What are these parts called?

[Winch]

My son has an 02 Camaro V6. It has been having a problem with the serpentine belt getting thrown off in heavy rain or if he drives through a big water puddle. I was told he might be missing some splash shields under the engine area. He is away at college so I can't look under it. Does anyone know what those shields are called and does anyone have a pic of them or a link to a pic so I can see what they look like and send him the pic so he can check if they are missing? If they are, where is a good place to buy them?

[ssms5411]

Re: What are these parts called?

I would look at the belt tensioner before anything, might be do for a new one.

[techsan23]

Re: What are these parts called?

As far as I know there is no splash shields on the o2 camaro. There are however multiple air deflectors. I wouldnt think they would have a whole lot to do with directing water away from the engine. The front inner wheel wells are the only thing that comes to my mind as far as protecting the engine bay from water being displaced by the tires. If the belt is being thrown when wet I would be suspicious of the pulley system. Personally I would bolt on a new idler and tensioner with a new belt and go drive through a puddle. Thats not to say it could be one of the other accessories causing this though. Maybe start by pulling the belt off and spinning the pulleys by hand; with the exception of the crank, to make sure they spin true as well as carefully inspecting them.

[ZO6vette037]

Re: What are these parts called?

The first thing is to tell him not to drive through deep water because he doesnt want to run the risk of sucking water into the intake and hurting the engine. The second thing would be to replace the belt (its probably old and stretched out and that is causing it to slip off,) and tensioner. Both will solve his issue.

[2.8 Bird]

Re: What are these parts called?

I guessing that you might have confused the air deflector or air damper as a shield. There's no shield on our fbodies.

This is more likely a belt tensioner issue or wrong size belt.

[Winch]

Re: What are these parts called?

The tensioner and belt was my first thought so I called a repair shop where he goes to school and when I mentioned the rain coincidence he suggested the missing shield. He said it is a common problem on them. There are supposedly 3 shields under there. Left, Right and middle which is also called a baffle. I then called the local Chevy dealer and he knew what I was talking about and agreed on there being 3 shields and he called the middle one a baffle as well. I found left and right splash shields at J C Whitney. Here is a link: http://www.jcwhitney.com/oe-replacem...=d244y2002g2j1

But I don't see the middle piece.

My son has gotten used to putting the belt back on so I guess I'll wait until he comes back home the next time and we'll figure it out.

[WarShrike]

Re: What are these parts called?

There isn't really a splash shield for the inside of the engine bay like they have on FWD imports and such. There's probably a good 12" of clearance from the bottom of the radiator to the crank pulley on the front of the engine. They might be thinking of the front fascia splash guards that essentially terminate after the radiator and the wheel wells.

You can kinda see what I'm talking about here, the middle piece is a huge air deflector/airdam to direct the air up to the radiator. That piece might be missing, but then he'd have the risk of overheating as well with it not installed.

[Winch]

Re: What are these parts called?

Is it the large black piece that the handle of the jack is in front of? I'll bet he doesn't have that on there. If it blocks the view of the ground in front of the engine when viewed from above I don't think he has it. I remember being able to see the ground from above plainly. I bet that also blocks water from splashing up on the pulleys.

Do you know what that part is actually called so I can look it up?

[Docta]

Re: What are these parts called?

It's an air dam. And no it doesn't (by design) block water. It directs air across the radiator and into the air box. There's nothing blocking the road from the bottom of the pulleys.

[StingerZ26]

Re: What are these parts called?

Had the same problem, all it needs is a new belt.