Just my luck...

So I go to change the PVC valve this morning and the damn thing was stuck. I get a screwdriver to pry it from the base and it broke. Top half came out, but the bottom half was still wedged in the rubber grommet. I decided to use a needle nose to try and take it out and was successful in loosening it, but instead of coming out, it fell in

So now I have to take off the entire rear valve cover to get it out. Any tips???

 

Also, please tell me this is normal? Is this too much oil in the upper intake manifold?

 

I suggest taking off the rear valve cover off before starting the engine and find the broken part. The oil thats in there is normal from what I've read. Get a few cans of carburetor cleaner take that intake manifold off clean it out but most important clean out the egr ports they are clogged.

Now that intake is off the valve cover is right there take it off and find the part. You can reuse the the intake gaskets but its a good idea to change the valve cover ones since your going that far, that is if they never been replaced before.

 

I would just take a rag and dab the oil out of there.

Your egr port on the right side of your pic needs a cleaning. Take some old rags or newspaper and cover to protect the rest of the engine from debris.

 

Yeah, Basically as ErickUa5 previously suggested doing. PITA, but the right thing to do IMO. Sometimes when aftermarket cheapo PCV valves are use they don't always fit properly and are made of a cheaper grade of material. Pay the extra bucks for an OEM valve along with a new grommet.

There always seems to be some residual oil laying on top of the manifold, unsure just why. While you're this far along, ya may want to consider removing the entire intake and TB. This will allow better access to cleaning the EGR passageways along with the TB and IAC valve.

If ya really wanna go the extra effort while the valve covers are off.....perhaps adjust the valve clearance. It's already opened up, so that's half the battle....just not the thing ya had in mind right now. This is the really good DIY stuff that gets put off.

 

Appreciate the replies everyone. I'm tackling this tonight and tomorrow. I kept the car in the garage for the day. I have an OEM PCV from Honda already and new valve cover gaskets, so it had been one of those DIYs I've been putting off, just I'm forced to tackle it now.

The PCV was stuck and I knew something wasn't right. The issue is I told my wife give me 15 mins to swap it out and it turned into this

 

Frankly I don't think a small piece of plastic is going to be able to cause any harm in there. But it is a bit annoying....

 

Some of the replacement PCV valves had a metal base.
Annoying rattle or perhaps lodged against something moving, hmmm....IDK ?

 

UPDATE! I got it out. It did not fall into the valves, but a little compartment in the actual valve cover

Anyways, it forced me to do some service that was much needed. The EGR is horribly clogged, valve cover gaskets are brittle and being a PITA to come out , and I might as well do a valve adjustment since I pulled out the parts off as suggested above.

I've been taking pics, so I'll document in my picture thread. I must say that I wish I had time to do this during the day... I have to get a replacement grommet for the new PCV. It never came with the valve cover gasket set.

 

ah, yeah....wifey will never trust your quickie fixes again !!!

Ya just didn't feel like doing Christmas shopping this past weekend, huh ?

 

Might as well do a valve adjustment??

Valve adjustment DIY: Wear a back brace. <Mine took 5+ hours with breaks in between and in 25 degree temps.

Hope yours go smoothly.

 

I wish... still had to head out, hence working on it from 11pm-3am last night.

Going to attempt now... I already got both valve covers off, and this will be my first attempt

 

Thanks again for all the advice. I'm making progress slowly, but surely

 

Oh dude that gotta suck.... Terrible Luck right there.

 

job done... Bolted everything up and started up just fine. I did not do the valve adjustment due to lack of time, but I don't have any ticking, so I figured they are still within spec.

I did get the new PCV valve and grommet installed, new valve cover gaskets, rings, and rubber washers for the screws. Also, cleaned up the EGR ports. 15 mins turned into a 10 hour ordeal, lol

 

Glad to hear all is ok, you live and you learn.

 

You are figuring it wrong: Loose clearances might tick, while tight clearances won't, but too loose is way better than too tight, as too tight can lead to valves burning....

 

^ Indeed! If your engine is too "Silent" = Wrong Oil or Tight Valves Clearance = Not OK.

