Rear Heat Shield/Muffler Shield Replacement on 2005?

Hello everyone!

OK - quick question (or maybe not):

Similar situation to some other folks on this forum - in December 2016, I was idling in a line to get out of a crazy holiday parking lot when I heard it: the horrible sound of something going on with the exhaust on my 2005 Prius (~185k miles). Once I got to my driveway, I laid on the ground, shimmied as far under the car as I could, and saw it: the heat shield (or whatever that is) that is mounted over the muffler has rusted through one of the two or three bolts that secure it and is now resting atop my muffler, thereby generating that awful noise.

Went online, tried to find a replacement part (see pic - taken from Dave Wigstone's blog, which had terrific images of this exact item) but wasn't ready to commit, thinking that I could rig it to work well enough to get through the insane holiday travel driving I was scheduled to do in the coming week or so.

Instead, I went to Lowe's and bought a large aluminum washer (about 1.5" dia), got back under the car, used a socket wrench to remove the bolt, placed the washer on the rusted out section (just rusted enough for the bolt to remain in the frame), and re-inserted the bolt. Hurray, I thought - I fixed it!

Annnnd now, here we are, the noise has returned and the rusted out hole is obviously much larger. I suppose that makes sense, it was really just a quick fix and wasn't meant to be permanent. However, I'm wondering if this is a repair I can do completely on my own or if it's so important (I suspect this part is pretty crucial, as I think it shields the hybrid battery from any heat generated by the exhaust) that I should order the part myself and have my dude do it at my next oil change.

I have other questions for the "probably shouldn't DIY-er" (including, but not limited to: replacing my own stupid cracked fog lights, cleaning out the hybrid battery fan vent in the back, etc.) but I think this is an easy one to start with.

Any thoughts? Should I just order the shield and go for it? Not exactly sure, with the weird schematic drawings online, if I would actually end up ordering the correct item.

Thanks everyone! LOVE this site!

k8

 

Thanks so much for the reply! That is a really interesting idea you have there... If the JB Weld compound can handle the heat down there (it won't be ON the muffler but really CLOSE - the JB epoxy I saw online rated it safe to 500*f?), that would maybe do the job as long as I can somehow stabilize the bond long enough for it to cure. Might take another larger washer but I'm down for the <$10 trick!
And I don't know if the shield itself is aluminum but I think the washers I used were. Or, they're zinc something or other. Clearly, I put a lot of thought into that.
THANK YOU!