04 exhaust manifold heat shield bolts

[decarabas]

Ok so I find myself again at odds

04 base model. I removed the exhaust manigfold heat shield as the 2 bottom bolts had rusted through the shield and it was rattling somthing fierce. 2 top bolts came out fine but the bottom bolts seem round with a very shallow and not the right shape to put a socket on it. There was some wirey mesh around the bolts that I removed and assumed was some sort of buffer material. So I guess my question is how do you get the bottom bolts out?

Thanks in advance.

[TraumaForYou]

I had the same problem with mine man. My heat shield rusted around a bolt and it rattled like a babies rattle!! I used a rivet gun to attach it back on and it worked beautifully!!! You should give that a try. Rivet gun + heat shield = success

[Derf]

Had similar issue on '05. Appears it may be a common problem in the rust belt. Did not have any rivets big enough, ended up using a hose clamp to keep the heat shield in place. Used arge hose clamp to secure shield (102-152mm Stainless clamp worked fine). Plugging open bolt holes with exhaust repair compound, used Permatex MTK-1 Item 80335 (used before on several other projects holds up well).
Missing bolts, open holes in exhaust manifold letting gasses out

Vibe_heat_bolt2.jpg (26.18 KiB) Viewed 1536 times

Hose clamp in place and holes plugged.

Vibe_heat_bolt3.jpg (27.91 KiB) Viewed 1536 times

[lannvouivre]

Leaking exhaust gases!? Looks like I need to get mine out of storage and inspect it; didn't notice anything like that...