Hey guys. I'll be blunt. My ports arent opening. They're not stuck, i've "unseized" them so to speak. Put some grease on them just to check if they're opening.... took it for a drive taking the car right up the the redline at WOT. and whopping dick all. They didnt even budge. Obviously, i'm quite pissed since i'm losing some top end. Where do i start to troubleshoot this?
Thanks
-Ross

 

Well, I have a fix if you still have your air pump and ACV. My car was doing the same thing, they would move easily, but wouldn't create enough pressure to activate while driving. I got a ball valve from the hardware store that is about 1" outside diameter. Follow the rubber hose coming off the ACV until you see a hollow plastic silencer thing that's inline with the hose. Take that thing out, and put the ball valve in it's place, securing it with hose clamps. Drill a small hole in the hose before the ball valve, and insert a 3/16" barb like they use to connect 2 vacuum lines.Make sure the hole is smaller than the barb, so it doesn't leak air. Run a piece of vacuum line from the barb to the metal nipple thing that your current actuator line is hooked up to.

Basically the ACV vents air to a silencer at about 3600 rpm. Just turn the ball valve slightly to create a little bit of back pressure. When you rev the enging over 3600 rpm, you should see the actuators open. By adjusting the ball valve, you can adjust how fast the actuators snap open.

Oh yeah, I guess I should tell you to be positive your actuators won't work normally before doing this. I would replace the actuator gaskets, and the vacuum line that runs from the actuators to the split air pipe. If everything seems like it should be working, but doesn't, the do the mod. It works great for me, they open exactly when they should every time.

 

Where does one get the actuator gaskets?

 

I actually made my own gaskets. You could probably get them at the dealership, I would guess.

 

How do you know they're not opening. Also, what year is your car?

 

Well, he says he put grease on the actuators to see if they're opening. His profile says he has an 87.

 

what kind of material did you use to make the gaskets out of? I took my actuators off and i am thinking about putting them back on, and i want to make some gaskets so it is a clean install

 

I don't remember exactly what kind I used. I went to Pep Boys and bought a roll of gasket material. They have a few kinds, just read the package and get something that seems like it should work. Something they will take some high temperature and pressure.