Heat/exhaust shield came loose - how to remove it

tacticalx86

tacticalx86

tacticalx86

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London
Made the mistake of driving through a partially flooded road, the water was high not high enough for a car to get stuck or anything. Anyway I drive through it and the car is making a horrible noise, engine smoking, but still driveable. Surprise surprise, a traffic car is behind me and flashes me over. The two police officers get out and tell me the exhaust shield is loose and is being dragged along, they managed to dislodge it slightly with a broom and its not as bad but still stuck. how can i remove it, will pliers do the job
 
nlel1975 said:
Water and cars don’t mix. I went through a big puddle at 30mph and the resulting splash broke the under trays of my car. Straight after running through the puddle I could hear a scraping sound. That was the under trays hanging off.
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I imagine it might have already been loose from something else. I wasn't going fast through it. How hard is it to remove and is it ok to drive without it? I'm reading that it is but others saying the cat converter can run hot.
 
Gaygle said:
Has the noise gone after you took off the undertray? Also, was it an exhaust heatshield or a plastic undertray?
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I haven't touched it, the police officer shoved it with a broom. When I got the car home and looked it looks like an exhaust heatshield on the front left hand side of the vehicle.
 
Gaygle said:
Also you mentioned when you went through the puddle "the engine was smoking and the car made an awful noise". Was that noise from the engine? And is it still making that noise? Because if it was and if it is - forget the undertray, you're engine will likely be internally damaged.
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No, it wasn't noise from the engine. There is no noise from the engine. There is also no smoke from the engine anymore. The awful noise was the heatshield being dragged along the carriageway. I'm useless at telling where noises are comign from and what they are but it's 100% the heatshields. I'm taking it to a garage tommorow
 
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Gaygle said:
If it's made of metal and appears sort of bobbly - it'll be a heatshield. If it's black, plastic and smooth, it'll be an undertray.

Metal heatshield is there to stop the hot exhaust from damaging more sensitive parts around the exhaust such as the body, sensors or wiring. An undertray is there to catch crap from the engine, reduce corrosion and wear to body/components by protecting it from road grime and provide better aerodynamics.

Metal heatshields are normally held in place by nuts that screw onto the body. Undertrays are normally held on with screws (usually torx) or hex bolts or a combination of both
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it is the heatshield.
 
sigma said:
It looks to me like something has broken and pushed itself through the under tray.
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It looks like a heat exhaust shield, the undertray of my car has come off before (pothole), and it was very different.
Is it a MOT faliure to not have a heat shield?
I guess either way it's going to the garage tommorow so hopefully it'll get replaced tommorow and it won't be too much in cost. Lesson learnt I guess. Still could be a lot worse, thought I might have flooded the engine but given the car started fine and the noise doesn't seem to correspond to that of an engine with water (from what i know and what i've seen online), it seems to just be the shield.
 
So on the way to the garage this morning I went through a much smaller puddle (unavoidable), and the shield came off! Took it to the garage anyway, as @keef247 said, it was the undertray which had come loose. all fixed now
 
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