on the underside. That's a lot of cars form different manufacturers. The panels are mostly metal too which I think makes fastening them with sheet metal screws a necessity since plastic push pins aren't likely to hold because of the weight. The reason mentioned for these panels seems to mostly be air flow and fuel economy.

 

I see those beautiful engine covers when I open the hoods. I bet they are super functional too. Which car has the best looking one?
OK, those under covers are probably a little more useful, but not enough for me to keep it in place. For the sake for speedier oil change, which I do quite often, I preferred to have it off.

 

Go to NAPA and get some good replacement plastic fasteners. It's a common size/diameter.