CentralCoastC4S

Probably BO'd from guys like me being so careful not to break the housing that the bust the pipe instead.....
ok, stop being negative, this thing is going to come off- my new mantra

Ron

Insert a 3/8" drive to ½" drive adapter into the crowsfoot and attach a 1/2" drive 10" extension bar to the adapter. Then use a 15" breaker bar to remove. I initially tried 3/8" drive extension and way too much flex. The valve would not budge.

kkim

Try repositioning the the crowsfoot wrench by one flat of the hex valve. IIRC, I needed to insert the wrench first onto the valve, then insert the extension into the crowsfoot due to space limitations. It's a tight fit and can only work in a very narrow range, but you can find a combo that works.

Are you planning to do a flush along with the valve or just a valve change?

CentralCoastC4S

Ron, what I've got now is the 3/8 crows foot, an adapter to 1/2 inch, then 1/2 inch extensions. The problem I'm finding is that with the 1/2 breaker bar, I can get little option for positioning the bar and extension tube I'm using for leverage. With the 1/2 inch socket wrench, I get a little more flexibility in
where I start with the extender tube. Does that make sense? i.e. I can start pulling on the extension tube farther from the fender which I have covered with a large towel so that I'll just break my finger, not damage the paint.........

CentralCoastC4S

Kelly, I had not planned a flush, this was just going to be a replacement of the valve. Now that I'm into it, I may do a flush. I think it depends a bit on what I see when I get the valve off...

Ron

Bruce,
Sorry you're having such a time getting that thing out. It sounds like you're doing everything I did anyway but with no success so far. I was able to get my crowsfoot on the valve base just right so I could use the setup I mentioned above.

I will say when it loosened I heard a loud pop. I thought I broke something, but no, it just came right out.

CentralCoastC4S

Thanks Ron, I think I will need a defibrillator when I hear that pop. I've learned that with these kinds of things it's better to take your time, back off for a while and not get too anxious to get things done. I've worked on my own cars for 30 years and my back is not what it once was. I don't get to spend hours at a time working on things like this. My back won't allow it. Guess it's time to get a lift, even my wife agrees. Plus,a little time spent now will be a lot better than the time spent replacing the manifold. Even it that happens, it's ok. I'd just rather remove the valve and leave it at that.

I do think that I'd recommend to anyone doing a clutch or whatever with the engine out, go ahead and replace this valve. It's cheap and it may be that regular maintenance of the valve would help the whole SAI clogging thing.

Lagavulin

You can get your hose rebuilt at a truck-repair shop for probably $30. You will need the intact existing hose so that it's fittings can be re-used and installed onto the new hose with the proper orientation.

That's one way we keep our 928 parts bill down.

CentralCoastC4S

Well, while resting my aching back I thought about adding a little heat. The housing is aluminum, the valve a ferrous metal, expanding at different rates.
So, I applied a little heat with the mini-torch pictured below. Of course, be careful of anything in the area but the torch tip is so small you can really control the heat application. About 15-20 seconds of heat on the housing near the valve, a little force from the extension and the valve slid very nicely. I had to re-apply heat each time I re-seated the crow's foot but it worked.
What a job. I'd rather take out my own appendix than do that job again. I'll probably use a little never-seize when I install the new one. Note that there was a washer on my old valve, I seriously doubt it's ever been removed before, I have the records for the car. It's got about 35K miles on it now.
So, I think the secret, at least for my car, was a careful application of a little heat. I also made a leather gasket for the bottom of the crow's foot, this lifted it gently off the aluminum housing and helped assure that it wouldn't bite into the housing as easily.
Thanks for all the help and advice.
Here's what it looks like out:

kkim

Congrats!! Now blow in the valve from both directions and see if it was till functioning as a one way valve.

CentralCoastC4S

Nope, air goes through easily in both directions. Glad I replaced it. Suddently my back feels better.

C4S_fan

Heheh, congrats. It sounds exactly like the PIA it was for me... except I broke that aluminum housing... oh the agony.

CentralCoastC4S

Dennis, I'm amazed I didn't, at least I don't think I did, I can't see any evidence of cracks etc. That's one nasty job. I can only imagine what you felt like when you saw that broken housing. The whole system seems like a poor design to me, it operates for 90 seconds or so but can cause such major issues.
I'm all for this electronic fix.

planeguy67

You'd think they would have put the hex-nut portion of the valve on TOP so you could get a socket wrench on it, but NOOOOOOOOO

CentralCoastC4S

I thought I was done with this thread! I'm resurrecting it to ask a question.
I did the SAI valve replacement right after a smog check. It passed easily,
no readiness codes etc.
Nearly 2 years later I was due again for a smog check and didn't think
much about it. All 5 of the common readiness codes were not set.
Did the whole drive procedure 5 times or more, exactly as specified.
Never did reset the codes (no CEL ever). Took it to the referee, passed fine,
he said just bring it to him every 2 years and he'll smog it for me.

Well, that's fine but this readiness thing is bugging me. I drove it hard on a long trip last week, figured that might reset things. No luck.
So, I'm thinking that the first check the system goes through is the SAI, right?
What if I didn't get the whole system back together properly when I changed the valve out? Some small vacuum line is disconnected or something like that?
Possible? I just checked the 40 amp monster fuse in the engine compartment, it's fine. The relay for the pump looks fine, 85/86 poles are open to test,
don't know how to check the switched 30/87 poles but I doubt the relay is the problem....

Is it possible that I did something in changing out the SAI valve that screwed up my system's ability to get past that check and not go through the rest of
the readiness code checks?

Sorry to dredge up another SAI issue but I want these codes reset and am sick of the whole driving routine. Maybe the next step is to let the dealer run their
tests and get more info than I can get on my simple OBDII reader....

Ideas??