Sproing... oops... oh crap!

[hlava]

I finished pulling, cleaning and reinserting my aac valve today. Started on
Saturday, finished today.

This had to have been one of the tightest areas I've had to do work in... so
far. And, the lack of visibility was incredible, even with 2 drop lights.

I cleaned everything out... carbon was pretty much built onto everything.
This was a good project for me even with the massive amounts of lost skin
from wrists, finger, knuckles and back of hand.

But, when I went to put the Ficd, the top plunger decided to make a break
for it... sproing... oops... oh crap! This happened on Saturday during
reassembly, I found the plunger late Sunday afternoon inside the engine bay.
Unfortunately, when it sprung away, it didn't fall all the way through to
the ground. It's black, and it's dark down there with very tight spaces.
After searching fruitlessly all Saturday afternoon, Sunday I jacked the car
up and explored from the bottom.

Holding a minimaglite in my mouth(cuts down on the swearing), I used both
hands to search high and low in the general area. This was a huge pain, but
you know that if I'd wanted to get another plunger I'd of had to buy the
whole Ficd unit... too $. That's right, I was motivated by money, not
spending any.

After working section by section, I finally found it. My hands are beat up,
my mouth has a funny taste in it, and I have spasms in my neck.

Everything got put back together, finally. Didn't fix the things I was
hoping it would fix, but I feel damned satisfied that I was able to do this
by myself.

I guess my next step is the O2 sensor.

Just thought I'd share my experience,

Mark