On each side of the engine, four of the bolts that attach the exhaust manifolds to the head, first go through the heat shield, through the exhaust manifold and into the head. These four bolts must be removed to get the spark plug heat shields off.
Twist and pull with pliers.
I had the same problem. People said to compress (squeeze) the heat shield as there is a slot from top to bottom. Wiggle and pull and it should come out, but it still might take a lot of force to do it. At least one shield had rusted and that still made it impossible to put a socket on it. The solution to this was to use the drill bore that you can buy to install door hardware. The 3/4 inch bore has a hollow center so if you remove the inner drill bit the bore will fit over the spark plug and you can clean the area around the spark plug out and hopefully use a socket on it. If you broke the spark plug (as I did) you may still be able to use a socket on it. If the spark plug outer area is also rusted you can break the spark plug off and use a drill and easy out set to remove the plug.
The factory puts the shield there for a reason.
you need to remove the intake plenum to get to the 2 center plugs on a 2.0L . A long pair of curved needle nose pliers aids in removing the wires,make sure you twist them from side to side first before pulling them of.
Heat shield do not need removed, use a 3/4 inch spark plug socket. If the socket will not go on the plug, there is probably something inside the heat shield preventing it.
No
It shields the rest of the car from the heat of the exhaust or radiator .
They are slightly above the exhaust manifold with metal heat shields around them, but if you didn't already know that you shouldn't even have your hood open! So go to a mechanic!
Spaceships are provided with heat shields to protect them during exit and reentry of the earth's atmosphere. If they didn't have these shields, the ship would burn up.
Heat shields can be purchased in any computer electronics store. Best Buy, Future Shop, Canada Computers, New Egg, NCIX, and The Source all sell heat shields.
Radiation.
You just have to grab with a pliers and pull it out. You will have to twist and wiggle to break the rust though.