chronowc

I had a rattling sound develop on my 2004 LS430. Took it to mechanic to take a look at it and it was the heatshield rusted at the bolts and was just resting on the driver side muffler. He just took it off and said it is fine without it.

Just asking as a second opinion, do I really not need this heat shield? Will the residual heat from the muffler cause any damage?


Thanks in advance!

BCT

IMHO I would have it replaced. Look at junkyard, online, or even just cut up a piece of metal about that size and shove/bolt it in there. I am sure Lexus engineer when they design the car, did not put that heat shield in there just for fun.

I also would consider working with different mechanic in the future. I do not know if anything will melt from removing the heat shield. I am pretty sure your mechanic do not know either. But lets say it does cause damage, I do not think your mechanic will reimburse you for the damage.

Htony

Without shield floor will get pretty warm to the point of you can feel it. It is there for a reason.

Kweigel

On mine, the shield had rusted around the nuts that held it up. My mechanic found some spacers larger than the hole, and bolted it back up. You could probably do without it, but the ice cream in your trunk may melt faster!

spiccato

I was going to try to add some washers like Kweigel mentioned, but had trouble getting the bolts off. Instead, I just put a couple of strong neodymium magnets close to the bolt and it seems to work. I put a couple a year ago or so, and added a few more today when it came loose around a couple other bolts. The magnets from last year were still there. Cheap and easy fix.

spiccato

Following up on this; a year later all the magnets are still holding up fine and no rattles. I used about 3 magnets something like .

white_lx

The threaded studs that stick have M6 threads and have quite a bit of extra thread. A stacked fender washer, M10 nut (as a spacer to fit over the factory nut) and an M6 nut will keep the existing shield in place 'forever' without rattling. To make assembly easier, I CA-glue the three parts together first so I don't need three hands.

This works on a lot of different Toyota / Lexus vehicles that all suffer from this problem.