Plainhaven

Hello from Ohio! I searched the forums but couldn't find a consistent answer so wanted to post this directly.

The heat shield just above the catalytic converter just dropped loose today(looks like the four bolt holes all corroded and it fell loose). It looks to be the "Right Manifold Heat Shield" as far as I can tell (there is a heat shield covering the "driver's side" top of the cat converter, which I believe is the "Left Manifold Heat Shield").

I'm planning on getting some larger washers or small pieces of sheet metal to allow me to put the heat shield back in place (will be a pain getting at the bolts) but I can't do it today and my son was planning on using this vehicle to drive to Washington DC tomorrow and then back on Friday.

My question is, is there a problem and/or is it unsafe to drive without this heat shield in place? Called my Lexus service guy and he said most folks don't replace them when they come off and he didn't think it would be a problem. It's cold weather and _I_ don't think it would be a problem either, but I wanted to ask you guys.

Nothing "meltable" seems to be too close, although there is a rubber hose 3 or so inches aft of the cat (not sure what that hose is) and above the cat there's some kind of rectangular housing that looks like made of hard plastic, but I'm thinking there's enough distance between them and the cat converter to be okay.

Sorry for the long post but would appreciate your thoughts.

exmeaguy

Mine fell off the summer of 2015 as I was heading to the beach. I bought the heat shield but have not replaced it. I have looked underneath and I see no visible issues of not having it on. Maybe one of these days I will install it.