Loose Underbody Shield

[lizharper]

I have a '94 Expl. Sport with 87,000 miles. Underneath the car there are a couple welded-on shields. One on the driver's side was loose and started to rattle like crazy and a mechanic just took it off and said everything would be okay without it. By the way, I only drive on paved roads. Anyway, that was about 1 year ago and now a different shield on the passenger side has come loose. I looked under there and it doesn't seem to be covering anything that moves, but 3 of the 4 welds have broken. I want to know if I can just take this shield off. Are any of those protective shields vital to the truck?

 

[TPLYNCH]

Those are the heat shields for the catalytic converters. As long as you don't park in tall grass or over leaves after the engine is hot, you should be ok without them. People have fixed using clamps to keep them from rattling.

Welcome to the board!

 

[ctresky]

I am actually having the same problem with my 97 V8. I was told just to take them off. i was wondering is this is something that i could do, or do I need to take it to the shop.

 

[Anime]

clamps

Ford actually had a TSB on this because it was such a common problem.

To fix any of the loose exhaust shields (cats, pipe, etc) just take a trip to your local auto store or even wallyworld and pick up some hose clamps (radiator hose type) It takes one big one and one small one put together to go around the converters, or just link several small ones together. I suggest going around each converter in the front and back in case the first set of clamps fails. I'd also do this even if your welds havent let go yet- keep you from losing the shields on the road.

I doubt it makes a huge difference in performance or anything, but it is nice having a little something between your hot exhaust and brush/leaves or whatever you're driving over like TPLYNCH said.

 

[Hartman]

'94 with 87,000 miles? Impressive!

 

[diablo5969]

Originally posted by lizharper
I want to know if I can just take this shield off. Are any of those protective shields vital to the truck?

Yep, I have the same year with the same problem. I lost one on a dirt road, and I just ripped another one off when it started to rattle.

Originally posted by Hartman
'94 with 87,000 miles? Impressive!

Mine only has 82,000

 

[Maniak]

I ripped the first one off our 1992 at about 180k miles.. and ripped the rest off (actually I hit it with a sledge hammer) at about 220k miles.

You don't need them.. they are cooler than the Cat/resonator so when something is up against them (like brush) there is less chance of a fire starting.

~Mark

 

[lizharper]

Thanks everyone! I went straight out to the driveway, scooted under the car and ripped that loose shield right off. I no longer have to worry about it coming off on the highway and slamming into the car behind me. And, as advised, I will be careful not to park over tall grass. Aaah, the silence......

 

[Ray Lobato]

Hi lizharper,
If you by any chance ever think you might want to do any off roading, you might want to save that shield to put back on if you dece you really like do that sort of stuff. It will save you the trouble of having to find another one. There have been many here that never thought that they would like 4wheeling, and ended up really getting inot it. Just a thought.

 

[01EB5.0]

Hey here's an interesting one for you guys: I have had an annoying rattle since I bought the truck. I removed 3 sheilds off the exhaust and crossover pipe. the sound is still there. last time i was changing T-case fluid I saw a piece of metal stuck INSIDE my cat sheild between the cat itself and the sheild. the sheild is totally in tact and i have no clue where this piece of metal came from or how to get it out without cutting the sheild off.

 

[01EB5.0]

BTW: The piece of metal is about the size of a square post-it note

 

[Alec]

I work at a summer camp in central Texas where those shields are very necessary. I've seen many a brush fire started by vehicles parked off-road. Most of the time its by police cruisers who're pulled over helping or ticketing someone. I smoldered some grass once with Splat even with the shields on. It was kinda close. That's the main reason I got the fire extinguisher, for brush fires.

 

[01EB5.0]

That is a good point Alec. I should carry one also. The only part of my exhaust that still has sheilds are the cats and there is 1 sheild left on one of the pipes right before the cats. other then that the rest are gone. The old ford exhaust had sheilds on the muffler i think, but my new Borla is just bare so I need to watch out.