Heat Shield

[russyb]

I seem to have a rattle, which I have been told is the heat shield. I have been looking around, and others have experienced the same thing. The dealer said that this was an

[superdavelotus]

A load of rubbish what the dealer is telling you. I have the same thing happen to mine only 2 months ago. Fixed within 10 minutes (after we had to let the engine cool down). Mine turned out to be a corroded nut which had corroded that bad that it was shaped like a letter C. It's really awkward to get to and you'll need a garage lift to see properly. Even then it's tricky. If the stud is snapped off then get your dealer or go to an independant to get them to put a blob of weld on broken bit to hold the heat shield in place.

Otherwise if you need the stud replacing then Iam afraid it is engine out!!!!

[Rob]

Ditto dave's comments. I had a rattle, fixed last month, just needed a new nut. One side is easier to do than the other..

[superdavelotus]

Rob that was your loose change wasn't it?

Ditto dave's comments.  I had a rattle, fixed last month, just needed a new nut.  One side is easier to do than the other..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[russyb]

Rob that was your loose change wasn't it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks Guys, Will give the independent a go. Should have known the dealer would go straight to the Engine out solution!

[mchlrodrigues]

[...If the stud is snapped off then get your dealer or go to an independant to get them to put a blob of weld on broken bit to hold the heat shield in place.

Otherwise if you need the stud replacing then Iam afraid it is engine out!!!!]

If there's room to get in with a small Tig torch a good welder should be able to weld a bolt or rod onto the broken stud to extract it.

[actwon]

Ditto dave's comments.  I had a rattle, fixed last month, just needed a new nut.  One side is easier to do than the other..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Does anyone have a step-by-step doc that shows how to repair it for the do-it-yourselfers?

[kyliesmith.com]

Nathan, Dave, Rob..... Can someone tell me how to access the heat shields for repair. I am thinking a corroded nut needs replacing with a stainless one, hopefully this is the case. Theres a lot of posts I have searched on in here, which its a common problem. My rattle sounds like its coming from the LH Heat shield and sounds like a tin can on cold start up. My parts manual dosent actually describe where it is on the car.

Do I access underneath, through the wheel?

[cweeden]

So far the focus has been on a rusted or loose nut as the culprit but I was under the impression (and I have first hand experience) that the rattle is caused by the heat shields splitting in the majority of cases. The metal fatigues and splits outwards from the mounting holes. I am pretty sure too that if you need to replace the heat shields then it is a very difficult job to do with the engine in place and you may be 'attacking' the dealers approach as a bad one a little too hastily.

I can't remember where I have seen them but I know one of the parts specialists now supplies replacement heat shields in a thicker grade of stainless to avoid a repeat of the problem.

Kylie, if you don't have a rattle yet I would avoid disturbing them.

Sorry to be the bearer of more doom and gloom but yet again the poor quality of minor components rears its ugly head with Lotus.

Bibs, if you get to ask the factory any more questions can you see if they are going to improve the quality of the fixings on the next Esprit? Have they ever analysed the cost difference in doing so? I bet its not too scary.

cheers

-Chris

[kyliesmith.com]

Hi Chris as mentioned yes it that tinny sound on start-up I am experiencing and it goes away, I assume because the shield has expanded with heat. This in turn I believe it cant be too bad if its still making contact with something?? Its just a gut feeling.

If someone can just say get it up on stands and attack it from underneath through the such and such, well thats a start and what I am asking for to save more grazed nuckles.

Agree as to why the fixings arent in SS for such an amazing super car. It really lets it down. I guess its like anything $$$

[cweeden]

Hi Kylie,

Sorry I thought you were thinking of doing preventative maintenance and didn't realise you had the rattle too.

From beneath the car you will be able to look up at the exhaust manifolds and you should see the heat shields. These are fixed to the manifolds (if memory serves me correctly). Each is secured by one or two nuts, I'm pretty sure it's two. You will need a 6,7 or 8mm spanner, again it's been a while so I can't recall which exactly. A torch will help you too. There is not much space so I bought a small spanner with the built in ratchet in the hopes it would help but really you just need a standard one and be prpared to scrape your knuckles.

I wasn't successful in replacing them with the engine in place. Some think it can be done, if that's true it's not easy.

Mine were both cracked and needed welding. This was done when the engine was out. I would have replaced them with the thicker after market versions if they had been available at the time.

Before they were replaced I wedged a little exhaust repair tape (rolled into a ball) between the engine mount and the shield. This stopped the rattle until it was fixed properly. The tape had a paste inpregnated into it which set hard once it got hot making a pretty good temporary solution.

BTW I recently had another rattle which turned out to be a loose O2 sensor, so check they are tight first because this is much easier to solve.

I hope this helps.

-Chris

[mike_sekinger]

Hi Kylie,

This is one of the most annoying rattles I have ever experiences!

The standard heat shields are made of the crappiest quality thin guage rubbish. If you are going to the trouble of replacing cracked shields or corroded nuts, then you could do a lot worst than get some heavier guage shields either made up or get some from R&B here in Germany.

The R&B ones aren

[kyliesmith.com]

Hi Kylie,

Sorry I thought you were thinking of doing preventative maintenance and didn't realise you had the rattle too.

