heat shield rattle?

[glyn]

got a rattle from the engine on my 2.7t s4 between 1000 and 2000 revs. thought it was pinking at first but its too hard. a local garage thinks it is a heat shield on the exhaust?
is this common?
is it easy to fix?
glyn

[Harper--D]

Heat sheild on the exhaust?? Where abouts?
Dave.

[s4woody]

you can get to the 2 10mm bolts from the top but if its broken on the underside then its more involved..

[okkim]

Almost all heat shealds get cracked. But usually it doesn't make any rattling, or it is very small sound.

What year is your car? If it's pre-facelift, it is very likely that the rattling comes from the exhaust manifolds. That is not easy to fix. Check the sound from my web-page and compare it to yours: http://www.valitalo.org/manifold.htm

[PaulyS4]

Sounds like the manifolds too me too. I have just had mine repaired at my local audi specialist and it was an engine out job. There is a shim inside the manifold the works loose, you can weld them up or jet some new ones. I had mine welded up as doug at MRC said that it would be ok to do so. While they are off check the turbos as mine had play in the turbines, so the have been referbed and moddifided and when you have gone that far i also had a cambelt kit, waterpump,rocker gaskets and silicone hose set with a bill of £2100. I have just had an MRC remap and the car now pushes a healthy 342bhp on the RR!!!!!!!

[kies4]

get it sorted ASAP it will only kill your turbos if it the dreaded manifold issue. I took my preface lift to audi to have it checked before i paid for it. The diagnosed the rattle as heat shields, 5k later the manifold came apart and took out the cats and turbos. If you've got some dosh to play with might as well get kk04's on. I have some later manifolds with the issue resolved (seam welded and not spot welded if i rememeber rightly) if you need some at a later stage.

[tjd100]

don't assume the worst - symptoms sound very similar to mine (on a pre-facelift). Took me ages to find but was indeed a heat shield rattle - right exhaust manifold under the header tank. Made a temp fix by stuffing a bit of wire wool between heatshield and manifold - OK it's a bit of a bodge but cured the rattle and imagine it can take a hot spot...

[s4woody]

not for too long..wire wool can be burned with a lighter..and im sure it would soon shrink in size and start to rattle again..

[tjd100]

well i did say temp fix - although it's six months in and still working. Also not sure an exhaust manifold reaches quite the same temperature as a lighter (400+?) but it'll certainly oxidise in time ... I'll take it out the when I'm next working on the car & find out what's happened to it.

I guess the alternative is to apply some pressure and bend the shield some, but then there's always the risk you'll break something.

Otherwise the only choice is to do it properly!

[UKS4APR1]

not for too long..wire wool can be burned with a lighter..and im sure it would soon shrink in size and start to rattle again..

Try silver paper / cooking foil eg "Bacofoil"