God-awful heat shield rattle

For the better part of the last 6-8 months, I’ve been dealing with a loud and very frustrating (what I believe to be a) heat shield rattle coming from my 2008 NA Outback. I’ve had the shop I take my car to look at it twice already. Trying to locate the exact area it’s coming from (not obvious), even tig welding it in a few places, with no luck. The sound usually comes back a week or 2 later. Cold starts are the worst and it’s even prevalent when shifting from 1-2, 2-3 and sometime higher depending on the RPMs (the higher they are the more likely I’ll hear it.)

 

I guess my question is, if it’s not the heat shield around the header, what else could it be? It sounds like it’s coming directly under the engine. My other question is, if I can’t remedy the situation and I stuck with just replacing the header altogether?

 

Hoping to hear some opinions on this. Thanks.

Usual way of fixing heat shields & their rattles is to use a hose clamp to tie it tighter to the exhaust or just rip the damn thing off.

My next step was to just take them off but wasn't sure if they were any absolute necessity.

Honda strap them...

Honda strap them...

 

I'm not a regular in the Honda game... but it sounds ghetto

Remove them. I have used DEI heat wrap as best I can to replace the heat shields.

 

I removed the big over the mid pipe years ago. You don't need it.

Thanks for the input. Sounds like the way to go.

I'm not a regular in the Honda game... but it sounds ghetto

It's the hose clamp routine. Learned it with my '97 Civic EX way back when.

Same issue here with my Legacy. Damned if I can find which ones are loose and rattling when the engine is cold.

 

I don't think its a good idea to remove them. If the exhaust manifold is very hot and water gets splashed up from the road I do believe they are much more likely to crack.

Had same thing on an 08 outback.... I cut it off. Case closed.

Check the shield on the 2nd cat- that was making me nuts for a week. A hose clamp fixed it for me.

 

If all else fails, start it cold and put your hand on each section of shielding, top and bottom. Watch for turning belts/pulleys, you probably need all your fingers.

Check the shield on the 2nd cat- that was making me nuts for a week. A hose clamp fixed it for me.

 

Yup, that what finally fixed it for me. I put a hose clamp on the front of that shield and another just in front of that on the header shield.

 

Only cost $3 of fix as well.

 

I'm in bad shape...an intermittent tin can sounding rattle has got more frequent and louder at lower RPMs and sometimes when i start it up on a very hot day...pls advise as it is the only thing I dislike about my subie.

 

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Depends on what is causing the rattle.

 

It's a little ghetto, but on my car I had a rattle coming from the rear catalytic converter heat shields. Drilled a small hole in the heat shield, and put a small sheet metal screw in there until it made contact with the pipe to brace the shield.

 

Honestly, I actually got this idea from what a subaru tech did to my car a year earlier. I asked them to see if they could fix my heat shield rattle in another spot, and that's what the tech did.

Depends on what is causing the rattle.

 

It's a little ghetto, but on my car I had a rattle coming from the rear catalytic converter heat shields. Drilled a small hole in the heat shield, and put a small sheet metal screw in there until it made contact with the pipe to brace the shield.

 

Honestly, I actually got this idea from what a subaru tech did to my car a year earlier. I asked them to see if they could fix my heat shield rattle in another spot, and that's what the tech did.

 

What he said ^^^ Self tapping screws work the best when the whole shield is loose around the pipe but still intact.