I have an E60 525D. A while back, a small underside cover came loose when I went over some bumpy ground, I took it to a BMW garage to get fixed and they described it as "gearbox heat shield", it was an easy fix as it had just come loose so a simple screw fixed it. While going over another similar ground, it got caught and came loose again. I took it to a different garage who carried out the same fix (simple screw, minimal charge). A few months on, I heard a scraping sound when doing a 3 point turn, I looked under the car and could see what I am 98% was the gearbox heat shield that had come loose. I booked it into the same garage as the last time to get it fixed again as I do not believe it came loose this time due to bumpy ground. However, after they had the car they informed me nothing was loose and everything was in place which I found really odd as the panel was obviously loose. They said that they believed nothing was missing and everything was in place so when I went to collect the car, I checked under the car and I am 80% there is panel missing where it used to be. I can't say I'm 100% as I'm not that familiar with the car but I definitely saw something that was hanging loose under the car, but with the garage saying that nothing is loose or missing, I'm in a little bit of doubt about my own thinking.

To help solve the problem, would someone be able to take a picture of the underside of their car (roughly equal distance between the front two wheels but about 1 foot further back than the actual wheels). Possibly might need a few pictures to get a good view of the entire car.

Thank you so much in advance.

 

not sure about diesel models, but is this the access cover to the oil drain pan?