[thad_]

Hey guys,

I've been hearing a rattling coming from the passenger side. I'd hear it if I was going slowly and hitting any sort of bump or minor chatter at all - I was imaging suspension parts falling apart or ball joints shearing - all sorts of horrors. I couldn't place it, heat shields were fine, muffler seemed a bit shaky but the hangers are all intact. I was under the truck with a dead blow smacking things about to break out the welder and start sealing up gaps in the muffler to feel like I was doing something. Lo and behold, I looked up towards the engine compartment and saw this little guy just loosely caught on the left side of the engine bay near the transmission lines...

Those are 12" landscape bricks it's sitting on.

https://i.imgur.com/NYzlHn9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Uot5mI2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/pkZWiSm.png
https://i.imgur.com/i6trks8.png

I don't know what it is, seems like a heat shield of some sort? It looks like it may have been spot-welded at the corners? There is a stamp on it that reads:

5023796 425 china 14 310

Thanks guys!

[bmorey]

Was it covering the catalytic converter? I think it's a cat shield to prevent theft.
Especially with the etched numbers and such. That's my guess.

[thad_]

It was coming out of the engine compartment on the passenger side. Seemed like it was a few rough roads from falling out completely. I don't think it has to do with the cat b/c that's farther down and back I believe.

Good guess though. I think the only way to protect your cat now-a-days is by tying an angry dog under your truck with a penchant for mauling aholes with sawsalls.

[thad_]

I think I'm doing a bad job explaining where I found this, it had fallen out of the engine compartment on the passenger side and was hung up w/o fallign through to the ground. I'm not sure how long it'd been over there.

Thanks guys and gals

[Inv4drZm]

Might be some mechanic's improvised funnel that he rested underneath and forgot about. It's not a Toyota part.

You can tell where it turned blue it was absorbing quite a bit of heat from somewhere.