Damn exhaust rattle...heat shield probably? Please confirm my pic inside...

[Mr Detailer]

Is this the upper heat shield, circled in the photo? Please excuse the weird colors, Microsoft Paint ****** up the whole color scheme for some reason. It would only let me save it in 256 colors or less.

Is it just those two bolts that hold it on, or is there another one (or more) on the sides or bottom?

I'll try tightening them first to see if that helps the rattle. Otherwise I can't wait to get rid of that ANNOYING sound.

 

[DiS]

yep thats the upper heat shield and yea I beleive its being held by 2 bolts. What are you planning to do? removing it?

 

[Mr Detailer]

I was hoping that I could remove it and find whatever is rattling. Whether I'd put it back on or not...I guess I was planning on deciding that when I fixed the rattle. I wasn't able to loosen any of the bolts, so I'll probably end up taking it to the exhaust shop down the road.
Do you have to remove the oxygen sensor to get the heat shield off?

 

[DiS]

I was hoping that I could remove it and find whatever is rattling. Whether I'd put it back on or not...I guess I was planning on deciding that when I fixed the rattle. I wasn't able to loosen any of the bolts, so I'll probably end up taking it to the exhaust shop down the road.
Do you have to remove the oxygen sensor to get the heat shield off?

im pretty sure you dont have to remove anything in order to get the heat shielf off. Spray some WD-40 on the bolts and let them soak in it for a few minutes, then try to get them off again.

p.s.!!!
oh s*** man! you had a 4th gen maxima?!!!??! were you on maxima.org forums by any chance?

 

[Mr Detailer]

lol yes I had a 4th gen, and yes I was a member of Maxima.org.

I take it you had a 4th gen as well?


I did spray some WD-40 on the bolts, but I didn't try to get them off again. I'm not sure why...
I'll try to take them off again tomorrow.

 

[DiS]

lol yes I had a 4th gen, and yes I was a member of Maxima.org.

I take it you had a 4th gen as well?


I did spray some WD-40 on the bolts, but I didn't try to get them off again. I'm not sure why...
I'll try to take them off again tomorrow.

gotcha, yea WD-40 should help out alot.

Yea man, I still got my 4th gen 1997 Forest Evergreen Maxxie, and still hang out on maxima.org forums, same nick there as here. CustomMSP who has blue MSP also used to have 4th gen maxxie and is also from maxima.org......he lives around here

 

[mazpro]

there are actually 3 bolts. the 2 that u see andthere is another one up front. it's facing the radiator directly.

I have taken mine out a couple of times, and it's a little tricky because of the O2 sensor.

 

[DiS]

there are actually 3 bolts. the 2 that u see andthere is another one up front. it's facing the radiator directly.

I have taken mine out a couple of times, and it's a little tricky because of the O2 sensor.

there, hehe the man has spoken. Thanks for the info mazpro

 

[Mr Detailer]

Yeah I saw that third bolt when I was looking at the heat shield. So you DON'T have to remove the O2 sensor to get the shield off?

Oh BTW my sn on the Maxima.org forums is White95Max. You've probably seen me around there.

 

[mazpro]

I didnt take it out, I just played around with the shield a little and it will come out.

 

[Mr Detailer]

So was your rattle caused by something underneath that upper shield? It was suggested to me that I check out the lower heat shield first.

 

[mazpro]

I acctually never had any rattles comming from there, I took it out for paint only. I did have a rattle and it is coming from the heat shield between the shifter and exaust. you should probably check that out.

there, hehe the man has spoken. Thanks for the info mazpro

not a prob man, we are all here to help and learn.

 

[Mr Detailer]

I've got an update. I tried taking the upper shield off, but you can't take it completely off without removing the oxygen sensor. I was able to move it enough to see underneath, and there was nothing under there that looked like it would rattle. I scraped the rust off of the screws and the shield, put a little WD40 on them, and put it back on.
Then I went under the car to look at the lower shield. I sprayed some WD40 on those, let it sit for a minute, and took those two screws out. The heat shield came right off, and I left it off. I haven't driven it yet, but I'm going out in a little while and I'll post again about whether the rattle is gone.
If the rattle is gone, I took a bunch of pictures during the process, and I'll do a writeup so that people can see everything I did if they search about an exhaust rattle.

Wish me (and my car) luck!

 

[Mr Detailer]

No more rattle! Hooray!

I'll do a writeup now in the 1.6 forum on what I did.
Thanks for your help guys.

 

[mazpro]

no prob, glad to hear that you got rid of it.

 

[BiG_HiT]

you can take it off completely by unclipping the O2 sensor wires and pass them through the heatshield hole at the bottom.

 

[Mr Detailer]

The upper heat shield wasn't the one making the rattle. Since it's not causing any problems, I'll leave it there. Plus I spent about an hour polishing it by hand, which left it looking pretty nice, so I prefer to leave it there.
Thanks for the tip though.

 

[truplayax14]

plz do a write up, mine just started to rattle a week ago, really annoying. thnx

 

[jster28]

yet probably the heat shield for the 2nd cat converter under the car. Thats what mine was. My heat shield around it was dented in and rattling, i cut the heat sheild off and no rattling.

 

[truplayax14]

i fixed it, the axle back muffler was loose, just needed to be tightend