I took my manifold off to get my stuck 5/6 ports working again. The rod that goes through the manifold to connect the sleeve to the actuator was stuck because of carbon build up, and when I tried to remove it, it broke. So I bought a used manifold for fairly cheap, just for the rods, but these are stuck even worse than mine were.

Anyone have a suggestion to get them off without snapping the rod again? I've tried PB blaster and kroil, but they haven't really helped much.

 

A torch.


If you have an oxy-accetylene, use it, but on a very carbon rich low heat flame. If you just have a hardware store propane bottle it will do the trick but just take a little longer.

Heat up where the rod goes through the manifold, soak it with your lube of choice, heat it (be careful because the oil WILL burn, don't start any housefires here), lube it - try to move it - heat it, lube it, heat it - try to move it - and so on.

Just be careful with the heat, too much will fubar your manifold, but you should be able to free them up after a good session of heat and lubrication.

 

*this thread brought back with the aid of the search feature *

I took both of my actuator rods out so I can clean up the manifold and screwed up 2 o-rings (or they could be rubber washers). These are about the size of a dime, sit in the manifold, and the actuator rod goes through them. I've looked all over Mazdatrix's intake section with no luck. Does anyone have any suggestions about where to find replacements?