Damn, that is some expensive nipple... didn't even come with a woman attached. Anyway, I'm attempting the vacuum hose job and I found out that the person who last worked on my car (before I bought it) broke off one of the nipples on the turbo solenoids. Damn bastard....


Anyway, he ghetto rigged it with a small tube that was inserted into the solenoid and glued the hose down


So I went to Napa auto and bought some plastic weld and a nipple


Sanded one of the ends down ( I later used a dremel when the sandpaper was taking too long)


Drilled the solenoid hole slightly bigger

 

Test fitted the darn thing (pretty good fit)


The plastic weld smelled terrible


Nipple inserted into the solenoid and plastic weld around the edge


I'll have to pressure test it after it cures The plastic weld and nipple cost me 8 bucks. Since the solenoid is roughly $50 I believe... I think this is worth a try!

 

nice. the funny thing it is that it will probably be more durable than the original. hell yeah saving money!

 

By the time I finished post whoring... the stuff cured already.. and this plastic weld stuff is AWESOME. It feels just like plastic... none of that resin stickyness that you have with normal epoxy.

The leftover plasticweld is totally stuck to the mixing tray that I used and the new nipple is very happy glued down in its new home.

 

gonna remeber this when I break something

 

I have seen people epoxy a metal nipple onto those solenoids before. The only reservation I'd have is the plastic would likely get brittle again over time, but if you use good silicone hoses you typically don't have to remove it for anything. They primarily break when the rock-hard stock vacuum lines push against the nipple during removal and snap it off.

But, good fix! There's a number of creative ways you can fix the various solenoids in the car.

Dale

 

Thanks Dale! Just when I thought things were going well, I broke a nipple off of a solenoid in the rats nest I was hoping to just do a partial vac hose job and replace the brittle or loose ones. Looks like now I have to pull the damn nest off.

 

Ive seen this done before.

 

Plastic weld huh? And to think I've been using jb weld all this time to fix broken nipples.

 

i suppose this stuff isn't any good for human nipples.

good work!

 

Nice clean fix. BTW, a new solenoid pair is over $120.

Dave

 

There is an older post where a guy used a small metal tube and did the same thing. Result was the same, great fix!

Plastic welder is the crim del a crim for RX7 maintenance. It will fix anything and it usually better than the original strength. You can reinforce alot of those plastic pieces that commonly break... Wal mart sells it now and it is cheap...

Amazing stuff....probably be outlawed soon...

 

i used plastic weld (same type in the pictures above) to fix my drivers side door handle. . . this stuff is pretty tough!!! its holding up pretty well, and ill actually end up doing the other side as a bit of a reinforcement. also, i used it on the headlight lids. . . the plastic thats supposed to hold those things down is so thin and brittle. . . it needs SOMETHING!!!

 

i wouldnt trust that, you should look into replacing the sensor.

 

I just won an ebay auction for a used but in working condition Rats Nest. I hope that it will include the turbo solenoids.

I also broke a nipple off of the rats nest while using the exacto to slit the hose.

 

It's not a sensor, it's a solenoid.

And from what I know about solenoids, drilling out the lower hole and using glue to seal the joint will work just fine as long as the glue didn't get into the solenoid and damage the plunger seal. Since he bored out the hole to fit the tube, and glued only the outside of the joint, that risk was entirely avoided.

Kraked, I recommend using a pair of side-cutters to cut each hose in half so that you can remove the solenoid and leave the hose on the nipple. Then you can shave/twist/torch the remaining hose in a much more controllable situation on the bench.

Dave

 

Actually.. I placed a thin layer of glue around the nipple as well. There is just enough for it to make a tight bond but not enough so that it runs into the diaphragm

I've been using a pair of dykes to cut the middle of the vac hoses. If the end is connected to a metal part then I just use pliers to twist and pull off. If the hose is connected to a plastic solenoid, I use the dykes to trim them even closer and then I use a knife to slit it so that I can use a mini flat head to gently pry it off. My technique seemed to be working well until a nipple broke off while I was trying to slit it. I did not use too much pressure and it broke. Considering that it is a 12 year old nipple (sounds wrong doesnt it?) I think the work it takes to replace the darn thing will be worth it in the long run.

I will use a heat gun for the other 6 or 7 solenoids when I pull off the rats nest. Pain in the *** though because there is a fuel line directly over the phillips screw.

 

ahh thats what i meant, tired today