hello guys.

I was replacing the i break booster vacuum hose and the plastic tip broke and fell into the manifold. I tried to get it out with no luck.

I have driven the car already, but I am hoping this is not a big deal.

 

Spike, if you are talking about the plastic, then it won't be an issue. That will give and burn away if it stays in the cylinder for any period of time.

 

Yes the plastic nipple broke of and fell in.

I hope this does not become a problem

 

Shine a flashlight down the hole and see if you can see it. If so make something with a tube/straw and a vacuum and vacuum it out.

 

If the part is big enough then it could wedge the intake valve open. This could cause
the valve to strike the piston and bend or break. If it is small enough then it is probably already blown through and is in your catalytic converter.

Here is a way to get it out. Take all the spark plugs out and remove the throttle
body. Put a cloth bag over the throttle body opening to catch the part so you know
if you get it. Next blow compressed air in each cylinder. One or two cylinders
should have the intake valve opened and the exhaust valve closed and the air will
blow back into the cloth bag.

If you don't get the part then rotate the engine 120 degrees. This will cause a new cylinder to have it's intake valve open. Blow the air again. Repeat the process for two rotations of the engine. If this does not get the part then it is probably gone.

Pete.

 

Thanks for your replies. I have driven the car at least 30 miles since the event. I may take the intake plenum out to see if the part is still floating around somewhere in there.

I have heard of people dropping all sorts of things with no ill effect.....

the piece is the nipple of the break booster hose. Its small but not microscopic

 

I guess I should figure out if it's even possible for the piece to be somewhere in the intake plenum before I start taking it apart since I won't be able to do anything beyond that myself. After being driven could the piece still be there, or has it undoubtedly been sucked in?

 

I guess that the valves open about 1/4 of an inch. That is what I have seen in
other cars but I have no idea about the jag.

I had another thought about how to get the part out (if it is still in there). Remove
the throttle body and attach a shop vacuum. With the shop vac running rotate
the engine manually. This should suck the part out. This works because at
one point both the intake and exhaust valves will be open. You will get air flow
from the exhaust into the intake. Again, you will have to rotate the engine two
times around to get air flow through all cylinders.

Pete.

 

As much as I have driven the car, I think the getting the part out ship has sailed.

I drove it as fast as I could and fingers crossed that the plastic just burned of with no damage.

 

so this broken piece was keeping me up at night. I wanted to take the intake out and try to find it.

So even though my car only has 50K miles, I bought spark plugs, intake gasket set and removed the intake.

The broken vacuum piece was rattling inside and fell out once I took the intake out. So either there is a filter in there, or I got lucky. So the part never made it thru my engine. The intake must be designed with small clearances inside to prevent something like that from happening.

Sadly I had two casualties from my tune up which I will post about separately.