Plastic bodged plate on rear of engine???

[Mark Oldfield]

I have just done 1st oil/filter change since I bought my old 2005 C270 cdi automatic (300,000km) and found this plate stuck on the rear of the engine... What is it all about? I am new to automatics, but if it was a manual transmission, the bodged plastic plate would be behind the flywheel. I can see what appears to be a flywheel through the small hole, but it's an automatic... I wouldn't expect to see a flywheel???

Please can someone enlighten me?

 

[mioba]

perhaps you can ask the previous owner as it’s clearly a DIY blanking plate job.

 

[Jason63]

Automatics have a flex-plate that looks like a flywheel. It's bolted to the torque converter. You need an access hole to undo it so that the gearbox can be removed. Looks like someone didn't like the hole or lost the original cover.

 

[Mark Oldfield]

Automatics have a flex-plate that looks like a flywheel. It's bolted to the torque converter. You need an access hole to undo it so that the gearbox can be removed. Looks like someone didn't like the hole or lost the original cover.

Ahhh... Thanks for that, at least whoever done it, just didn't leave it open for debris to get in there