Had a rattle (1st since owning for 3 years) which I thought was coming from the boot area. Did the usual of checking for loose stuff and came up with nothing. Parked on the drive and I could still hear a faint rattle. Looked underneath and discovered the thin textured alloy shield which goes over part of the exhaust just in front of the back box was torn in half and hanging by a thread. The wind was blowing it causing the continued rattle. The merest of pulls and the piece about 6 inches long came away. The remainder seemed to be firmly in place.
How important is this shield? Should I get a new one or is it not worth bothering with? To be honest I can't see that the bit that fell off would do very much anyhow. Just thought I'd ask the collective wisdom of the group as to whether I should worry or not. FL2 Metropolis, Loire Blue, ebony/ivory

When I traded my last FL2 in it had developed an annoying rattle as you pull away and I am pretty sure that it came from the heat shield. However despite many attempts at crawling underneath car I never managed to stop it completely. Luckily they didn't even bother to drive it as they just went on full LR service history and mileage (which they didn't check either). 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

I've had loads of cars come in over the years with the heat shield hanging off. If I couldn't re-attach them using repair washers, I'd remove them. Did that on a few of my own cars too. Never had any problems. Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Say 500,000 FL2's were made and the shield cost upwards of a £1 to make an accountant would be asking the engineers "do we really need it as we can save X pounds"

That said if it was for a specific market where outside temperatures are a tad warm it would be cheaper to run them all down the same line using the same parts than having to order and store many differing parts for differing areas of the World.

Are you in Warranty ? If so go get it changed out. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

My one got pulled off about 18 months ago and is yet to catch fire or melt wiring. So dare I say it it would have happened by now if it was going to.

Well it is still in warranty so before booking it in I decided to have a closer look. The heat shield seems to be held in place by a few studs with nuts and spreader washers. The part that came off is from the very front edge back to where the 1st row of nuts lie on the r/h side. The rest of the shield is solid and still firmly attached. The mirror of the part which came off on the l/h side seems to splay down about an inch and seems ripe to get caught on something which is what I recon happened to the other bit. Given my nearest dealer is 30 miles away and the bit that came off does not seem to have exposed anything, I think I'll just leave it as it is. FL2 Metropolis, Loire Blue, ebony/ivory

Mine was rattling and I pulled it off and drove it for a further 4 years with no issues

My Freelander 2 developed the heat shield rattle so I asked my mechanic to sort it out. Unfortunately, in removing it, he seems to have caught part of the rear parking sensor and I now have no rattle or parking sensors. Dammit! Back to the garage tomorrow.

2015...... warranty!

It would be a claim if it was not build for purpose (the car is sold as a 4WD & most of the advertising shows back country driving) regardless of warranty under Fair Trading in Australia. I believe you have similar laws & it should be fixed as it ws not designed as fit to cope with a few twigs under the car!

If it comes off due to a few twigs it has not been designed properly! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Thread resurrection alert! I chanced upon this while looking at rattles and it's worth mentioning that the 'new' MOT regards a loose or missing heatshield as a fail.

I agree with cars being fit for purpose but will a tester be able to decide if a heat shield is missing with so many differing cars on UK roads.

What worries me more is how so many cars have faulty lights, they can't have all passed MOT tests so we need dedicated road cops back and crush persistent offenders off the road. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

rpaterson wrote:

Thread resurrection alert! I chanced upon this while looking at rattles and it's worth mentioning that the 'new' MOT regards a loose or missing heatshield as a fail.

Another scare story

Have had many, many cars pass with missing Shields since May

Really? My reliable place tell me that it's one of the new things they're supposed to fail you for. Having said that, they don't mind my aftermarket HIDs. I guess you could be OK if you stay away from places like Kwik-Fit etc.

New failures
There are new failures for:
missing shields on:
fuel tank
exhaust
any part of a gas fuel system being defective
bumper security
spare wheel carrier condition
towbar safety devices and coupling indicators
cab security
floor condition
seat structure condition
cab steps
footrests and handgrips (where fitted)
significant reduced rigidity of the vehicle’s structure
exhaust fumes entering cabin (extended to all vehicles)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications...ttachments FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Do a search on "hot turbo" & you get some interesting photos. Hot exhaust is not quite so dramatic.

You might just want to think again about heat shields! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18