As I prepare to sell my beloved '04 2.7t ( https://www.audiforums.com/forum/sho...18#post1254518 ) I struggled for weeks trying to track down a "tinging" that was growing in annoyance while at a stop in idle.

FINALLY today it was traced to the heat shield above the the drivers side pre-cat. They had just gotten it removed at 5:00 when I showed up to pick the car up, so they did not replace it. They also said that unless I was planning to drive like I was on the autobahn daily that having it removed would not be an issue because of redundant heat shields in that area.

What are your thoughts? Pointless to replace or not?

 

Not.

If you have a misfire... it will get super hot, and lets face it Audi should have named at least one model misfire.

I would want something there as extra protection that it's not going to melt wires etc... that are close by.

 

That was exactly my first question to the mechanic; "Okay is there any wiring conduit near there?" He said he checked and that there wasn't.

It's apparently a redundancy since there is the thicker heat shielding that is made with the asbestos (or whatever fire retardant material they use now) surrounding the area around the heat shield that we removed, which is made out of aluminum from the looks of it.

I haven't had a chance to visually check it myself because I don't know the best way to get a look at it. I'm assuming I have to get it up on the ramps and look from the bottom up.

 

The shield probably serves to keep most of that hot air out of the engine bay. There are a large number of plastic bits and heat turns them to dust. Even if you aren't driving like a manic teenager, just a few scoots around traffic can get those turbos glowing and things in the engine get seriously hot.

I've actually been considering taking mine out and thermal coating them to make them more effective.