Hello, just bought a 1999 A4 2.8 Quattro with a 5 speed standard.

I was under the car this morning trying to get a look at the rear springs that are broken and noticed in the passenger side rear wheelwell there's a plastic box/tank that looks similar to the gas tank. Can anybody tell me what this is, and if I can replace the metal shield that protects it from whatever the tire might kick up, it's 90% rotten away.

The rest of the car is solid, but this spot seems to hold salty canadian slush I guess. Anybody else have this problem?

Thanks,

Jake

 

Picture please?

 

Here are the pics, passenger side rear wheelwell at the back of it

 

Might be the vacuum pump for the locks? I'm not actually sure but you can probably replace that shield. It's probably just there to keep the box protected from road debris.