Cat heat shield rattling...big job to fix?

maniac886

As many of you probably already know I own a Focus 02 reg car. At the start of this week it has started to rattle at the front of the engine..this sound increases as I accelerate. Definately nothing to do with the clutch as the sound occurs if the clutch is up/down.

A mate of mine has told me that its the cat heat shield which is rattling, which is a common problem on the focus and I will need to have a look under the car..

2 questions...

1. What do you thing its gonna cost me to fix?

2. Am I ok leaving it for a week or so until I have time to take it to the garage or does it need to be looked at immediately?

As always thanks in advance

Conor_3

The welds fail. Usually a small local exhaust place can spot weld it back on. Either that or just get it cut off. Should be Ok.

My local one cut the one off the wife's Mondeo for free and it ran fine without it.

goldspanners

if its rattling then its loose so it will fall off sooner or later as the holes will be rusted or a bolt head has rusted.
a lot of people will just go under and take it off completly,probably not the best idea as if it didnt need to be there then ford wouldnt have put it there.
take it to a garage get them to put it up on the ramp,it might only take a new bolt and a repair washer to secure it,would be pretty cheap to fix,no more than an hour labour MAX!

zappahey

goldspanners wrote: »

if its rattling then its loose so it will fall off sooner or later as the holes will be rusted or a bolt head has rusted.
a lot of people will just go under and take it off completly,probably not the best idea as if it didnt need to be there then ford wouldnt have put it there.

Removing it's only really an issue if you tend to park on grass. At least I hope so as I'm taking an angle grinder to my noisy shield this weekend

goldspanners

zappahey wrote: »

Removing it's only really an issue if you tend to park on grass. At least I hope so as I'm taking an angle grinder to my noisy shield this weekend

or if its near the fuel tank? the interior carpet? anything else flamable?

zeon999

Just get someone to weld it back on takes 10 mins done loads of them before if its in a real bad way then you can just remove them if its them without any troubles.

zappahey

goldspanners wrote: »

or if its near the fuel tank? the interior carpet? anything else flamable?

The fuel tank's at the back, the cat's at the front.

The interior carpets are, not surprisingly, inside the car; whereas the heatshield is on the bottom of the cat towards the road.