4 and 5 were plugged completely. and 2 was partially plugged. I say partially because some fluid came out of the opening initially, but when I ran the cable up the air passage there was some resistance that cleared easily.

 

cdmdriver,

Great write up and hints. I trust you will not mind, I have copied your post into the 993 DIY forum to make it easy for others to find! Congratulations!

Best,

 

Great to hear! Funny when I got to where you were removing the exhaust.........I immediately thought seized nuts, or that you couldn't get the tip of the socket in there. Having worked my way up from 911 engines v. 1.1 ('68 2.0), it would probably escape me that everyone didn't know you need the allen head for those nuts.

Now if you want to hear about frustration, how about removal after someone who has managed to put an exhaust on using regular nuts in all twelve positions.............

 

Looking back on it, half the battle was figuring out (or fabricating) the right tools. With the right tools everything is much easier!

In my rush late last night I forgot to add the picture of the fabricated crowsfoot.

 

Great write up!
Regarding the bicycle cable tool, did you solder the ends to keep them from unravelling?
My smog is coming up this fall, and if I can't "trick" the OBD II again I'll be going your route.
Thanks for having at it. Issues like this bond us together and increase our love for these fantastic automobiles.
Phil

 

I feel honored and am very happy to give back a little to this wonderful forum!

 

No, the bike cable is so strong I did not have to do a thing to it other than cut the outer cover shorter than the inside cable. In fact, the picture of the cable in the drill was taken after It was used to open both of the plugged ports. Just don't run the drill in reverse.

 

Awesome write up. Vote to FAQ.

 

Read this with great interest over my morning coffee. I did the flush without the roto rooter last year, and it worked just long enough to pass emissions. Then, 2 months ago, the light and code just disappeared when I replaced the battery. It passed emissions just last week with no codes or not-ready indicators. I thought I was in the clear...

Back to this morning after reading this successful post. Upon startup, new trouble code and its once again the dreaded SAI!

I wish someone would get their SAI electronic "fix" on the market and many of us could just forget about this stupid system.

Great job; I hope that yours lasts longer than mine.

 

great tips and write up! thank you for sharing

 

Just to understand this right, you took the headers off and drilled from the outlet part of the head, upwards right? From the top, where the SAI sits, you flushed from the top down.
What were the red plugs for?
Thank you for sharing. I know sooner or later I'll have to do the same and try to read up on it now so I won't have to later.
Ed

 

The plugs are close off the other 5 ports so all the pressure and solvent is directed to one SAI port being worked on. Otherwise the solvent will take the path of least resistance which is the open ports. Once a port is clear, plug that exhaust port and open the next one.

 

Actually, if you look at my write-up from November using much the same method (motorcycle cable), running the drill in reverse makes the whole thing work much better!
Since you are using the cable housing to guide the cable all the way to the port, the cable won't come apart and lose it's shape (except at the tip). I found that this was the key to making this work well, because fraying the tip allowed the cable to make the tight turn inside the port much easier and act as a mini wire brush when it contacted the carbon.
Once I ran the drill in reverse on the first port it went through in seconds. I was able to do all the remaining 5 cylinders in just minutes. Also, since the tip of the cable wants to expand as it unwinds, you are probably more likely to get the whole 5mm port cleared out rather than just punching a hole in the blockage. Cleared everything out nicely without having to do any of the liquid/foam flush stuff. I did blow it out from the top with air of course. That was over a year ago, and I've had no further SAI issues.

 

I am loving this thread even though I do not have the dreaded SAI CEL! I fear that if I keep looking and concentrating on it I will sooner than later. "SAI Karma"
Thanks for sharing. Oh, I am interested in your crows foot fabricated tool...I cant see it for the focus problem. Is there a better pict? ( not to pick or cause work, I just am wondering about the subtleties of your tool mod!)

Andy

 

Actually I did see your write up,and I am sure it worked well with the cable you were using. Unfortunately, I did try this with the first piece of the bike brake cable when after about 5 minutes I was getting nowhere. It completely unwound and gave me a bit of a scare about having pieces of wire breaking off in the port. So with a second cable piece I put the drill back into Forward and found that It worked well (just needed a little patience and a couple more minutes) and did not unwind and could be used again and again (which It did on the other ports). You can see from the picture that the cable after drilling through three air passages remained in great shape.