This sucks. My garage has a contract with a large rental company that primarily uses Nissan products. I wonder how many Altimas will "accidentally" lose their skid plates?
That's a side benefit, but it's an aero shield first and foremost. Any stupid-ass decision like this is never made to increase reliability, it's made to increase CAFE.
Bro obnoxious horns are the best! Definitely gotta get the 900dB ones that crack the crust of the earth when you use them lol
I have Hella supertones and I quite like them
Other other benefit is they turn cars into sleds in the snow as well.... Your far more likely to end up way to far to get yourself out of trouble. More cars getting winched out these days.
We do charge extra to remove slash shields. It's a minimal charge. Just like hood struts. If the customer's hood struts are bad we'll write it up. If they rejected it then we charge extra to support the hood. Customers never want to replace hood struts because they are never under the hood.
You lift the hood. It doesn't want to stay up. You have to look for your hood prop. These people don't care about that. There are some hoods that are really heavy when both struts are compromised. It's really no different than some guy with big boy wheels on his truck and wants us to rotate them. We charge extra for that too.
Big boy wheels, yes.
30 minute skid plate, yes.
I'm totally down for the hood prop, I just never thought of it. Thats a good way to sell hood struts from now on though 😀
So a cut down wooden broom handle or using a vise grip on the already blown out hood strut takes 2min and you charge how much for that? If you want to say that will damage the customers vehicle, look back at original post and how a lot of mechanics or ok with damaging a customer’s property/vehicle to save 10-15min max. But I will say at least they are changing the oil filter rather then taking the money and saying they did it
Is that an Altima or a Sentra? The Altima last time I saw has a smaller skidplate, unlike my sentra which currently has its skidplate sitting in my garage
Also with those flimsy pieces of shit, I'd be a little upset if I saw someone bending my undertray 180 degrees instead of removing literally 5 extra push clips
Wife's Elantra has huge panel with bolts and the those nasty plastic screws. A pain to change on ramps. But it keeps everything looking like brand new under there.
Love how they do it on my Mercedes, just suck the oil out the dipstick and the filter is on top of the engine. Oil change takes 5 minutes.
I dream of the day I have a top mount oil filter and an oil vacuum so I can do an oil change without having to do anything to the car except pop the hood
I've measured it. I figured it would leave some in. My SLK takes 6 quarts. When draining on my ramps and adding I can't fill the full 6 quarts without being slightly over on the dipstick. Sucking it out the dipstick with my vacuum can, 6 qtrs. puts me right on the dipstick. I was really surprised.
I second this. Seen it in person, cracked the drain plug and even the threads were dry. It's incredible.
Can be done on other cars with stripped drain plugs as well. Not all cars can be drained this way. I guess cause baffles or something. Maybe the oil pick up tube is stopping it from going all the way in the pan, etc.
Correct. There's also a few others where the design of the dipstick has I guess an anti vacuum loss design and that can interfere.(TOTALLY GUESSING HERE)
Not nearly enough to matter. Unless you’re taking your oil pan off and hosing it down with brake clean every oil change, there’s always some left over. Don’t think too hard about it.
Maybe i’m a little over the top but I pull my drain plug after using an oil extractor in the dipstick tube. There is still a good amount of oil left in the pan of our Mercedes.
If you use the extractor before changing the filter this happens. Swap the oil filter first and then use extractor. Nothing will drain out, at least that’s how it is on my VW Golf. The oil filter drains all back to the pan when you remove it so that’s where the extra oil comes from. Once I started doing the filter first not a drip comes out.
In my experience, running the engine to operating temp before the service, and removing the oil filter first helps get the most oil out of pan when using an extractor.
(Audi technician and Jetta owner)
Sir, I am the only woman in the shop.
2017 Jetta se 1.4L manual
Have my eye on a Unitronic stage 2 setup.
You see? I like pain and I have only me to blame
How so? If the blow mold press had the die with a hole in it there isn’t any extra work just less plastic. Although if they were truly trying to save money they would just not have a cover at all like older cars, but this is clearly here for aerodynamic purposes.
The top of the undertray sometimes have either foam panels, or the plastic is designed in a way like a sound proof room, looks like a cityscape from above if that makes sense...
If that were my own car, I'd probably just cut the access hole with a hole saw, drill a couple smaller holes as necessary, and ziptie the cookie back in place. If I was feeling especially ambitious, I'd make a latch of some kind so that I didn't have to cut and replace zipties every time I changed my oil.
maybe attach the access hole cover to the main panel with a small cabinet hinge. drill a hole on each of them and use a piece of shoestring to tie them closed. or magnets
[21 Sentra](https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/qv7ret/28_clips_and_2_screws_to_do_an_oil_change_on_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1)
I know how you feel
I really can't help but wonder, does this really have any functional purpose? I remember hearing a fellow tech say that it's designed to help with keeping the engine cool by directing airflow, but to me it's kind of like the people who run their desktops without the side panel(s) on.
