looking at the car from the underbelly, i see a 4-6 inch perfect circle opening (factory) at the rear of the motor where it meets the transmission... this opening seems odd... i can see the spinning flywheel as clear as day... is this normal

or did that part fall to its death ? ?it so what is the part ?

 

There should be a cover over that inspection hole.

 

Ditto. Sounds like your inspection covefr fell off, usually held on by 4 bolts. I would look for it or get a new one relatively soon since now there is a bunch of road muck gumming up your flywheel and making your clutch and flywheel dirty.

 

Snag one from the local junkyard. They can be plastic or metal. Usually they have about 4 bolts holding them on. Only takes a few minutes to install.

 

I noticed mine has the cover missing too. It's been like that for probably 20,000 miles. Bad? Any damage?

 

It shouldn't cause any immediate damage as long as your keep out of alot of dirt/mud/rocks and general muck. But I would definetly get one back on there since you will probably shorten the life of the clutch, flywheel, flexplate, etc........ and its not hard at all to fix probably just hard to find.

 

You are very right there. I went to the auto junk yard and could not find any covers. Might try Ebay.

 

if all else fails... give the dealer your VIN and they'll order you the part.

 

I ran with out one for about 4 years in a offroad truck never no problems. Had a few sticks go up there and make a bunch of noise but no leaks ore anything.