A quick question, I hope.

 

As the title suggests, there is a finned aluminium panel, about 400 x 100mm,  under driver's seat of my Octavia II.  It looks like a heat emitter, a larger version of those seen on electronics/ICs.

 

DSG transmission, BTW.

 

  What is it called?

 

 It was secured at the front by an M8 nut fixed onto a stud. The stud seems to have been press fixed onto a hole in a steel panel on the underside of the car. The stud has come adrift, so that the aluminium heat emitter panel thing is dangling down at the front.  Is there a standard method to fix this? I'd have Googled it, if I knew the name of the part. TYIA

Edited 1 July, 20187 yr by Onetap
Doofy knew what it was!

Its the Fuel cooler

Edited 1 July, 20187 yr by Doofy

8 minutes ago, Doofy said:

Its the Fuel cooler

 

 

It is! Many thanks, Doofy. I've Googled it now.

 

The fuel connections at the rear are hidden by the underbody trim panel, so I hadn't manage to  work that out. 

 

Given that it has diesel flowing through it, I'm very surprised that the front fixing is so flimsy. It's probably not a good idea to drive it whilst it's flapping around. 

 

  

Yeah get it fixed soon as you can.

 

Onetap my local garage drilled a hole and fixed mine with a large self tapping screw ... No issues since 

A note for anyone else with this problem. 

 

The fixing was by means of a stud with a flange on the end. The stud was fixed to a hole in the car body, under the driver's seat. The fixing (made by means of resistance welding, soldering or something) was weak, a really poor piece of design by VAG. The flange was secured only by a circle of weld/solder/glue of less than 0.5mm wide. I think it was an attachment added to diesel cars made after the rest of the body had been made and access to the inside face of the hole wasn't available.

 

  I took the trim off the base of the door pillars, took out the driver's seat and removed the carpet fixings until I could lift the carpet and acoustic insulation enough to get to the inside of the hole.  I put the stud through the hole from the inside, put a washer on it and refitted the (Loctited) nut. This might be a problem with the stud spinning if I ever need to get the fuel cooler off, but the car is 13 years old, so I doubt that will ever happen. I was thinking of getting a Rivetnut thing off E-Bay, but this seems to have worked.  A stud rivetter would still have only a small foothold.  I could have saved time by slitting the carpet & insulation to get to the hole, but preferred to lift the carpet. 

 

Thanks for the advice. 

Edited 11 July, 20187 yr by Onetap