Heatshield has come away

jase1

Car is a Ford Focus MK2 Estate.

Can't quite work out how this attaches back to the car, nor how it managed to come away in three separate places, and am not sure if it's a particularly good idea to continue using the car long distance under the circumstances.

This is the item in question:



Quite large compared with heatshields I've seen before. It was literally hanging loose and I took it off as it was starting to rattle against the back wheel/suspension :eek:

Typical Ford build quality really but is this part still serviceable, can you even get replacements and should I even worry about it on this model?

mcjordi

dont worry about it.. you can get the "clips" from ford to reattach but for the arsing on it will cause i would leave it off.. it wont cause no problems without a heatsheild.

jcb208

Dont worry about it wont do any harm, ripped mine of a vectra years ago,yoiurs looks like what mine done and corroded around the fixings

mcjordi

had this oldish fella in asda car park the other day who said my cars making a rattling noise.. ill have to phone aa and get it to garage.. it was his heatshield hanging off.. a simple yank and it came away.. blokey was thankful..

first thing i look at when someone tells me they have a metallic rattle

jase1

Yeah you've confirmed what I thought -- I've ripped heatshields off cars in the past, but they've always been old bangers and if I'm being honest I'm a bit hacked off that this has come away on all three bolts in around four years. Just wasn't sure if it'd be up to prolonged periods on the motorway.

I'll leave it off and see if I can get it put back on at the service... if not well no great loss. How much does a pressed bit of aluminium cost to buy from a stealer anyway?

mcjordi

not sure never replaced the heatshield.. i wouldn't worry about it mate.. just leave it off.. its an unesecarry expense (jesus i cant spell today )

marksandsparx

I would have it replaced.. all thats needed to do.. is make some aluminium plates larger that the holes in the heatshield, and refit with either nuts or the push on clips.. depending on whats fitted

laurence_p

use body washers (think thats what they are called). or even cable tie them back on if there is somewhere to tie the too.

marksandsparx

I think the holes might be a little to big in my opinion, and may not last long.

jase1

The Aluminium idea sounds good to me -- get some reasonably thick alu sheet, cut into maybe 2 or 3 inch squares, overlay over the top and use the original screws/whatever to put back on.

Or just leave it

cubegame

I've just refixed the heat shield on my Fiesta Mk6 which should be pretty similar. From your picture the heatshield is in good nick and can be refixed as the holes which have corroded are not too big. If you look in the area from which it has come you'll find several protruding bolt studs which correspond to the holes. There will be a small nut screwed onto each of these.

Give them all a damn good soak with WD40, leave them for a couple of hours and then soak with WD40 again. With any luck you should be able to loosen all the nuts without breaking off the bolt studs (which are probably pretty corroded.)

All you then need to do is reposition the heat shield and place nice big washers between the nut and heatshield to hold it on. Mine's been fixed like that for a couple of months now.