So my mom took her Camry to Bob Smith Toyota this morning for it's 15,000 mile check-up. I just happened to check under the hood to make sure everying is cool since we're going out of town and the heat shield is missing! It was easy for me to spot since the Camry has the same engine as my tC.

So now we're going to have to go out of our way and swing by the dealer first thing in the morning. What I'm wondering is, why in the heck would they remove it?

From your experience with 15,000 mile check-ups on your auto tC's, is there anything they need to check under the heat shield? I want to double check with you guys so they don't try to give me a BS answer. I can't wait to go down there and hear what they have to say.

We have the worse luck with dealers... *sigh*

p.s. Sorry if I posted in the wrong section. Wasn't really sure where to put this.

 

uhmm... did you see the heat shield being there before you took it in? are you completely sure they stole it during that checkup/visit?

no reason to remove it for 15K maintenance

 

'sup Trung. I'm positive that thing was on there before the car was taken in. I even checked the oil a week ago and it was there. Nobody touches that car aside from the dealer and myself. I mean, I can understand if removing it was part of the check-up and they might have forgotten to put it back on. But even then, shouldn't they realize they have an extra heat shield lying around at the end of the day? This blows. I can't wait to talk to them in the morning...err.... in a couple hours haha... Well I'm off to bed. Thanks for the reasurance.

 

well granted i have no idea to every specific detail to what the 15K maintenance entails.... but taking off heat shield? very unlikely...

hope things work out.

 

Is the heat sheild even necessary... Aftermarket header don't need heat sheilds... IMO, I don't think a big fuss should be made for a bent piece of metal.

But if its worth the time for you to get it back, go for it. Let us know what happens!

 

i think it's there to just prevent stupid ppl from burning themselves.

 

+1

 

haha... but that's besides the point. okay, i just went down there and the guy was so freak'n rude. he said that the car doesn't come with one!! he was like, "some have them, some don't". i was starting to tell him how it was there before, how it looked like the one on my tc, and he's like "you can't compare them. different cars." i was like, ummm... it's the exact same engine". to which he replies, "can't compare them".

now i'm searching around the camry forums. i also think i'm going to call toyota and see what they have to say about this.

 

wow...he probably took it off to put on someone elses car. i'd tell him that he either replaces the piece of metal that costs five dollars, or you go elsewhere from now on with all of your cars. Also tell him that you plan on calling toyota corporate over this and blowing this up...its not about the $5 heat shield, but about the principal. wow, i'm so sick of dealers dude!

 

talk to the srevice manager...if he pushes you, push hardder


that does work go to general manager..


that does work, cuss them, then leave....


i know theirs a scion corp.....dontknow if toyota has the same thing/ how they work...

 

Exactly, its the principal behind it that gets me upset. i could care less about the piece of bent metal. Well i called toyota but because of the holidays they are closed. i will have to wait until tuesday. i really didnt want to let too much time go by but oh well, nothing i can do right now. i want to give toyota my vin and see what they tell me. i also know the owner of the dealer and he is definitely going to hear about this.

 

If your Camry was bought new in CA, then it has the PZEV exhaust manifold. This manifold does not come with a "manifold insulator" (heat sheild).

The easiest way to tell is to see if the oxygen sensor is mounted directly on top of the manifold or on the side of it. If it's on the top, then you have a PZEV manifold, which equals no insulator.....which being in CA it probably is a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) 2AZ enigne.

BTW, the manifold insulator is there to help retain some of the exhaust heat to route it out the tailpipe where it belongs, not to protect someone from burning themselves....has it gets quite hot when the engine is running. Hence, the term "manifold insulator".

 

watching.. i want to see what happens

 

thats what i was going to say but he said he did see one there before. also the 15k is only an oil change, tire rotation, brake inpection and an overall inspection, there is no reason to take the heat shield off.

 

You really should check into whether the car actually had one. Honestly nobody is going to steal your heat shield. The dealer was right to say that some cars have them and some cars don't. Also the Tc and Camry do not have the exact same engine. Yes they are both 2az-fe's and have the same internals, however not everything external is the same. Next you will start telling us the dealer stole your "dogbone" mount on the passenger side of your tc.

 

Although the 15k doesn't require it to be taken off, you all are assuming that the dealer is honest. They could have taken it off to give to someone else or even for one of their own cars. It may be malicious, or it may be a mistake....a mistake doesn't seem possible since it wouldn't come off for the 15k inspection. If the car didn't have one, thats another story, but if it did and it was only there for a 15k inspection, one must deduce that its malicious

 

You know what, you can read my post about my very recent experience at longo with my tc and you will know why i dont trust dealers anymore. all i know is that i checked the oil a week ago and nothing stood out. yesterday i open the hood and it's the first thing i noticed. but hey, i could be wrong. i am away from the car for the weekend so for now it will have to wait.

 

As I mentioned above, not all 2AZ engines have an insulator. Again, if your mom's car was bought new in CA, it is a PZEV 2AZ engine, with no exhaust manifold insulator. Non-CA 2AZ Camrys have a completely different manifold with an insulator.

By no means am I saying that your are lying....just that maybe you didn't really notice the manifold before. I have to say that a PZEV manifold is a rather unfinished looking piece, in your defense.

Throw up a pic and I can tell you which one you have.

 

Thanks for the info you provided. i will check it out when i get back on monday. i just wish the guy would have given me an educated response like you did. it certainly doesnt add any comfort when they respond in a rude fashion. the car was purchased new in cali so you are probably right. i guess my mind is tripping.

 

Well, I finally got around to looking into the issue. xA_Factor, thank you for the information you provided. Upon inspecting the header, the oxygen sensor is indeed mounted on top and not on the side.

So, it would seem I was mistaken and I apologize for that. I shouldn't have jumped to a conclusion that something was taken from the car, although in my defense it has happened to me in the past where a mechanic who drives a similar car decides to take or swap parts with my car. Any how, I guess after my very recent experience at Longo, I've become even more cautious with dealers. It really did seem like something was missing, considering I had checked the oil a week before and nothing caught my attention, but I think knowing that the car had just come back from its 15k mile check-up made me observe things a little closer and obviously my mind was playing games with me. Also, so you can understand where I'm coming from, here's a picture of the engine bay from a similar camry:



Looking at that manifold, two things that struck me were 1) there is a heat shield at the bottom, and 2) there appears to be mounting brackets at the top. Now, why would Toyota spend money to manufacture the latter if they didn't serve a purpose? *shrug*

Regardless of all that, if the guy at the dealer had not been rude and had given me a solid answer like xA_Factor, I would have had some peace of mind and wouldn't have come on here asking for help. But once again, scionlife members proved to have more knowledge than the dealer guys and came through, so thank you for the help.