 

So, drove the TL to work today and all is well... for the most part. The check engine light came on. I figure I need to do a master ECU reset and I did not. I'll do it during lunch. If it comes back on, I'll go to the autostore to get the code read.

Good to know! Thanks for the information

Well, I guess I made it seem that its too quiet. It's not. You due hear some ticking, but it's not loud at all. When the hood is closed, you don't hear it. When its open, you can.

 

Don't sweat the petty stuff, but have the code read before doing the reset.
May be a previous fault with the EGR passageways ? Good luck man !!!

 

So, the CEL and TCS light popped on during lunch and the car felt rough during acceleration. Idle felt fine, no surging or anything. I went to advanced and got the codes read.

P0301, P0302, P0303, P0305, P0306, and P0300 all stating multiple misfires. I did the ECU reset with the clock fuse and it came back after driving again. I'm going to re-seat the coil packs again to ensure that is not the issue. Also, I'm going to test the coil packs when I get home using the cheater method describe here:

https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-tl-problems-fixes-117/i-got-codes%3B-p0300-p0301-p0302-p0303-p0304-p03050-821812/

 

Check the coils and if still recheck the work done hopefully you didn't install the upper egr plate gasket up side down. strange it doesn't have a P0304, Maybe didn't torque down a bolt or something check it out. Do not over tighten !

 

nats007
I would go by the mileage with Valve Clearance.. How long till your last adjustment? And how many miles you have today? If you are past 125,000 with no valve adjustment then its time!

When I did mine they werent loose but in fact all Exhaust valves where tight and tight like it wasnt any gap at all and that is really bad because they were miss-adjusted enough to kill some MPGs.

My :2c:

 

^ I hear you loud and clear! I will do them with the timing belt and water pump in the very near future as I'm approaching 205k miles.

UPDATE: fixed the CEL and TCS issue. I tested the coil packs and re-seated them last night. After a short test drive everything looked ok. Drove to work this AM and the lights popped back on and felt boggy on acceleration. Started thinking about it and realized that I may have installed the upper egr gasket upside down. Turns out I did. Flipped it, reset ecu and all is well now!

 

It's as if Honda anticipated the PCV breaking off....?!

Yes, I'd like to see a step-by-step DIY with pics on gaining access to the valve adjustment, as the adjustment itself is fairly straightforward, while gaining access is the hard part.

Good job figuring out the flipped EGR gasket!

 

Will post update with pics in my restoration thread in the pic gallery tomorrow

 

Hey Nats007, it's very commendable to own up to a simple mistake. The situation that you were in at the time leads to things happening like this. Sorta helps others to realize the importance of the little things such as a flipped gasket and it's affect.

Attention to detail is the key to good results, IMO. and it saves the frustration of reworking things afterwards.

 

Absolutely and concur with your statement! I feel sharing your mistakes will help others in the long run, so I have no shame in admitting when I mess up

 

5 hours I could remove the engine and trans replace the trans and re-install everything in 5 hours

 

I can hear my injectors over my valves

 

Take the top cover off the intake manifold and make sure the metal gasket is on the correct way. It fits both ways but only one is the correct one.

Edit, i see you figured it out.

 

You are exceptional, Sir

Not sure if anyone else can do this, lol. It took me 10 hours just to handle this and a couple minor DIYs

 

Progress documented here (somewhat):
https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...0&postcount=37

 

Adding onto this. I just tried to change mine out and it broke as well. I was doing the work in my driveway since I thought this was going to be a quick change. I really don't want to disassemble the engine in the driveway. Would it be okay to start this up quick and pull it in the garage? How does this look under the valve cover? I would assume that there is a metal plate separating the PCV breather area from the valves.

 

Same sttory here, thought it was going to be a quick fix. I am not sure if mine broke. I used a flat screwdriver to take the thing out, then it just snapped flying out and getting lost somwhere. It happen to fast but to me it looked very small, nothingh like size of the new one to be replace. And i think that i should of been able to find it right away if it was the whole thing,. So now ill have to remove stuff till I find it, the new one got in fairly easy, but still i have to make sure have of the old one is not still inside. What a pain really.

 

There's baffling that should catch it if it fell inside the valve cover. Still, I would definitely make sure it's not inside the valve cover before starting the engine.