Okay, so I'm not a car expert by any means what so ever (just thought I would get that out of the way).

Recently I started hearing a rattling noise that sounded like it was coming from under my car whenever it reached around 2,000 - 2,100 RPM. Being the investigator that I am I discovered that there is some kind of panel hanging under my car, resting on my muffler.

So, I have a few questions:

1) What is it? What does it do?
2) How do I take it off? Should I take it off?
3) How much does a replacement cost? Is it easy to fix?

I have attached a couple of photos so that you can look at it. It looks like the corners have split, which means that screwing it back on is not an option for me.

Thank you very much for your time.

 

1. It's a heat baffle plate. It directs the flow from going up to the car.

2. Better to have the heat baffle there. It is bolted on.

3. You may not need to replace the baffle plate depending on if its is only a few of the bolts that came off. If that is the case, you just need to get a few new bolts and bolt it back in place.

If the plate holes ripped off from the bolts, then the plate can be replaced. The heat baffle plate list price is around $41 from Honda. Note that many local dealerships mark-up over list.