# Auto shop guy says my radiator might fall out... is this true?



## Cagney (Jul 4, 2012)

So I have a 2004 vw beetle that I bought used 3 years ago. A couple of month after I bought it I had a large plastic piece fall halfway off my car and start dragging. I went immediately to jiffy lube (it was the closest thing) and they took it all the way off for me. I asked them what it was and they said it was a piece that helped muffle the sound from the road. No big deal, not really needed.

A couple months later, the same piece on the other side of the car, same situation, fell halfway off and I had it removed.

Now I am trying to sell the car. I took it to a mechanic to have it looked over adn he tells me the pieces were part of a larger plastic piece that helps hold everything in the car and that it "might" cause my radiator to fall out! 

Is this true?? They guy also said he see's this a lot in VW beetles and that it's upwards of $1000 to fix it. If this was really happening a lot because of how low the car sits to the ground and it could really cause the radiator to fall out, wouldn't there be a recall or something. Seems like a major flaw in the design. I'm not taking it off any sweet jumps or anything.

Any insight would be appreciated.


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## billymade (Jan 29, 2008)

What year is your bug and what engine is in it? There is what is called a "radiator support"; you can see a pic here: 

https://www.partswebsite.com/stores/partsimages/parts9/9210570.gif

Lower support, W/o Turbo S model 
SUPPORT
List Price : $132.00
Your Price : $96.62

There are also some rubber radiator mounts you may need; probably need to remove everything to see what is needed and replace whatever is broken. 

You can look it up here: https://www.1stvwparts.com/partscat.html

From a cost perspective; it is probably the labor rates that would make the repair costly, if you do it yourself... probably not that hard just time consuming and you will probably have to take off quite a bit to get to the support. I would assume a coolant flush or refill would be required as well.


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## speedtek40 (Jul 8, 2005)

From the sounds of what you describe I would say you removed the fairings that go on either side of the lower compartment and help support the plastic belly pan. I'm guessing that piece is no longer on the car either as it screws into the aforementioned pieces on either side. At any rate, if that is what you are describing, they don't support anything, they are merely there to help direct air underneath the car and keep water from splashing directly up into the engine compartment when driving through puddles


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## Cagney (Jul 4, 2012)

It's a 2004 VW Bug. It's a 2.0 l and it is not the turbo or diesel model.

That doesn't look like what it was. It was a large flat piece, one on each side of the car, close to the wheels.


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## Rockerchick (May 10, 2005)

Can you maybe put up a picture of underneath the car? I'm with the others thinking that its just the plastic belly pan and supports for that. Anything supporting the radiator like that is going to be metal, not plastic.


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## VWBugman00 (Mar 17, 2009)

Those are engine splash shields, not something thats holding up the radiator. The radiator on the Beetle is held in place by 4 supports that are screwed into the radiator support, which is bolted to the front of the car. For this to come off, a lot would have to happen. What came off is the "skid" plate from the bottom, and then the engine splash guard from the side. You can replace just these (yourself too, got a torx bit?) and the skid plate fairly cheap. Now if you want something that will NEVER need to be replaced again, then get a panzer plate from dieselgeek.com. You'll never regret it. Here is a link if you're interested:
http://www.dieselgeek.com/MK4_Panzer_Skid_Plate_with_Full_Metal_Jacket_p/pp-dlxmk4.htm


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