Help! Manifold Removal

Mr. Smart Guy here managed to drop the new PCV valve he was installing down a hole to the left of the PCV valve port and it's now underneath the port and to the right. I can see it, but I can't retrieve it from where it is because the opening isn't big enough and can't seem to knock it back to the left so I can retrieve it from the hole it fell through. It not sure what issues would be caused by leaving that where it is.

So... It looks like I'm going to have to remove the intake manifold to get to it. Looking at the instructions, it says to remove the cowl as well as drain the coolant.

Has anyone removed their manifold before? Does the coolant really need to be drained? What is removed that would affect the cooling system?

Any help in proper procedures for removing/reinstalling the intake manifold would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

 

I've removed it to install the supercharger, the instruction goes into detail of how to remove, I'd assume install is just pretty much in reverse.

 

With your past history of dropping things down into holes do you really want to risk this procedure? I'd say sleep on it and try harder to get it out before giving up and leaving it there.

My best luck has been with duct tape on the end of a small dowel rod. Bamboo shiskkabob skewers are useful for flipping things around to a more accessible area. So are shopvacs and air compressors. The latter usually moves the object even deeper so be warned.

 

My past history of dropping things down into holes? LOL... Not often and nothing I haven't been able to get out -- until today. I've tried all sorts of implements and methods to flip the thing to where I want it. I think the manifold has to come off.

 

It shouldn't hurt anything at all to leave it in place. I'd buy 2 more (just in case you lose another) and try again. The pcv valve is obviously heat resistant, won't break down, and won't be in the way of anything. Think of how many tundras are racking up the miles with tons of acorns and other debris underneath the manifold with no issues.

This time around I'd attach a piece of tubing to it, and thread it in that way, so it doesn't fall down.

 

Get this for $8 from Wallymart.

 

I tried everything I could think of yesterday (including using a tool like the one shown) to get that damn thing out, so I undid everything up to the point of cracking the manifold nuts and bolts last night. I wanted to wait until I had new gaskets in hand before doing that. The issue was that where the thing was resting was too small an opening to get it through. I needed to be able to get it to the opening that it fell through, but that was about 2 inches to the left. Unfortunately, there's very little room to operate since the opening is very small. I couldn't find anything to flick it to the left because the angles were all wrong. I could actually grab it with the grabber tool in place but had no way to extract it or fling it to the left. I tried grabbing it and then using another skinny tool to push it over to the left, but it kept falling right back down where it was.

This morning at 3AM I had an idea...jack the driver's side of the truck up as far as I could, then grab the valve with the grabber and use the other tool to push it to the left. I figured the extra lean would help. I'll be damned if that didn't work on the very first try... At that point, it was just a question of grabbing the valve at the right angle with the grabber tool to get it through the opening. Took all of 10 minutes to jack it up, flick it to the other side, grab it with the grabber tool, and wrestle it back through the hole it fell through.

I was very happy I didn't need to crack the intake manifold open just to fish this damn thing out. Thanks for all of the help -- especially to Ryan (Landodnal) who talked me through getting those 2 clips off of the back of the manifold. Those sucked initially because they can't be seen, but once he explained the mechanics of the clip, they both came off in a minute.

All's well that ends well,

Dave