Heat sheilds on turbo

Looking for a bit of advice. took my 02 996 turbo to porsche nottingham for the recent car clinic and was really pleased with the service and help I received allmost no problems with the car just minor. Side light broken (replaced foc ) boot lamp not working now fixed (loose connection) the only other thing was turbo heat shields missing. The technician showed me under the car and showed me where the heat shields should be and they were completely gone and the three nuts holding them on and the manifold to the turbo on one side were all missing but nothing is loose . i guess they have all coroded together. this is where i need the advice the car is booked in for a major service on 4th nov the service manager has ordered the new nuts and heat shields. i have been reading on the forums about this being a common problem and they dont last very long after replacement. i have owned the car about 18 months and have no idea how long the shields have been missing they may well have been missing when i bought the car or they may have fell off on the way to the opc i just dont know. should i have them replaced as a matter of urgency at quite a heavy cost even when added to the cost of the service or if as i expect i have been happily using the car for 18 months with no heat shields with no problems so would it be ok to just put the new nuts on and not bother about putting new heat shields on. My faith has been restored in opc (Nottingham) and am really happy that my car will be going to them for the major service and will keep my service book all opc stamps. just dont want to add to the cost if there is no real need. does anybody else run their car without the turbo heat shields fitted or is it a big no no.

I doubt they would be completely absent due to rust. I like classics so I'm pretty familiar with rust. It sounds to me like a previous owner complained about a rattling, received the quote for replacing them and then opted to have the rusted bits removed instead. Thinking out loud from a non technical way of looking at this that gives two sides to consider. Porsche would not choose to waste money and add weight to their flagship model by adding parts that were not necessary but you have driven the car for 18months with no issues as a result of the missing heat shields. So could they have been added to satisfy some over careful regulation that does not consider the location of the turbos so requires heat shields around any turbo on a car of that age. Or is the heat soak from the turbo affecting your performance and reducing the life of other components around the turbo which are not meant to be subjected to those temperatures? I'd probably replace it myself but you could always ask someone knowledgeable to look at the location on a ramp and give a considered opinion.

You want the heat sheilds - I'm surprised they are totally missing. They must have been removed. The shields themselves aren't expensive and dealing with the corroded nuts and bolts isn't a big deal when you have the right equipment. I wouldn't expect it to take more than 2 hrs to do both.

.Thanks for the info guys interesting reading but still dont know what to do ithink opc said about £300.00 to replace the shields i guess that having major service inc plugs means some of the parts will be removed from the car any way thus keeping cost down . I still think its a bit steep when you look what needs doing it looks fairly simple (this means it probably isnt) is it a diy job and what is involved please I am beggining to think i really should have them do you think i should let opc do the job and just pay or could i buy some and diy the job. kind regards mick

Just wondered but has anybody else now got under their car and checked if they are still fitted and in what kind of condition. be interesting to see the result of that one is mine an isolated case or is this common. post a reply if you have them and also if not and were you aware you had not got them and try to give an idea of time on car ie last opc service i would think they would point out if they are not there

If you post up a pic of what your looking at I'll have a look at my car tomorrow.