It was soppoused to be a routine oil change, along with spark plugs, fuel filter and throttle body cleaning. But what happend next.. (read to find out)

I went over my uncles house to perform all this since i don't have a garage. anyway I drain the oil, replace the oil filter and fill her up again. Next i attempted the spark plugs. All went well except that i am a dumb a$$ and left one at home, so i installed 5. To get to the fuel filter with more convinience, i took apart the stock intake, starting from the upper part of the box where the filter sits. Upon compeletion, i noticed how dirty my throttle body was and since I had some TB cleaner i decided to give it a try. I took the red plastic straw and inserted it into the nozzle of the can, and with the TB wide open, sprayed inside. YOu won't believe what happened next. I look at the can, and the straw is gone. And then it hit me, the straw made it's was past the TB, and inside the intake manifold. With a flash light, I was able to see inside the TB, and there it was, way inside.
To get it out; here is what worked and what didn't;
1. thin metal wire with a small hook. (yeah right) failed
2. tweezers ( way to short) failed
3. Vacuum ( seemed like a good idea, it was still to far) failed
4. Vacuum + drinking straw ( even better idea then before) failed

5. Take apart the TB. ( close, but still can't reach it.
5. Take the manifold out... Finaly got the straw out.
This was a lot of work. I had to get new gaskets plus it took a lot of time to take it apart and then put it back together. Anyway I didn't even get a chance to change my fuel filter. BY the way, i started the engine, and it idled crazy. Very high, even higher when i put in firts or second. I thought i killed my car, but it turned out that the those two connectors on top of the TB, weren't pluged in all the way. I hope no one else has to go through this. I learned my lesson.

 

damn that sucks dude. i usually never use the straw unless i absolutely HAVE to (to get an angle, etc.) and when i do use it i hold the straw with 2 fingers while im spraying. its a safer way to do it. but hey at least you know what to do next time.


Trevor

 

I agree that did stink but at least you got it out in the long run and if you ever do like an MEVI install or anything you haev taken apart some of the manifold etc and will have a good understanding of it.

SuDZ

 

Wow an interesting story. Not the first time I've read about something like this though.

I use the Valvoline Synthetic TB cleaner. The straw for that is attached to the can, so it can't spray loose.

 

Wow another victim of the straw-shooting-inside-the-TB case. Actually i had a thread up about what my weekend mod was about 2 weeks ago and someone had recommended me to glue or tape the straw onto the can just incase. Actually i didn't glue or tape it... i just held it w/ my fingers as i sprayed it. I'm glad u got it fixed w/o any damages.

 

That's what I used.

 

Yea, and I still religiously hold on to the stick, as if I doubt it's ability to stay connected.

 

yup, I learned my lesson. Next time, no straw = no extra work.

 

Look at it this way...

You saved a lot of $$$ doing the maintence yourself.

 

you should have started it and had a video cam on hand

 

Wish i did that, but i would have needed lots of tape

 

man that is suck,one little straw can cause you so much time, well at list you got it out,

 

Man, Do I hate when stuff like that happened!!!

I had a simular experience with trying to get my cat off to installed my STS..