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Rats!!!

My work life means that my '95 Explorer XLT (112K miles) is parked for

2 weeks in a 2nd/3rd floor office garage and then driven very sparingly and parked on the street for my 1 week at home. The truck has been somewhat neglected for the last 3 years but only driven MAYBE 1,500 miles. The truck and I call Miami home.

Left the truck at a dealer to get some brake work done and the fuel filter replaced on my last 2 weeks out of town. They (of course?) came back with a $3,500 estimate for the work they said the truck needed. I limited them to just the brakes and fuel filter. One of the things they recommended was "cleaning of the intake system" because they said the throttle sometimes stuck partially open. In fact I had noticed some "sticking" of the throttle a few months back, but a simple "pat" or two on the accelerator fixed the problem then and I had not noticed the problem in a few months. I attributed the problem to a lack of lube somewhere in the linkage/throttle/ accelerator pedal. However, as I said, I did not authorize them to do the "intake system cleaning."

Another item they wanted to charge me $300+ for was a new belt and belt tensioner. The original pulley crapped out and the belt broke over a year ago while I was a few miles from home. Luckily I was within walking distance of a parts store and was able to get some cheapo replacement pulley (and belt) and was able to be back on the road in about an hour. Meant to replace the pulley with a better part from Ford, but I just never got around to it. Anywho, I went out today have a look at the tensioner with the intention of replacing it and the el cheapo pulley with Ford parts. While there I noticed that the "clamp" that holds all the duct work together for the air filter was not properly closed. I had replaced the air filter myself some time ago and would never have left the clamp in such a state, so I figure that the mechanic at the dealer had opened it as part of the diagnostics done on the truck.

I was going to simple close the clamp properly, but I noticed what looked like some loose paper sticking out of the duct work where the clamp holds it together. So, I pulled the air filter to see what was up. Holy crap! There was hardly any air filter left! Some friggin' buck toothed rodent (mouse, rat, squirrell, Miami-Dade politician) had climbed in through the grill and eaten about 50-75% of the filter. Not just the paper, but even the hard plastic "nose cone" (for those who know what the filter looks like). Even found rat droppings in the air filter housing. The guys in the parts department of the DIFFERENT Ford Dealer (I will not take the truck back to the original dealer who apparently did not notice this even though they obviously had taken the duct work apart) were cracking up over my inquiry as to whether or not I could get a titanium tipped air filter or one saturated with rat poison.

So, I have 2 questions:

  1. What damage could the small pieces of paper, hard plastic, or rat turd have done to my intake system? Is there anything I can do other than take the duct work apart and make sure there's nothing floating around in there?

  1. What does the Ford service department actually do when they "clean the intake system?"

Thanks!

Reply to
TBW
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I forgot to mention that #1 on my ToDo list for tomorrow is Home Depot for some "chicken wire" to fashion a screen for the air intake.

Reply to
TBW

You can buy a spray can of Throttle Body Safe intake cleaner for about $10 at the auto parts store and spray it in yourself according to whatever directions there are on the can. Some throttle bodies are coated and supposedly you are never supposed to rub them with anything, i.e. like cleaning them off with a solvent soaked rag. If teh belt tensioner is putting tension on it and the bearings in the idle rollers seem ok I don't know why you'd replace it. Most belts are supposed to last 60K miles.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Not surprising... That is what a dealer is for--to convince the customer to buy a new vehicle!

You can get cleaner at the parts store, and follow the directions carefully. Don't rub or touch things, that may damage the sensors.

If the belt is bad, replace it. Check the tensioner bearings, if smooth then it should be OK, if not a good parts store will have them.

Reply to
PeterD

First, thanks to those of you who responded.

Second, yet another "Holy Crap!"

So, after just doing the bare minimum to start with and getting a new air filter, I dug a little deeper today after being away for a few days. I am totally amazed that my truck was even running, much less running as well as it has been.

There is a screen (stainless steel I'm sure, but about the same mesh size as in common house window screen) between the air filter and the MAF sensor. It's probably for catching "big stuff," perhaps like a rat-shredded air filter. Well, I think that's exactly what the screen did on my truck, except that there was so much shredded air filter paper in there that it basically covered the whole screen, and I'm thinking that the low pressure created from my engine trying to breath basically ripped the screen completly out about half way round the circumference.

I did not take the MAF sensor out to clean it because it looked pretty clean and I could not see any paper inside the piece where it is housed. Had a pretty good look too since the aforementioned screen was not in my way.

Of course when the screen gave way the big wad of paper (and probably rat scat) was sucked right down the duct work toward the throttle body. Sure enough, there were three or four pieces of air filter stuck around (in the holes in the center of) the butterfly valve. These weren't just tiny bits of paper: some were well over a square inch in size. No wonder my throttle was sticking: paper was wedging around the butterfly valve.

Hmmm. I move on down stream (at least easy part) to the IAC valve and take it off. LOL!!! That sucker is basically packed with shredded air filter paper. Took me 10 minutes with small screwdriver and needle nose pliers to get the maybe 10 pieces out, again some over 1 square inch in size.

Again, I am so totally amazed that my truck has been running as well as it has been. I reckon them thar computers really do work purty good. Thinking back about when I had the fairly severe "sticky throttle" and "rough idle" issues (which did basically disappear rather quickly), I'm thinking this happened MONTHS ago. Amazing (and sad that I let it go that long).

I cleaned out all the paper, the throttle body, and the IAC valve and the truck does, not surprisingly, run better. The acceleration from traffic lights is smooth and feels downright peppy again.

So, I'd be willing to bet that some paper (and maybe tiny pieces of plastic and mouse turd) made it past the butterfly valve, and down the intake manifold. If I had a decent place to work I'd remove the manifold myself, but I don't. Should I have it removed and inspected by someone else?

Considering that I think this happened months ago, I'm thinking if I haven't done any damage yet to valves or cylinders then I'm probably safe. Anyone see it any different?

How far up/down do the valves travel? Any way a piece of paper could get stuck and not let a valve close completely? What sort of symptom could I expect if that did happen? If paper actually made it into a cylinder, wouldn't it just be incinerated on the power stroke?

I fashioned a screen of sorts to hopefully keep critters out of my intake system. I put the screen at the bottom (the upstream end) of the housing for the air filter, but I'd rather put a screen over the end of the air inlet, which is actually between the inner and outer fender panels. How do I get to that without removing fender panels? There are two screws/bolts that secure the "engine air cleaner mounting bracket" to the inner fender: if I remove those two screws/ bolts will that whole unit pop out (there is some sort of fastener securing the unit to the inner fender at the 12 o'clock position...can it just be "poppped" out and then back in?)?

Regarding the broken screen inside the duct work were the MAF sensor resides, can I buy part of the unit in pieces to save some money or do I have to buy the whole unit including the MAF sensor? I'm guess that latter isn't cheap.

I still laugh (and cry) when I look at what's left of the air filter. If anyone else wants a laugh let me know and i'll email a photo.

Thanks!

Reply to
TBW

I don't think you need to worry about any more of the air filter stuff that may have gotten into the intake. It's just paper and running it thru a few full throttle full rpm acceleration runs should suck out any pieces still farther down. The valves open wide enough for the paper to get thru and it will just burn up. You are right that if you have to replace the part with the screen it's probably going to be relatively costly. I'd just put a piece of screen where ever you can get to to keep rats from getting up to the filter again.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

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