My plenum cleaning and ohm results...success at last!!!!!!!

[Dabizzo1]

Well guys, I got off of work last night at 1:30am, got home, and embarked on a 7 hour tedious marathon of cleaning my plenum, replacing necessary vacuum/coolant lines, ohming my injectors, and replacing the ones that ohm out of bounds. I've scoured this site for the past month in preparation for this, so I already knew what to expect for the most part. My car is a federal model, so I didn't have too many lines to unhook. The one main difference to the way I've seen the plenum removal done on this forum is that I removed the plenum with its underbelly metal lines still attached, with all rubber lines still attached to the motor. I found this to be significantly easier to do. The only hard part was securing my accelerator cables to the driver's side of the compartment to avoid entanglement. HOWEVER, I must say that my hands are a living testament to Wes's warning...this is a definite knucklebuster...my hands and forearms look like I was attacked by demonic chihuahuas of doom...all kinds of cut up. However, I did promise my wife I would never have paper pusher hands so there it is....my hand modeling career is definitely doomed...lol.

Q45Tech, your warning about more carbon to come was right on the money.....the right angle in the EGR inlet was carboned SOLID...complete restriction. I removed all of it with gun cleaning brushes, a flathead screwdriver, and long allen wrenches to break up the carbon in the bend. I then used 2 full cans of throttle body cleaner and a toothbrush to clean the plenum as far as my hands would go inside---much cleaner now with NO restrictions at all.....definitely a factor in wobbly idle but NOT the main factor....injectors were the culprit.

I was under the impression that the guy I bought it from replaced 1, 5, and 7, but this was not the case. 5 of my injectors were purple tops (I recently had 2 and 8 done at the dealer, and apparently 2, 5, and 6 had been replaced (scary some mechanic didn't even know the bank numbers). So the originals left in the car were 3, 4, and 7 (tan tops ). To my surprise, my harness has indeed been replaced already given its near perfect condition. Her are my ohm results with a digital Radio Shack Multimeter set to ohms (auto reading) with new batteries---readings were taken at the injectors themselves.

1- 10.62- 10.63- 23.6...rusted ionzer tip...ETHANOL IN DALLAS4- 10.8...oddly enough as an original5- 11.16- 10.77- 55.3...dead soldier...rusted ionizer tip 8- 10.6

I removed the 2 injectors Ceningolmo style (angry flathead screwdriver...3 sizes until I got it unseated) and voila. Not to forget, I of course depressurized the system (according to Metaverse and Wes) by pulling the fuel pump fuse, starting it and letting it die, and cranking the car 3 times thereafter with the gas cap off first and foremost. A faint trickle of raw fuel was present upon removal. I was afraid at first, but after reading a post by Q45 tech saying it takes about 55cc of fuel to hydrolock a cylinder, I didn't worry anymore, given it was a very negligible amount. I did let the car sit for 5 hours to allow trickle down past the piston to ensure prevention of hydrolock...only because I'm paranoid. It was so little fuel that it wasn't even enough to pool...only enought to cling to the lower intake walls.

At 7:00AM, I took a nap until noon, and then I installed the new injectors with new rings with a thin vaseline coating by incrementally and evenly screwing down the cap, removing the cap, and spinning the injector with its rings seated to ensure against a pinched o ring. Perfect seating....much relief.

To reiterate what Wes has said before...be very mindful of reconnecting ALL lines...I forgot to reconnect the outbound coolant line from the throttle body and some coolant pooled in the valley...I'm a dumb ***....I strongly recommend walking away at one point before reassembly to give yourself fresh eyes. I disassembled the top end again and wetvac-ed the valley, in addition to drying it up by hand...very clean valley now.

Upon final reassembly, I started her up...perfect...upon warming up to operation temp, I cranked down the IAC half a turn to set the idle right at 675 (no load). Needless to say, I LOVE THIS #@$# car. No more exhaust sputtering, and no more wobble...feels like new and idles like new. I then proceeded to wrestle with our great dane Chuy (chooee) in the yard in the mud to celebrate while the car idled to burn off any risidual coolant I didn't wipe clean in the valley (none near either of my knock sensors either).

All of my under plenum lines have apparently been replaced bacause they were all supple and elastic, except for 2 vacuum lines inder the plenum which I replaced. All of my harnesses EVERYWHERE were reset with dielectric grease as well. My success story today is a testament to the power of this site, and to the veterans that run it in appreciation of such a cool arsed car. Q45Tech, Wes, Ceningolmo, GQJay, Maxnix, GoodyQ45, Poppop, and others have supplied me with the knowledge to do this myself. I've scoured this site for a month in preparation, so find out everything, and I mean EVERYTHING you can to prevent such mishaps as hydrolock, etc. when doing this. This is a very tedious undertaking, but today, in labor alone, I saved well over $1000.00 by doing this myself, and I was able to take the care in resecuring everything under the hood (harnesses, wires, etc), which is something a lot of mechanics don't do because they are in a hurry. I found in mine alone one of the screws securing the vacuum system under the plenum just lying in the valley, and the wires for one O2 sensor unsecured to a mounting point...past mechanic apparently didn't care enough to reassemble with care and pride.

I rewarded myself tonight by taking my wife to go see Smokin' Aces ....funniest movie since Snatch, but an American version in the same style...I think I need a Barrett .50 sniper rifle to worship in addition to my Q---TOYS ARE GOOD!!! This week, I'm getting every ding XaDented for $320.00(awesome deal for EVERY panel), also getting new oem pads replaced, and next week, I'll finally get all 4 shocks (Tokico Blues), dust boots, and mounts redone. My rear is getting bouncy, but that's how I bought it. I promise I'll post pics when the car is done...can't wait to detail it. I most vehemently am grateful for all the help from everyone...today was a big success for me...I mean it. I'll repost as I get closer to completion.

Boris P.





Modified by Dabizzo1 at 12:42 AM 1/29/2007
Modified by Dabizzo1 at 12:45 AM 1/29/2007

[maxnix]

A great testament to doing it right, something even most technicians won't at a flate rate bid.

I though KY was the preferred injector lubrication?

I need to finish mine.

[Q45tech]

I always pay my moonlighting techs by the real hour, that way I'm the one who is setting the pace.

To R&R the injectors and rails always best to remove entire rail with reg/damper to the workbench for better light and ease on your back.........results in a much better outcome.

[elwesso]

congrats boris!!!

[3Q Jay]

well done. the nice thing about working on the Q is she rewards you for a job done right.

good suggestion about taking a break.