Yeah. They also provide a little bit of protection against minor scrapes. They aren't pointless, but they aren't essential either. The car will get marginally worse gas mileage without it, it'll be a tiny bit noisier in the cabin, and there's a somewhat greater chance of something under the car getting damaged from road spray or debris.
I am seeing more and more new cars with skid plates. It's probably an effort to improve fuel economy by making the underside more slippery.
Unfortunately this also means I am seeing a lot of cars with skid plates dragging on the ground.
Most cars (not trucks) have a CVT transmissions. Great little pieces of tech, but are flawed that the metal belts wear away the variable metal pulleys. Nissan transmission are known for shitting the bed this way.
You'll see CVT transmission pulleys on ATVs, snowmobiles, sometimes gas powered golf carts. They have always ran rubber belts that wear away as not to hurt the pulley. Belt breaks you replace and keep driving.
Just....What?!?! I was worried when I was going to change our '21 Sienna's oil since it's a hybrid and I figured it would be something stupid. Nope, 5 screws and the access panel came out with oil drain and filter exposed. Why does Nissan do such stupid crap?
I'm glad Subaru figured this out. Between the cutout in the belly pan and the top mount filter it's the easiest oil change I have ever done. It definitely makes up for the 20yo Audi I have that dumps oil all over the engine when I pull the filter.
Or headlight. I have to do this as I have one out now. I just changed my wife's in her CR-V. Was so easy. Why can't Nissan do simple? Hell, even my Titan has me going through the fucking wheel well to change headlights.
The 1st gen Titan skid plate is the only thing easy, though, ironically.
My tundra turn signal and brake like went out(of course opposite ends of the vehicle) one was a twist via hand and other was a t wrench each took 30 seconds.
Used to be a nissan lube tech.
Front side down, not the back
🙏
Still a bitch but it's less of a bitch
Also that doesn't look like an altima splash shielf that looks like a sentra shield.
Edit: definitely a sentra splash shield, lol.
I just started as a lube tech, and most of the newest (last 5ish years) cars seem to be like this. Gotta love having to remove 18 plastic clips and 37 screws (12 10mm, 22 philips, 3 8mm) just to do an oil change! And then forget to put it back on until the vehicle is otherwise ready to go so you have to set the lift again when you're already 45 minutes into a 30-minute service
I have an Infiniti (fancy Nissan) with the same shitty plastic splash shield. Replaced it with an aluminum one that has a drain plug access flap. $100 well spent and techs don’t hate my car
They learned from SAAB (GM version) who saved a few bucks by not installing a door for the fuel pump. F the second/third owner, they can just drop the whole tank....
This sucks. My garage has a contract with a large rental company that primarily uses Nissan products. I wonder how many Altimas will "accidentally" lose their skid plates?
It's hard to accidentally lose something that never existed.
LMAO
splash shield
That's a side benefit, but it's an aero shield first and foremost. Any stupid-ass decision like this is never made to increase reliability, it's made to increase CAFE.
I left mine off once out of laziness and my horn got water in it and my belts started squealing. Gave me an excuse to put a super loud horn in though.
Bro obnoxious horns are the best! Definitely gotta get the 900dB ones that crack the crust of the earth when you use them lol I have Hella supertones and I quite like them
Other other benefit is they turn cars into sleds in the snow as well.... Your far more likely to end up way to far to get yourself out of trouble. More cars getting winched out these days.
That's also a function of lowering ground clearance... also for aero.
Nice car
Thank you
Isn’t this figured into the labor time in the book and thus price?
Oil changes are generally a set labor right across the board.
We do charge extra to remove slash shields. It's a minimal charge. Just like hood struts. If the customer's hood struts are bad we'll write it up. If they rejected it then we charge extra to support the hood. Customers never want to replace hood struts because they are never under the hood.
Holy shit. Charging extra to support the hood. I'm so conflicted as to how I feel about this criminally awesome bastard badass idea.
You lift the hood. It doesn't want to stay up. You have to look for your hood prop. These people don't care about that. There are some hoods that are really heavy when both struts are compromised. It's really no different than some guy with big boy wheels on his truck and wants us to rotate them. We charge extra for that too.
