[DenisMcG]

I bought this car in June with 246000 km on the odo. I have already taken it from Halifax to West of Toronto (6000 km round trip). It has run flawlessly except that I hit a large pothole and cracked the exhaust. One problem was the flange that connects the centre and rear mufflers broke. I had the flanges cut out and a straight pipe welded in. I had another leak somewhere near the center catalytic converter. I couldn't feel it because the heat shield was in the way. I decided to remove all of the heat shielding, except for the short vertical pieces that go up to the manifold. I have to say, that stuff is well engineered. I ended up cutting all of the bolts off, since they were rusted so badly that a wrench was out of the question. Once removed, I found the exhaust leak just at the back part of the converter where the pipe exits. I had it welded yesterday and now have a super quiet car. Hopefully the repair will last a while. Also, I will not reinstall the shielding, at least for now.

 

[Storkiln]

I don't know how far back you cut away on the manifold after the "vertical" parts, but my concern would be for the fluid lines that are running alongside the front sway bar, which the manifold passes by very closely. Maybe the exhaust shields lower the surface temperatures a little to protect the rubber fluid lines in that area.

 

[DenisMcG]

Thanks for the tip. I will have a look to see how close the fluid lines are. Are the lines you mentioned the powere steering lines. To be clear, I did not cut anything away. I simply cuts the bolts off and could reinstall the shields if needed, although it would be difficult. The only area that I saw that is a concern is the inner CV boots. They are a few inches away from the pipes. I will keep an eye on things to see if problems come up.

 

[canubaru]

i guy from the other side of canada on a different board who works on subarus for a living has speculated that no heat shields might lead to a p0420 code, cat inefficiency . so keep an eye out for that just in case.

 

[DenisMcG]

I was expecting a P0420 with the cracked cat, but everything is fine so far. I will keep an eye on things but to be honest I can't see why not having shields would lead to a 420.

 

[Storkiln]

Thanks for the tip. I will have a look to see how close the fluid lines are. Are the lines you mentioned the powere steering lines. To be clear, I did not cut anything away. I simply cuts the bolts off and could reinstall the shields if needed, although it would be difficult. The only area that I saw that is a concern is the inner CV boots. They are a few inches away from the pipes. I will keep an eye on things to see if problems come up.

From memory, I think it is the power steering lines, and both the CV and the steering linkage boots are near that area. But I've also just noticed your signature says you have an H6. I suppose the exhaust manifold is routed similar to the H4.