A few weeks back, I started a thread inquiring about a fourth screw my mechanic said is missing. I now had it up on the rack and attached is a photo. Is he correct? At 13,000 miles, I’m under warranty. He advised I report it to Lexus. I did. They said bring it in. Involves 100 miles of driving and I don’t want to make the trip if it’s a false alarm. My mechanic said nothing is leaking and it’s causing no harm but get the screw replaced anyway while warranty applies. Note the fourth hole with no screw in it.

 

If that was my car I'd want that fastener in there.

 

In this case that’s how it comes from the factory. Only three bolts.

 

Absolutely. But, amazingly, another guy posted the below picture regarding another subject in another thread. If I'm not mistaken, his is "missing" also. Makes me wonder if there's simply no screw inserted at build.

 

[QUOTE=ES 350
Mechanic says "Ya just look on the back manifold leading to the head---rear downpipes where it bolts to the head..."
Now that's Greek to me but it might shed some additional light on the issue. Why would they intentionally leave the hole unfilled?

 

Any notion at all why they would want it that way?
If that's correct, you guys just saved me a 100 mi. wasted trip to the dealership. Many thanks.Wonderful forum.

 

I don’t know why but I know that they exit the factory with “only” three bolts. They are very stiff shields and 3 bolts are more than enough.





The shield on the other side is held by three same bolts.

 

Thank you very much. Saved me a trip to the dealer.
Oddities abound!

 

I don't see any picture?
Edit: NVM it's my VPN, I can see the picture.

 

The impression I get from the actual photo and your parts diagram is there are 3 bolts holding the shield on, which I can see, but the actual exhaust flange where it bolts to the engine is still missing a fastener. I'm going to attempt to photoshop up something...

 

Here is my photoshop attempt - red circle shows missing fastener location (maybe?) - green circles show the 3 heat shield fasteners.

Now that I look at it again, I suspect there should have been a stud in the engine and a nut that bolts that flange on where the fastener is missing. This must be deliberate??? It would be nice if another V6 owner could snap a photo of their front exhaust flange connection, my hybrid engine is different.

 

Here is a picture of a 2019. I posted it above also. It appears to show the 4th hole without as screw in it, as well.

 

Also, I thought the screw was missing from the hole right, top. Not any you have circled. But I'm way out of my wheelhouse on this stuff.

 

First of all, I was wrong, I was looking at the manifold shield.
The missing stud in question is one of the 4 studs that hold the manifold itself.
I said missing, because it is missing.

According to the diagram, there should be 8 studs, 4 on each bank:




This is how it should look like:






So the trip to the dealer is a must.



But, there’s one more theory. Maybe they had put the stud in the middle hole, behind the O2 sensor because I can see there a nut:

 

Just to be safe, we’ll take a drive up to Naples and have them check it out. I’ll show them your post. I’ll get a completed work order either way and be protected by having it either fixed or a paper in my back pocket, so to speak, to protect me. We’ll do lunch and make a day of it. Not so bad…