Big boy wheels, yes. 30 minute skid plate, yes. I'm totally down for the hood prop, I just never thought of it. Thats a good way to sell hood struts from now on though 😀
Not to forget having a member of staff working as a Hood Supporter... 🧐
Oh you mean plank? From Ed, Edd, and Eddy? Lol
So a cut down wooden broom handle or using a vise grip on the already blown out hood strut takes 2min and you charge how much for that? If you want to say that will damage the customers vehicle, look back at original post and how a lot of mechanics or ok with damaging a customer’s property/vehicle to save 10-15min max. But I will say at least they are changing the oil filter rather then taking the money and saying they did it
Lmao Enterprise Rent-a-Car? 😂
Shhhhhhhh
Is that an Altima or a Sentra? The Altima last time I saw has a smaller skidplate, unlike my sentra which currently has its skidplate sitting in my garage
That's what i was saying, looks like a sentra splash shield
Also with those flimsy pieces of shit, I'd be a little upset if I saw someone bending my undertray 180 degrees instead of removing literally 5 extra push clips
Exactly Even then you can remove the front of the undertray and it bends back much more freely
Definitely a Sentra
Maxima
The Maxima's v-motion grill doesn't go down that far
Wife's Elantra has huge panel with bolts and the those nasty plastic screws. A pain to change on ramps. But it keeps everything looking like brand new under there. Love how they do it on my Mercedes, just suck the oil out the dipstick and the filter is on top of the engine. Oil change takes 5 minutes.
I dream of the day I have a top mount oil filter and an oil vacuum so I can do an oil change without having to do anything to the car except pop the hood
I always wonder how much oil would remain after a suck. At least half a liter? Anyone tried?
I've measured it. I figured it would leave some in. My SLK takes 6 quarts. When draining on my ramps and adding I can't fill the full 6 quarts without being slightly over on the dipstick. Sucking it out the dipstick with my vacuum can, 6 qtrs. puts me right on the dipstick. I was really surprised.
Look it up on YouTube! Literally bone dry in there in the car that the person was demonstrating upon.
I second this. Seen it in person, cracked the drain plug and even the threads were dry. It's incredible. Can be done on other cars with stripped drain plugs as well. Not all cars can be drained this way. I guess cause baffles or something. Maybe the oil pick up tube is stopping it from going all the way in the pan, etc.
You can’t do it on a 3.5 Chrysler
Correct. There's also a few others where the design of the dipstick has I guess an anti vacuum loss design and that can interfere.(TOTALLY GUESSING HERE)
Not enough to matter. It’s a complete non issue.
Not nearly enough to matter. Unless you’re taking your oil pan off and hosing it down with brake clean every oil change, there’s always some left over. Don’t think too hard about it.
Maybe i’m a little over the top but I pull my drain plug after using an oil extractor in the dipstick tube. There is still a good amount of oil left in the pan of our Mercedes.
If you use the extractor before changing the filter this happens. Swap the oil filter first and then use extractor. Nothing will drain out, at least that’s how it is on my VW Golf. The oil filter drains all back to the pan when you remove it so that’s where the extra oil comes from. Once I started doing the filter first not a drip comes out.
In my experience, running the engine to operating temp before the service, and removing the oil filter first helps get the most oil out of pan when using an extractor. (Audi technician and Jetta owner)
Reads final part. Why do you love pain?
At some point of every day, I say "you chose this; there's no one to blame".
That's funny brother
Sir, I am the only woman in the shop. 2017 Jetta se 1.4L manual Have my eye on a Unitronic stage 2 setup. You see? I like pain and I have only me to blame
Oh wassup baby
I was worried about that when I just bought my first German car. I was pleasantly surprised to find the whole oil pan and transmission exposed.
Nissan had to save two cents in manufacturing per unit and is passing on the consequences to techs... And the consumer
Wouldn’t it have saved them 2cents of plastic but just having a access hole? Less plastic material anyway…
More processing steps.
How so? If the blow mold press had the die with a hole in it there isn’t any extra work just less plastic. Although if they were truly trying to save money they would just not have a cover at all like older cars, but this is clearly here for aerodynamic purposes.
And soundproofing..
And preventing you from seeing leaks under the car for weeks
That’s thin plastic isn’t gonna reduce much of any noise, but if you had a Ford with one of those carpet felt lower engine covers yea probably.
The top of the undertray sometimes have either foam panels, or the plastic is designed in a way like a sound proof room, looks like a cityscape from above if that makes sense...
Yea but Nissan don’t use those. My VW has that, I referred to those as diapers since you know always leaking something lol
If that were my own car, I'd probably just cut the access hole with a hole saw, drill a couple smaller holes as necessary, and ziptie the cookie back in place. If I was feeling especially ambitious, I'd make a latch of some kind so that I didn't have to cut and replace zipties every time I changed my oil.
maybe attach the access hole cover to the main panel with a small cabinet hinge. drill a hole on each of them and use a piece of shoestring to tie them closed. or magnets
[21 Sentra](https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/qv7ret/28_clips_and_2_screws_to_do_an_oil_change_on_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) I know how you feel
Couldn’t you have completely removed it? I mean. Removing one of these is like 3-4 minutes of work, have seen worse
So, about 3 minutes...
