Greetings,

I am thinking ahead to next winter and I'm wondering if it will be necessary to have an engine splash shield to protect the car from road salt since I live in MN. My new purchase does not have the splash shield but I would assume its not needed in Texas where the car originated from. Looking around it looks like they're relatively inexpensive at about $60. I don't want to buy it though if its going to be useless and just a pain when I want to work on the car underneath. It has 18 bolts which sounds like thats going to add 10 minutes to every undercarriage job.

In addition to this I'll be painting whichever exposed metal I can find under the car this summer to prevent rust. I've heard POR 15 is a good paint to use for this purpose.

 

I would get it no matter what climate you live in. It plays a significant role in the aerodynamics of the vehicle. Plus, you only ever need to completely remove it if you’re doing more extensive services on it... for stuff like oil changes you dont need to take it off anyway.

 

i wanted to get rid of mine, lol. my dakota had it & i just took that off to make oil changes easier. i end up taking mine off every oil change so i don't get any oil caught in the cracks. i keep putting it back since i figured it can affect the aerodynamics (not sure what kind of impact it would have)

 

I think it is for aerodynamics...I would want it in place, but yes it's a pita to bend the plastic back for the oil changes....why not put a hinge (plastic) and make a trap door? lol

 

That’s exactly how mine is setup, I figured it was from the factory... not everyone’s has a door for oil filter access??

 

the reason i took it off & left it off on my dakota was b/c of the oil changes. it has a trap door for the oil drain & also to access the oil filter. but if you don't take it off of that, it still just spills onto the splash guard and makes a mess later. actually on my truck it still spills onto the frame after oil starts dripping when the oil filter is removed. so even if the LS had a trap door, i think it could potentially still make a mess.

 

For whatever reason (cost I guess) Toyota is ok with flexing the plastic out of the way. I forget now but I think the front lift point is the same just do it with the plastic in place. My other car looks like this which I think makes more sense.

 

My original plash pan got damaged due to road debris and the OEM was super expensive to replace. I had an aftermarket replacement for about $50. The OEM had a section that you could drop down for oil changes, but the aftermarket requires the complete removal. Regardless, it's the best idea to keep one in place to avoid excess water and also some protection. Why would you want your under carrage to be exposed anyway?

 

The engine splash guard forms the bottom-half of a giant air funnel. It allows cool air to enter the engine bay through the front of the vehicle and creates a path which forces air movement to reach the upper portion of the engine bay. Without it, cool air enters through the radiator and flows unrestricted out to the bottom of the engine - in effect, cooling only the bottom half of the engine bay.

 

Could anyone link a good splash guard for a rust-belter owner like me?

 

They are about $40-45 on ebay with free shipping. Then you gotta find the bolts if it doesnt come with them.

I think its super important to run, keeping salt and water and moisture off all of your engine acc. will help everything last long (serp belt esp) and keep your engine bay cleaner.

 

Interesting, I never thought about the aerodynamic aspect of an engine splash guard, nor the cooling aspect. I ordered one from an auto parts store for $36. They're having an online sale for 15% off orders over $30. I also ordered the bolts from mylparts which was about $30. So $66 in total for the shield and bolts, which is pretty good really. I called the Lexus dealer to ask for the part numbers for the hardware/bolts. Here they are:

Part Number: Quantity:
90159-60477 5
90159-60507 13
90189-06066 4
90189-06208 2
90179-05060 2

I only ordered the first two part numbers which is only the bolts. The rest are grommets and such. Hopefully I wont need the grommets..

 

Youll notice it will make the car even quieter when running.

 

Agreed.. After I did my TB last year, I drove the car for a day without the splash shield and could tell the difference. For the small investment in a replacement shield, you'll be happy it's on there...

 

I installed the splash guard that I ordered from the auto parts store (rhymes with apvance potto) and it hardly fit properly. I had to drill my own holes in the new splash guard to make it work. Not sure if its going to help or hurt my aerodynamics, but either way its good piece of mind knowing it'll protect my under engine bay. If I were to order another splash guard I would go with one thats a little more expensive so it'll actually fit.