[Vern in IL]

'14 Note, I keep getting this ratter on the exhaust, a heat shield keeps getting hit by road stones and causes rattle.


Is this defective, or poor design?

 

[JayxSnoogans]

I've got the same deal in my 07

 

[jas32]

'14 Note, I keep getting this ratter on the exhaust, a heat shield keeps getting hit by road stones and causes rattle.

Is this defective, or poor design?

Must be defective, no such noise on my 14 Note. Should be under warranty.

 

[Note-ified]

Must be defective, no such noise on my 14 Note. Should be under warranty.

nothing on mine either and agreed, warranty

 

[V1.8S]

I had the same on my 09, pins which held heat shield fell off

 

[Vern in IL]

Can I just remove it? All it's made of is aluminum foil....?

I don't see how a new shield is going to help, one stone and it will be rubbing the exhaust again..... I drive fast down gravel roads.

 

[Note-ified]

Can I just remove it? All it's made of is aluminum foil....?

I don't see how a new shield is going to help, one stone and it will be rubbing the exhaust again..... I drive fast down gravel roads.

you can, but depending on where it is located you may be risking melting some of the plastic components inside the engine bay which the heat shield is designed to protect. cant remember off hand where the heat shield is located on the Note, but you may want to check around it to make sure there aren't any delicate plastic pieces nearby to it.

 

[Vern in IL]

The heat shield is right before the rear muffler held on by two 10mm nuts.

 

[07Versa6MT]

Pics of this new Note would help. In the first gen Versa's the heatshields are held on by big spring clip washers that thread onto studs in the body, usually in the salt belts the studs and the spring washers rust and fall off. In most cases you can remove heatshields with no ill effects. The only place i would keep them on is near the cats for obvious reasons (cats get much hotter than the normal exhaust temp from the reactions inside). The only thing that i would watch out for is how close the e-brake cables are. If you ever melt off the sheathing for e-brake cables it's bad news bears. Water gets on the cable itself, it starts rusting, and in a couple years or when you go in for safety you have seized e-brake cables and have to buy new cables. Always seize up more frequently in any automatic because 90% of auto drivers never use their ebrake, hell in many cases they seize up just from not being used.

 

[Note-ified]

The heat shield is right before the rear muffler held on by two 10mm nuts.

ok, i think i know the one you are talking about...located near the spare tire right? if so i think that one should be fine to just remove as most of the parts that surround it are all metal with the exception of the fuel tank and the rubber bushings for the coil spring. i would check and see if there is any room to tighten the hangars near the muffler though cause it may just be that the muffler is hanging to low causing the rest of the piping to rub against the heat shielding in that area.

 

[theSaj]

My heat shield was just serviced again today. It's been replaced twice already. (Along with the transmission.)

This time they just put some large aftermarket washers on it to hold it more firmly.

:-|