Scraping on underside of altima..

mustafa · #1 (**permalink**) 07-02-2009, 10:32 PM

I was out with a bunch of friends and when I was pulling out of the parking lot, i scraped the belly of the car on a raised man-hole (i don't know how i didn't see it). The car wasn't going that fast, i had just taken my foot off of the brake (but it did make kind of a scary sound). I went and checked underneath and nothing was hanging, leaking. I took it to the dealership and they want to charge me $60 to take a look at it.

Do you guys think any damage was done. I drove it around for a while after and everything seemed ok.

Any feedback would be helpful

EDIT..ok one of the poster got me worried, so I took the car out again, turned it on and waited to see for anything weird. I saw water dripping from the front center of the car (i made sure the a/c was off). is this because something has gone wrong.

UPDATE:

so..my appointment is for monday.

I took a couple of pictures..and there is some type of fluid (its clear, and looks like water) leaking from this area (if it was fuel it would smell like it right?). Any suggestions.

kev1n536 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-02-2009, 11:16 PM

no worries. ive bottomed out many times and scraped on curbs and pot holes etc. only thing that would be wrong are scratches or those damn tow hooks. one of mine is bent but still usable. as long as theres nothing hanging down you will be fine. the under side of cars these days are very strong and durable.

mustafa · #3 (**permalink**) 07-02-2009, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kev1n536

no worries. ive bottomed out many times and scraped on curbs and pot holes etc. only thing that would be wrong are scratches or those damn tow hooks. one of mine is bent but still usable. as long as theres nothing hanging down you will be fine. the under side of cars these days are very strong and durable.

thanks man..i was kind of freaking out..when it happend...i almost backed into one of my friends

, cause i was so worried.

Jose3.5 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-02-2009, 11:42 PM

I do it all the time and it sounds horrible, like if a lot of damage happened. My car was raised at the Muffler shop and it was raised so I walked under my car and it was only a small part that scrapes, nothing major.

mustafa · #5 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jose3.5

I do it all the time and it sounds horrible, like if a lot of damage happened. My car was raised at the Muffler shop and it was raised so I walked under my car and it was only a small part that scrapes, nothing major.

thanks for the help.

What did you do to your tailights...they look awesome. (are those bats overlays)

Jose3.5 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 12:05 AM

They're these tail lights
http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/new...ails-ebay.html

They don't have an overlay yet.

kev1n536 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 12:14 AM

as long as nothing is hanging down you're fine. its terrifying having something like that happen, especially for the first time.

clarksville_07altima · #8 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mustafa

I took it to the dealership and they want to charge me $60 to take a look at it.

Next time you need an oil change have them look at it then. Its going to be up on the rack anyways so surely they won't charge $60 if they're already going to be looking at it.

matt7400 · #9 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 01:29 AM

How hard would it be to stick your head under the car and see for yourself? Even without a jack. Drive up on a curb or raised area (put car in PARK) and craw underneath.

mustafa · #10 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt7400

How hard would it be to stick your head under the car and see for yourself? Even without a jack. Drive up on a curb or raised area (put car in PARK) and craw underneath.

yes..i did do that, but i haven't really seen under the car before so I wouldn't really know if anything was wrong.

matt7400 · #11 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 01:40 AM

It's not like the service guys do something special. I can say that the worst area to scrape would be the cooling fins for the transmission, it sits low already. That would be expensive.

mustafa · #12 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt7400

It's not like the service guys do something special. I can say that the worst area to scrape would be the cooling fins for the transmission, it sits low already. That would be expensive.

what..why are you trying to worry me man..

How would i know if this happened

mustafa · #13 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 03:22 AM

ok one of the poster got me worried, so I took the car out again, turned it on and waited to see for anything weird. I saw water dripping from the front center of the car (i made sure the a/c was off). is this because something has gone wrong.

kev1n536 · #14 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 03:32 AM

was it raining the past couple of days? if so then no. ACs give off water occasionally. thats what they do. ever see a car in the summer when water coming out of the tail pipe? thats from the AC most likely, unless its unburnt fuel.

you can tell if the cooling fans are damaged by getting out and looking at them with the hood open once they come on. you can see them spinning and you can hear them as well. you will hear a fluttering sound like something is out of whack and you will be able to see, maybe maybe not, a blade not spinning straight.

yes it worried you and it should. especially if you think something happened take every precaution to make sure nothing did or fix anything that did happen. and itd be pricey to fix the fans but itd be even worse if they stopped working when driving or if a blade etc broke off and damaged something later on. anything can happen. you can ask the service manager if you can take a look under the car when they do the oil.

mustafa · #15 (**permalink**) 07-03-2009, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kev1n536

was it raining the past couple of days? if so then no. ACs give off water occasionally. thats what they do. ever see a car in the summer when water coming out of the tail pipe? thats from the AC most likely, unless its unburnt fuel.

you can tell if the cooling fans are damaged by getting out and looking at them with the hood open once they come on. you can see them spinning and you can hear them as well. you will hear a fluttering sound like something is out of whack and you will be able to see, maybe maybe not, a blade not spinning straight.

yes it worried you and it should. especially if you think something happened take every precaution to make sure nothing did or fix anything that did happen. and itd be pricey to fix the fans but itd be even worse if they stopped working when driving or if a blade etc broke off and damaged something later on. anything can happen. you can ask the service manager if you can take a look under the car when they do the oil.

yea...im kind of overdue for an oil change..i'll go do it tmr

would this kind of stuff be included in the warranty