I just got my oil changed today and when I got back to my house I shut the door to my car and heard a piece of metal fall onto the floor. This little guy was next to the passenger side front tire underneath my car. Any ideas what this is?
Looks like a clip from the air cleaner housing.
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I can’t tell the size but assume it’s an inch or two. It would be a retaining clip I think for something. Someone would have to take a look see to figure out where it came from so just hang onto it until you go back. You never know what people mess with on a car.
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Is this an easy fix? Like could I do it myself?
It is about two inches long and a half inch think
Have you ever replaced the air filter? There should be a missing clip somewhere.
Yeah that’s a good guess. They probably checked the air filter when they did the oil change and didn’t get the clips back. You can check it yourself or take it back to them and have them do it. You really don’t want a loose air filter cover.
Yes, you probably could do it yourself. See if there are pictures of the air cleaner in your owners manual showing the location of the clips or see if there is a YouTube video of your car.
I’m 99.9% sure it’s a clip that holds your air filter housing closed. They checked your air filter to see if they could sell you a new one.
If you can’t figure out how to get it back on, take it to the shop and have them reinstall it.
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There may be other such clips between the oil change place and your home, so make sure all of them are in place when you or they reinstall this one. If some are missing, they are probably available from a dealer and certainly from a wrecking yard.
It was just an air filter housing clip. Thank you!
That is a clip that holds a plastic shroud over the alternator cooling/pulley fins on a Ford but likely other vehicle makes have it as well. It is a safety device to protect the hands when engine is running and alternator is mounted on top in front of engine.
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