Loose Plate

[priestpilot]

Hello,
This is my first post. I do not know much about cars or its parts, so I thought I'd come here to receive some information. Lately my 2006 Corolla has been making clunking noises when I hit bumps. I discovered that the source comes from a plate that is between the gas tank and the exhaust pipe. It looks like it's supposed to be bolted at 3 ends, but one of the bolts came off leaving the plate to move freely at one end of it. I found that the bolt was still on the plate, but not attached to anything. I managed to get the bolt out. I noticed that there's a piece of plastic that held a metal ring which twisted around the bolt. I think a piece of it broke off. I am not exactly sure how to fix this, or the correct terminology of these parts. I provided pictures to clear things up.

[dgleason]

It looks like a heat shield. It appears the nut was originally mounted in the plastic piece. I am not sure if the plastic piece is replaceable. You will have to ask the toyota parts guy if they have this part.