Heat Shield question...

**Pewter02Formula** · 09-15-2010, 02:53 PM

I tried searching for this topic, but didn't find anything directly related to my issue...

About a week ago, I dropped a buddy off at a dealership to pick up his car. They had some pretty hairy speedbumps there, but nothing I couldn't handle... except for the last one. It was lower in spots than others, and one of the high spots scraped underneath the car the front wheels came down off it. Nothing I haven't heard before, and it didn't sound particularly nasty.

Next day, I got home from work, with the windows down, and I could hear a distinct rattle coming from underneath. It's directly timed to the exhaust and its rhythm. I'm fairly sure one of the heat shields has busted loose. The sound somes from directly under the center console.

Sitting at stoplights is pretty embarrassing right now. Great looking car, awful-sounding rattle.

Unfortunately, I don't have much money these days, so... is this likely to be a simple welding repair, or are these heat shields a different kind of monster? I have never actually gotten a good look at them.

**pajeff02** · 09-15-2010, 03:23 PM

You may be able to fix it by drilling a small hole and securing it with a zip tie. All depends on where and how it got damaged.

**Orcus79** · 09-16-2010, 08:47 PM

it will be one of two heat shield I can think of, there is one on the other side of the drivers foot well the covers the brake and clutch lines, there is another one on the passenger side left over from I presume the v6 cars and earlier when the cat was located under the passenger floor board.

**Skippy** · 09-16-2010, 09:31 PM

I see this all the time. Theres a small brace/bracket that goes across the driveshaft tunnel. It gets pushed up and touches the exhaust. It makes an awful noise. All you need to do is grab it and pull down on it. That will bend it back to where its supposed to be. At my shop we do this for free since its so easy. It takes longer to lift the car up than it does to fix it.

**Pewter02Formula** · 09-17-2010, 02:07 PM

Thanks for all the tips! Well, yesterday the rattle was much louder, and today it was TOTALLY obnoxious. Very loud... so loud, I was afraid I'd knocked the Magnaflow pipe loose from the stock pipe. So I had a collision center next door to where I work look at it, and they told me that the insulation inside the cat was shattered.

These guys have done a little work for me before and didn't steer me wrong, and they didn't charge me to look at the car today, so I'm inclined to believe them... but I still want a 2nd opinion

If it DOES need a new cat, I'm really tempted to just remove the damned thing and put a straight pipe in there. I can't spend several hundred on a new catalytic converter right now.

Here's the real funny thing, though -- after I got the car back today, no more rattle. The exhaust still sounds much louder than usual, but she didn't rattle once on the way home.

**Pewter02Formula** · 09-17-2010, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Skippy

I see this all the time. Theres a small brace/bracket that goes across the driveshaft tunnel. It gets pushed up and touches the exhaust. It makes an awful noise. All you need to do is grab it and pull down on it. That will bend it back to where its supposed to be. At my shop we do this for free since its so easy. It takes longer to lift the car up than it does to fix it.

Thanks, Skippy -- I'll definitely look for this if I can get the car up on a lift this weekend.