[Parsec]

I walk to my truck to find my exhaust heat shield almost touching the ground. It was fine this morning, so I have no idea how this happened. I drove to work then to Panera and I found it like this after dinner. Looks like it might've pulled the entire catback piping off too because it seems kinda low to me. The exhaust shield is normally on top of the muffler, so how in the world can this happen driving on paved roads?

What should I do now? I can't really afford an expensive repair right now; I just bought a Z4 as a weekend car and have a $1000 service scheduled in 1 week for it

 

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I just remembered, I did go "off-road" once today. On my way to work an intersection was closed for construction, but there was half a lane open for anyone who wanted to jump the curb. The curb was pretty tall, but I saw several sedans ahead of me drive over it so I followed them. I didn't hear any unusual sounds so I don't think this problem was due to jumping the curb.

Also, today I got the "CHECK FUEL CAP" warning. Not sure if that's related to this. I haven't touched my gas cap in over a week.

 

[Parsec]

The bolts holding the heat shield in place rusted off. I bought 4 new ones: see part #18 here:
http://www.hondapartsnow.com/parts-list/2006-honda-ridgeline-4dr_rtl-ka-5at/exhaust-pipe.html
but there are no threads to screw them into. Does anyone know what that black thing is next to the exhaust in my first post? You can clearly see where the heat shield mounts to that black thing, but my holes are way bigger than the bolts. I might need to replace the entire thing, whatever it is. Can someone help me out? Thanks.

 

[Parsec]

Okay I just looked at it again, I'm an idiot. The big black thing is the trunk! I am not replacing the trunk just because the mounting holes lost their threading for the heat shield bolts. The part retails at $1500. Any ideas on how to bolt the exhaust heat shield back onto the underside of the trunk? Do I even need the heat shield? Can I just rip it off or will the trunk get incredibly hot inside?