pishta
I know I'm right....
2012 Grand caravan needed plugs and a TB cleaning. No prob right? Well.....the plugs require a complete removal of the upper intake tract and even the upper rad hose! So on with the job. I looked up a youtube vid () on '12 plug replacement and found a good one where this guy stumbles through a 3 hour plug replacement with all the pitfalls and gotchas pointed out. So I dive in noting all the gotchas and Im flying! Im 10 minutes into the job and I already got the rear plugs exposed! WTH! Im thinking Im gonna catch a snag somewhere but I keep trucking and another 15 minutes I got the upper tract off and the front plugs exposed...Holy crap...nothing broken..nothing lost..all the bolts came off with no problem...? The vid has you take the connectors off, you dont have to, just lay everything connected to the side, save your brittle clips!
Now I'm looking up to either thank God or see if a bolt of lightning is on its way down to hit my van. I get the plugs out and they are ****
so I lather up the new ones and they slip in no prob, torque them down and put all the COP's back on. the intake valves look great for a 127K Chrysler motor!
bolts in, upper tract going back on and.....bam: Drop the tiny 5/16 socket that drives the 7 intake 'screws' (they are plastic intakes so the bolt is sort of a woodscrew) into the intake valley...F! Strike 1. I see it and use a piece of wire to fish it out and I'm back on track. Wait...weren't there 7 intake screws? See pic 2... Now there are only 6....C'mon man! so Im looking and moving stuff and this thing is gone...did it drop into the intake valley with the socket? I keep the missing hole the most easy to access so when It does show up, I can put it in easily. I clean the electric throttle body with carb cleaner propping the electric throttle open and dousing the TB until its clean and put everything back together. So far, not too bad! air box on, IAT sensor plugged back in...Thing wont start. Strike 2. The TB light on the dash )Z( is red and its just cranking. So I check all the connections and try again. It wants to catch but then dies. After about 1 minute of combined cranks over 6 attempts, the thing finally coughs and starts with a stink, a high idle and slowly lowers to its 700 idle and the TB light goes out. I must have screwed up the TPS when I as cycling the throttle blade to get the carb spray in there? Whatever, the thing is now idling smooth as ever and I start cleaning up and bam. I find the 7th intake screw! It had rolled under the stack of tools! Torqued it back in without taking anything back apart and we are done. Total time wrenching was under an 45 min with a few time outs to look for stuff and fish that socket out. All in all, not too bad. I remember the 2007 T&C we had was a biotch to get to the rear plugs, had to get your arm back between the firewall and something and use a stubby with just the right angle to get to those. This was way easier when someone else finds all the potholes for you!
Now I'm looking up to either thank God or see if a bolt of lightning is on its way down to hit my van. I get the plugs out and they are ****
bolts in, upper tract going back on and.....bam: Drop the tiny 5/16 socket that drives the 7 intake 'screws' (they are plastic intakes so the bolt is sort of a woodscrew) into the intake valley...F! Strike 1. I see it and use a piece of wire to fish it out and I'm back on track. Wait...weren't there 7 intake screws? See pic 2... Now there are only 6....C'mon man! so Im looking and moving stuff and this thing is gone...did it drop into the intake valley with the socket? I keep the missing hole the most easy to access so when It does show up, I can put it in easily. I clean the electric throttle body with carb cleaner propping the electric throttle open and dousing the TB until its clean and put everything back together. So far, not too bad! air box on, IAT sensor plugged back in...Thing wont start. Strike 2. The TB light on the dash )Z( is red and its just cranking. So I check all the connections and try again. It wants to catch but then dies. After about 1 minute of combined cranks over 6 attempts, the thing finally coughs and starts with a stink, a high idle and slowly lowers to its 700 idle and the TB light goes out. I must have screwed up the TPS when I as cycling the throttle blade to get the carb spray in there? Whatever, the thing is now idling smooth as ever and I start cleaning up and bam. I find the 7th intake screw! It had rolled under the stack of tools! Torqued it back in without taking anything back apart and we are done. Total time wrenching was under an 45 min with a few time outs to look for stuff and fish that socket out. All in all, not too bad. I remember the 2007 T&C we had was a biotch to get to the rear plugs, had to get your arm back between the firewall and something and use a stubby with just the right angle to get to those. This was way easier when someone else finds all the potholes for you!
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