Throttle stuck on me several times today. I took the top off the airbox cover and staring back at me was a live mouse.

The airbox was packed with acorns. I vacuumed them out with a shop vac but now the mouse has disappeared into the headlight bucket. I have a trap out hopefully it ll get him.

I'm guessing that the throttle issues were the result of debris being sucked into the intake and jamming the throttle plate. The knock might have been the debris or a dead mouse body jamming the intake valve open till stuff got burned off. At least part of the mystery has been solved. Now I just need to capture the offending party.

That is the source of the engine's power



You'll only be running on 3 now!

Here are some pics of the damage, and the critter. Notice the acorns on the topside of the filter. The stuck throttle probably would have been avoided had the filter been chew-proof on one or both sides. Gonna look into blocking the airbox entrance with steel mesh.

Updating this old thread.

I was having whooshing noise in the heater core, coolant loss, white smoke, and finally, bubbling in the overflow tank. Ran great but the writing was on the wall.

As mentioned, the TC was replaced in 2007 with a EB kit with about 30k on it now.

I was hoping to get away with just the hg or a new head without redoing the TC, but after pulling the valve cover, noticed the drivers side METAL guide was broken off about 3 inches.

Not sure of this was a result of redlining or what, but it looks like I now have a lot more work to do.

Does anyone have suggestions on what the best course of action would be? Should I pull the engine and rebuild or swap, or just do the timing chain plus maybe a new head?

Here's a pic of the broken piece.

I was getting a rattling noise at idle for years that I *thought* sounded like it could be from the tc. This must have been it.

It broke off above the upper guide bracket bolt. The wear marks near the top are a result of being wedged between the chain and the cover, otherwise no chain wear marks.

The chain is still very tight. I'm leaning towards leaving it as-is.

Here's how the story ends. Maybe this info will help someone else.

I decided to leave the broken guide in place and it seems fine. I would have changed it if the chain was loose but it had no slack and there is practically no wear in the drivers side guide material so I just left it.

Replaced the HG and set the valves cold at 8 and 12 thousandths per the fsm. They were quite noisy at this setting. After a cpl hundred miles, reset at 7/11 cold and it runs much quieter. The #4 exh tappet screw makes a noticeably louder 'tick' compared to other valves when it is pressed against the valve stem by hand. Not sure why this is but it explains some of the overly loud ticking sounds.

The head bolts near the firewall were really tough to get out. It took a really long breaker bar and lots of force to remove them. Luckily none broke.

Head was surfaced and freshened at a local engine shop. Saved some money by reusing the head.

Used an EB DNJ gasket kit plus new head bolts. That kit doesn't contain all the gaskets needed. Specifically, the Heater tube O-ring that fits in the lower intake, under the thermostat housing, and the pair and exh air injection gaskets. I also bought new washers for the fuel rail and cold start banjos.

All 5 injectors were serviced by witchhunter. The 'before' flows were decent. The fresh orings and other soft parts added peace of mind there wouldn't be any leaks.

Setting ignition timing was an issue. The TPS IDL/E2 wasn't working, and check mode would not engage. Jumpering the bottom two pins on the tps connector worked around this problem.

There was a sideshow to go along with this project. The fuel supply line from tank to the firewall rusted out and sprayed gas everywhere just as I was getting ready to test fire the engine. I am not interested in messing around with fuel inside an attached garage, so farmed this work out to a local shop. They replaced the tank bracket plus all the steel fuel and brake lines with oem replacements - a large and messy job but the sort of work I don't mind paying for since it affects safety.

This was my first hg job and I did learn a lot doing this project. The biggest hurdle is simply the learning curve and not knowing really what to do. Some of the lower intake plumbing is mysterious at first. Overall, it's doable by a beginner. I could probably do it again over a long weekend.