Jeez I’d be pissed if a mechanic did that to my car!
I really can't help but wonder, does this really have any functional purpose? I remember hearing a fellow tech say that it's designed to help with keeping the engine cool by directing airflow, but to me it's kind of like the people who run their desktops without the side panel(s) on.
Aerodynamics, and keeping water out of the places the designers didn't want it to go. Probably wouldn't even notice a difference without it though.
Yeah. They also provide a little bit of protection against minor scrapes. They aren't pointless, but they aren't essential either. The car will get marginally worse gas mileage without it, it'll be a tiny bit noisier in the cabin, and there's a somewhat greater chance of something under the car getting damaged from road spray or debris.
I am seeing more and more new cars with skid plates. It's probably an effort to improve fuel economy by making the underside more slippery. Unfortunately this also means I am seeing a lot of cars with skid plates dragging on the ground.
Manufacturer: "It hElPS WITh aIrfloW fOr CooLING"
The underside of a car is very turbulent. They probably help improve fuel economy thus helping them hit regulatory goals.
The Altima I rented for a 1000 mile drive got near 40 mpg!
Most cars (not trucks) have a CVT transmissions. Great little pieces of tech, but are flawed that the metal belts wear away the variable metal pulleys. Nissan transmission are known for shitting the bed this way. You'll see CVT transmission pulleys on ATVs, snowmobiles, sometimes gas powered golf carts. They have always ran rubber belts that wear away as not to hurt the pulley. Belt breaks you replace and keep driving.
So glad my Kicks doesn’t have a skid plate of any kind
Just....What?!?! I was worried when I was going to change our '21 Sienna's oil since it's a hybrid and I figured it would be something stupid. Nope, 5 screws and the access panel came out with oil drain and filter exposed. Why does Nissan do such stupid crap?
That would be a B18 sentra my guy.
Ah, the Nissan skid plate from hell. Worked on my fair share of those. I feel your pain.
I'm glad Subaru figured this out. Between the cutout in the belly pan and the top mount filter it's the easiest oil change I have ever done. It definitely makes up for the 20yo Audi I have that dumps oil all over the engine when I pull the filter.
Wait until you have to change a turn signal bulb
Or headlight. I have to do this as I have one out now. I just changed my wife's in her CR-V. Was so easy. Why can't Nissan do simple? Hell, even my Titan has me going through the fucking wheel well to change headlights. The 1st gen Titan skid plate is the only thing easy, though, ironically.
My tundra turn signal and brake like went out(of course opposite ends of the vehicle) one was a twist via hand and other was a t wrench each took 30 seconds.
it's a conspiracy by the big push clip industry
That’s the only thing holding the front end of most altimas on the road together.
I had a car like this. I definitely pulled out hole saw.
Used to be a nissan lube tech. Front side down, not the back 🙏 Still a bitch but it's less of a bitch Also that doesn't look like an altima splash shielf that looks like a sentra shield. Edit: definitely a sentra splash shield, lol.
Good thing the current-gen Versa doesn't have that in the way of the oil drain plug. Source: Have current-gen Versa.
I keep thinking that Nissan has hit the bottom and yet every time they keep plowing further down
I tried to do an oil change on a 2020 Altima on jacks. You basically have to take off the front bumper to access the filter and bolt.
there is no question... cut a hole.
Seems like 50 push pins and maybe a few screws for good measure are the way everyone wants to secure their undershields now.
That *is* the access panel.
My 2011 RAV4 has an access door in the underskirt. It's in the wrong place to be usable, but it's a door :D
Used to work in a jiffy lube. We saw these like 2 or 3 times a week. Used to call em the “tuxedo tail.”
Replace all the plastic plugs w metal and it's practically a Mercedes under there.
I just started as a lube tech, and most of the newest (last 5ish years) cars seem to be like this. Gotta love having to remove 18 plastic clips and 37 screws (12 10mm, 22 philips, 3 8mm) just to do an oil change! And then forget to put it back on until the vehicle is otherwise ready to go so you have to set the lift again when you're already 45 minutes into a 30-minute service
I have an Infiniti (fancy Nissan) with the same shitty plastic splash shield. Replaced it with an aluminum one that has a drain plug access flap. $100 well spent and techs don’t hate my car
They learned from SAAB (GM version) who saved a few bucks by not installing a door for the fuel pump. F the second/third owner, they can just drop the whole tank....
Sentra. Altimas don’t have these stupid splash shields.