What is this piece from the engine???...

I was changing the plugs today and noticed this little metal piece. It was bolted to a support bracket on the driver's side of the engine near the oil fill. It wasn't supporting any wires or hoses. As far as I could tell, it was just there... serving no purpose at all. Can some give me a clue?

Btw, it's off a 4.0L.

 

part of your engine mount???

get under the hood and poke around a little bit. id go outside and take a look but i dont have you engine sorry

 

If that flimsy piece of metal were an engine mount, my 4.0 would have hit the asphalt long ago.

 

does the edge on the right feel torn/broken off something or is that piece a whole?

 

The right edge was stamped (cut) like that. It looks kind of like it may be torn, but it's not.

I've been browsing through some online manuals trying to find it, but nothing yet.

 

im looking through also we will figure it out buddy!

 

Looks like the oil baffle plate.

 

What does an oil baffle plate do exactly?

 

baffles your mind?

 

haha thats classic!

 

^ Apparently.

 

It goes just to the left of the oil filter. It's there to keep spilly willy's from getting oil in the alternator I figure. Mounts just like the picture you posted shows. I haven't figured out what it's for also but I think it's to prevent oil dripping in the alternator.

 

here it is mounted

 

it actually looks like the piece that is just bolted on to hold like piping in place. nothing major that is

 

Here's a shot of it with me holding it in it's original location. If you look at the oil fill, it's just to the right of (and below it) it if you're looking straight down. It doesn't look to me like it would stop much oil from getting to the alternator if you spilled. It's too far to the right to be very effective for that purpose.

 

It's also too short. any dripping will just go inside the plug on the alternator instead. I've looked at that plate a few times trying to figure out what it is for. Can't remember seeing those pipes above it on mine.

 

do a barrel roll and see what happens?

 

I finally figured out what that thing is for when I was working on my truck today. It's just a simple heat shield to keep heat from the manifold from rising up and melting that line that is above it. In the picture above, the line that is running over top of their thumb.