You may or may not remember, but about a month ago I posted that something bad had happened, and it turned out that I was a victim of the all-to-common VICS screw in engine problem.
Intending to tighten the remaining screws before they also worked their way loose, I went about removing my intake manifold this evening. Once I got it off, what I saw was not what I was expecting.
Not one, but three of the VICS valve plates had come loose, but the really strange part was that all of the screws were still in place. WTF? Evidently, the screws had backed out just enough for the plate to wobble around. Eventually, with enough vibration, the screw's threads had ground the holes in the plate big enough that it could fit right over the head of the screw.
The two plates that were chillin' in the manifold were so clean that I wonder if they had come apart when the car was still fairly new.
I stuck my head behind the engine and peeked into the intake ports of the cylinder head to check from more debris, and sure enough, there was half of the plate that fallen into the cylinder.
I ended up just pulling everything out. I removed all the plates, and all of the screws. I'll finish putting her back together tomorrow and see how she runs.
Intending to tighten the remaining screws before they also worked their way loose, I went about removing my intake manifold this evening. Once I got it off, what I saw was not what I was expecting.
Not one, but three of the VICS valve plates had come loose, but the really strange part was that all of the screws were still in place. WTF? Evidently, the screws had backed out just enough for the plate to wobble around. Eventually, with enough vibration, the screw's threads had ground the holes in the plate big enough that it could fit right over the head of the screw.
The two plates that were chillin' in the manifold were so clean that I wonder if they had come apart when the car was still fairly new.
I stuck my head behind the engine and peeked into the intake ports of the cylinder head to check from more debris, and sure enough, there was half of the plate that fallen into the cylinder.
I ended up just pulling everything out. I removed all the plates, and all of the screws. I'll finish putting her back together tomorrow and see how she runs.
