Loose Heat Shield and New Starter

They always fall off. Just stay off dry grass. You're lucky you got two years out of a reman starter.

1. The catalytic converter heat shield on my 96 Maxima fell of years ago. Here in the midwest it happens a lot (according to my dealer). The dealer is the one who actually yanked it off. I agree with your mechanic's assessment.

1. When I replaced my starter 2 years ago, I chose a reman Nissan unit

- to avoid going through what you just did. I wasn't able to find a "new" starter at the time, but was assured that the Nissan rebuilt ones have entirely new internals - so as good as new.

Cheers. Nirav

My mechanic also said I was lucky to get two years out of it. I'll see how long this "new" one lasts. It has a two year warranty vs. 1 year for the reman. In the 2+ years since I bought the car used, it has been great other than needing two starters.

The exhaust system on this car is too expensive. Having to purchase a new cat to get a new heat shield is stupid. these cheap parts that always fail should either be re-designed or made easily replaceable on their own.

I needed a new F-Pipe and the dealer wanted $1200.00. I found a small firm that made F-Pipes out of Stainless Steel for $250.00 and I paid a guy $250.00 to put it on. He was so careful, he got the old pipe off and didn't strip or break a single bolt. A true Pro.

The only problem was, the new pipe came without the mini-cats. I wonder how my next emissions test will turn out.

rtt