OK guys heres the situation, The 5/6 ports on my car were stuck open cause the previous owner shoved screws through the bottom of the actuators. I have a pair of s5 actuators but one is dented so it only opens half way. I figured since im breaking in my rebuild and I cant pass 4k anyway this will be fine for now.


So heres where the problem starts. i took off the old actuator and the part that is attached to the sleeve that turns is stuck in the up position. I cannot turn it by hand strength alone for the life of me. I used a flathead and a hammer to turn the rear one slightly and it just sticks where i put it. I didnt tap it far for fear of damage. Any ideas why they are stuck open like this???

 

WHY they are stuck open? well if they have not moved in a while, eventually things like carbon deposits and other gunk will just pretty much sieze them in place. what you are going to have to do to ensure proper operation is take the intake manifold off and remove all the 6pi equipment. then you need to clean up whatever parts need to be and make sure all the components are working fine.
there was a write up on this procedure somewhere, but i'm not quite sure where that is...anyone know?

 

Is there anyway to do this without removing the manifold? Do you think I would cause damage if it just tapped them into the closed position for now?

 

possibly. the best thing to do is take the lower intake off, mainly because it sounds like they are binding and you might have messed up something.

 

well the only way you will be able to tell/fix it for sure is to take of the manifold.
other than that, you can try some penetrant to try to get things unstuck, but you want to make sure that nothing is damaged and everything is working fine.