From beneath the car you will be able to look up at the exhaust manifolds and you should see the heat shields. These are fixed to the manifolds (if memory serves me correctly). Each is secured by one or two nuts, I'm pretty sure it's two. You will need a 6,7 or 8mm spanner, again it's been a while so I can't recall which exactly. A torch will help you too. There is not much space so I bought a small spanner with the built in ratchet in the hopes it would help but really you just need a standard one and be prpared to scrape your knuckles.

I wasn't successful in replacing them with the engine in place. Some think it can be done, if that's true it's not easy.

Mine were both cracked and needed welding. This was done when the engine was out. I would have replaced them with the thicker after market versions if they had been available at the time.

Before they were replaced I wedged a little exhaust repair tape (rolled into a ball) between the engine mount and the shield. This stopped the rattle until it was fixed properly. The tape had a paste inpregnated into it which set hard once it got hot making a pretty good temporary solution.

BTW I recently had another rattle which turned out to be a loose O2 sensor, so check they are tight first because this is much easier to solve.

I hope this helps.

-Chris

Chris many thanks, I will get the car outside in some day light up on stands and have a poke around. Thanks for confirming where to attack from. Ill put plasters on the fingers, better still I might use the other halfs fingers first.

Hi Kylie,

This is one of the most annoying rattles I have ever experiences!

The standard heat shields are made of the crappiest quality thin guage rubbish. If you are going to the trouble of replacing cracked shields or corroded nuts, then you could do a lot worst than get some heavier guage shields either made up or get some from R&B here in Germany.

The R&B ones aren

[cannonball]

I have a 2001 Esprit V8SE. Usual story serious rattling.

 

The garage I went to were able to remove the heat shields with the engine in place but they told me it was too big a job to replace them with new ones without taking the engine out even though I had even bought a pair from R&B in Germany for them to fit!

. 

They told me the heat shields were not necessary anyway??

 

Has anyone got an opinion on this? Can I safely run the car without these heat shields? 

.

 

Cannonball

[sailorbob]

Hmm, I don't think I'd be trusting a garage who don't know what heat shields are for.

[Günter]

if you want to understand 'where & why' there are heatshields on the rear -go there to your car, lean under it on rear, and now look out where the engine mounts and the 'radius arm' mountings are located. You will find 'metalised fibre' heatshields on those rear chassis points for the suspension .. if you are in doubt 'why is this?'  think about it seriosly in terms of 'heat-exploration' vs. 'elastomer degeneration'. Especially with the engine running and the car on 'rest' ..with no air passing 

 

..a second set of heatshield, this is the one prone to crack, is fitted on the exhaust-manifoulds

 

so what your garage sais does not sound like a good opinion 

[swindon_alan]

I think I have this problem too. Groan. It rattles at almost exactly 1,500 rpm, I assume that is the resonant frequency. Nasty tinny sound too. When I first heard it, it frightened the life out of me - checked the dipstick for oil particles yadda yadda...

On 05/03/2008 at 07:05, cweeden said:

Before they were replaced I wedged a little exhaust repair tape (rolled into a ball) between the engine mount and the shield. This stopped the rattle until it was fixed properly. The tape had a paste inpregnated into it which set hard once it got hot making a pretty good temporary solution.

I'm liking the sound of this

The car is going in for a pre-emptive MoT tomorrow morning so while it is up on the lift I'm sure that my friendly tester won't mind me whacking some tape in. Fingers crossed it is that.

[swindon_alan]

Aha! Yes, it is the nearside heat shield! I can reach it down the side of the engine, give it a ping and it rattles and vibrates for ages. Excellent!

It looks like it might be a stainless jobby as it isn't rusty. I will have a better look tomorrow but for now I'm off down the motor factors to get some oscillation damping compound

For reference the exhaust manifold heat shields are:

LHS: A918E0225F
RHS: A918E0226F

SJ do stainless replacements, about £60 each plus VAT and carriage per side.

[Vanya]

On 8/4/2016 at 14:00, swindon_alan said:

I think I have this problem too. Groan. It rattles at almost exactly 1,500 rpm, I assume that is the resonant frequency. Nasty tinny sound too. When I first heard it, it frightened the life out of me - checked the dipstick for oil particles yadda yadda...

Just drive faster. Problem solved

I believe it was a Lotus incentive to get us owners to push the cars a little  

[toyroom]

It's messy, but I made a length of braided stainless wire by putting 4 strands in a vice and the other end in a drilling machine and twisting it until it looked like a nice thin strong rope. I then fed this around the heat shield and manifold and tied it tight using 2 pairs of very long forceps. I then plastered the wire and the heat shield with exhaust putty. It looks awful but you can only see it if you are under the car with a torch and that doesn't happen much on the way to work and is much better than the inward groan you feel when this beautiful car that everyone is staring at in slow traffic suddenly makes a noise like a tin can full of washers. It hasn't rattled since, but when it does, the putty is only $3 a tin!

[mike_sekinger]

Well, that's a different solution :-)

[gmendoza]

I recently installed a set from Ramspott & Brandt and they were great. Reasonably priced too. 

[swindon_alan]

Every time I see a notification about this thread I can't help doing the Apollo 13 film all over again...

"It's the heat shield..."

Incidentally my favourite film EVER