See these pics. What is the piece hanging? And what should I do about it? My Cadillac has a rusted gas line and break line so it made me really nervous driving with this piece hanging. I drove home really slow and made it but haven't taken the car out since yesterday. I want to fix this issue and get back the road again and I figured you guys could help. Thanks in advance.

 

I figured this board was move active and I would have a response by now. At any rate I got a broomstick out and pushed the piece sort of back into place and every so often when I would hear it scraping the ground I would pull over and use the brookstick to fix it. I stopped by a gas station and the guy there told me that this piece protects the muffler and to wait until it cools down and to simply remove it.

Does anybody have a take on this?

 

sorry dude..... looks like a heat shield. without it dont park in hi grass, etc.
fire may start
good luck
rickyd

 

SORRY .. if the post is older than 24 hrs, many of us dont see it. some weird quirk in the software.


I say NO on both accounts.

it is there to protect not the muffler but the surfaces the car goes over frm getting burned.

removing it is not a good idea. Get it fixed or at least tie it up with a wire until you can get it fixed.

actually, I believe is the catalytic and not the muffler .. but i could be wrong.







the SI crowd has been hard at work trying to kill this site with software upgrades.
but I guess we are like a weed, refusing to die.


.

 

So I took the car to a garage to fix a battery that was giving me issues because the compressor keeps draining it's juice trying to level out the rear but won't stop because the air shocks are leaking. While, I'm there I decide to fix the wheel alignment as the car is always leaning left.

What the mechanic discovered is that the engine is only being held up by one engine mount (front passenger). The other 4 have rusted through the frame and are no longer connected.

I now have to make a decision to scrap the car or fix the problem. Any idea how much a job like this costs to fix?

 

depending how rusted the frame is where the motormounts go i would weld up the rusted parts and drill the necessary holes. but judging by the previous pics of underneath of the car it looks like this car has rust everywhere. your best bet is scrap it, sell the good parts off it on ebay or buy another deville and keep the crapy one as a parts car if its worth it. These devilles are a dime a dozen so you could find another one. the only bad thing is GM is slowy discontinuing making parts for these older Devilles so you may have even a harder time finding some after market parts. hopefully you find a solution that you are happy with.

 

I read this thread and really thought "what a bummer", but I took another look at your photo's of the catalytic converter's heat sheild falling off and I thought to myself that if you had 4 of 5 engine-transmission mounts rusted thru,wouldn't the engine-transmision literally be hanging lower than normal which would then put your exhaust system at some crazy angle at the front pipe mounted to the exhaust manifold's y-pipe (this is what they called this piece on my model) and looking at your photo's this condition does not appear to be happening. So with this thought I would get a second opinion on your rusted frame condition before you junk this car. I do alot of repair work for friends and family and I couldn't recount the times I've seen estimates for parts and labor that was NOT NEEDED. This is what I am basing my opinion on, what do you have to lose?

 

I agree with ROADKIN. get a 2nd opinion.

however, if the chassis side of the mounts have rusted out, the powertrain may be merely sitting atop of the frame, or what's left of it. I would exercise caution in driving it, specially on acceleration where the engine could torque itself creating a serious situation, including a rupture fuel line.

if the car is beyond economical repair, 92_Daddylac's suggestion I believe may be the best.

I should also have mentioned that the heat shields on the exhaust are also meant to protect the car itself, aside from the surfaces it drives on.

 

Powertrain is mounted sub frame which is bolted to body. Replacing sub frame is not a major deal. Dealers, transmission, and some other repair shops have equipment to hold powertrain up when sub frame is removed so repairs can be done. Used sub frame should be less than 300.00 labor roughly 4 hours or less. Alignment required. Re-install heat shield so carpet or seat wont catch on fire. If floor pan is rotted where sub frame attaches she is done, and a search for a non "Rust Belt" donor would be in order. 1990 4.5l is its own beast systems differ from 91 and later 4.9l and the base 89 4.5 TBI car. So you would want to keep your car to transfer parts until you get all your bugs worked out if a 90 can't be found.

 

if you look at the pic the top part of the heat shield is ther still. So the bottom part is hanging, i wouldnt see too big adeal removing it either way the heat shields on a lot of cars comes off and hasnt affected people. i also think ive seen cars with catalytic converters that never came with a heat shield.