C-Stone

Went to change out the PCV valve on the '99 RX300. The plastic was very brittle and immediate broke off as I tried to pull it out of the grommet. Then, as I went to pull the grommet out with the plastic PCV nipple still stuck in it... it dropped into the valve cover hole.

I was able to grab the part a couple of times with mechanical fingers. But it dropped back in both times. The last time I dropped it... it totally disappeared. I had visions of having to take a lot of the top of the engine apart.

However... after taking a break by hanging some Christmas ornaments my dear wife wanted hung, my future son-in-law (21) came over. He suggested trying to stick a piece of tubing in the end of a vacuum cleaner and sucking the part back up to retrieve it. This worked like a champ. The grommet came right up and stuck to the end of the tubing, but up against the top of the valve cover hole.

From there I poked it with a small screwdriver, and slowly pulled the plastic nipple through the grommet first. Then sucked the rubber grommet up to the top of the hole and retrieved it with another screwdriver. Whew!

The retrieved grommet, PCV nipple, and the vacuum hose:

salimshah

Did your future son-in-law read CL? This has been discussed. In any case he had the right idea.

Salim

hypervish

Glad to hear you didn't have to pull the rear valve cover, cause that would have been a pain in the ****.

C-Stone

He's a budding, thinking mechanic and loves cars. He has an '05 Mini Cooper S that he's done a number of mods to... as well as Auto Crossed. Of course they have their own forums.

Yes! Thanks.

Lexmex

That's cheating...I wanted to see the motor torn apart.