2000 S80: Under Engine Protection Pan

[christophervolvos80]

Hello, I live out in Southern California and we don't get very much bad weather. Recently I was caught and drove through a thunderstorm that produced a flash flood across the road that was at least 8-10 inches deep. I did not get flooded out and was able to keep going at about 3-5 mph, three other cars were not so lucky. After getting out of the flood area I opened the hood just to check if everything looked okay. Since I do not have an under engine protection pan (or splash pan), my engine bay and top of motor looked like someone threw chocolate milk everywhere! I'm now in the process of cleaning the engine bay and have already ordered the new protection pan and bolts.

My questions are:
1) What are the possible components that could be affected (like the alternator and fuse/relay box) if they were to get extremely wet?
2) What causes this plastic protection pan to get damaged and rip off?
3) Are there any better alternatives in aftermarket protection pans that are not plastic or at least stronger?

Thanks!

[fn42]

Sometimes people just take them off and never put them back on. They're pretty durable, mine (from a 2000 also) doesn't seem to have cracks or anything, but it is plastic so I'm sure it's possible to just rip it off accidentally

Don't quote me on this but I *believe* IPD might have an aluminum pan that bolts right on


And the fuses/relays are at the back of the engine bay nearest to the driver, they don't typically have issues with moisture but it's probably worth at least opening the cover to see what it looks like

I'd spray the starter, alternator, and ETM connections with a bit of wd-40 just to displace the water

[oragex]

It's a good idea to let the alternator dry for a while (if weather permits).

The plastic shield is good in situations when going over debris on the street, so components such as power steering lines don't get damaged.

[matt5112]

IPD sells one, but they say it doesn't fit the six cylinder models. On the other hand, I know of people who have that unit on their six cylinder S80s.