The top heat shield on my muffler was loose and when I took it to a shop the mechanic just took it off and told me to come back when something serious was wrong with the car.
Do I need it ?..
Yes. Find a better mechanic.
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The replacement mufflers at Rock Auto don’t have heat shields, that is usually an OEM feature.
It should be reinstalled - although it seems the bottom half was already gone? Long worm-drive hose clamps can do it.
Above the muffler?
I wouldn’t worry about it.
The heat shields for the catalytic converter on my Honda rusted off years ago.
No problem.
Tester
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Aren’t Heat shields over the catalytic converters rather than muffler?
Agree with @Tester – I’ve had lots of Hondas that have lost their above-cat heat shields. I just drive on.
But if you’re the type who keeps driving around instead of pulling over when the check engine light is flashing, then you might want to re-think that. Engine problems can cause the cat to heat up beyond expectations at which point the heat shield can become important.
My bender guy spot welded it back on for $10, my philosophy if it was not needed they would not have gotten it past the bean counters to include it.
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My brother in law had the carpets of his Ford burn up when the car went out of tune, and the Cat without a shield seriously overheated.
And he couldn’t smell anything before that happened?
Tester
That’s my take as well. In general, cars don’t have unnecessary parts.
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He was driving with the windows open and by the time he smelled it the scorching was well enough advanced. Of course he pulled over at a service station and doused the floor with water.
This has been discussed previously where I also described my experience with almost starting carpet on fire. By the time you realize what’s going on, the cat is red hot. But it’s being cooled by airflow. It gets even hotter when you stop and that’s when mine really started smoking. I wasn’t fortunate enough to be near any water source or other means of help at the time…
Yes, but that doesn’t mean that some cars also need them over the muffler.
My father’s '59 Plymouth Belvedere had a rubber mat floor covering, rather than carpeting, and the amount of heat radiating through the floor on the passenger side of the car was… disturbing.
Yes, I had a Buick Electra, the tail pipe from the resonator broke off, before I got it replaced the heat partially melted my tail light lense.