Previously, I posted wondering how to get at the interlock control unit, but realized that it made a lot more sense to check the throttle body (based on the fact that if the brake and gas pedal are pressed simultaneously, then you can't put the car into park--something I found out while looking at the page on troubleshooting the interlock control unit connector.) I didn't bother to go back and troubleshoot the electronics, and waited for the snow to stop to look at the throttle body itself, to see if it was stuck open, and as you probably can surmise based on the post title, I found a mouse trapped between the flap and the throttle body interior.

PROBLEM IS that while trying to get the dead mouse out, it ended up slipping inside and now I can't even see it! I also tried vacuuming it out with a shop vac while my daughter pressed down on the gas pedal, to no avail. Not surprisingly, there is evidence of the start of a nest in the air filter.

What I am now wondering is, what is that piece that the throttle body is connected to?

I'm guessing it would be seriously unwise to start the car, right? As it would then be trapped in the exhaust pipes? I was trying to figure out the easiest way to get this mouse out. My car is stuck outside in the snowbelt...

 

Your Accord has tasted flesh and will require the blood of a virgin on a moon lit night to appease it's insatiable hunger...



If the mouse fell into the intake the best way would be to simply unbolt the upper plenum of the intake manifold and remove the mouse from there.

 

The mouse was visible after removing the throttle body, but indeed had to fall entirely into the plenum and guess I'll be taking that off. Wish me luck. Seriously hope I'm not getting myself too in over my head.

 

Wondering if it's too late to try vacuuming it out of there--(my shop vac hose is too large, but maybe with a smaller one)--or if the mouse has dropping into the engine. I feel sick about the thought of having to drain all the coolant and get another gasket (possibly holding me up another day, when there will likely be another snowstorm, and I'm working outside)...

 

Depending one what year/engine you have the coolant does not have to be drained.
If your car has FITV then it will have some coolant in it, but no reason to drain the system. Just remove the two hoses and whatever piddles out can be replenished after install and verifying no air in the high point of the system via the bleed nipple on the back of the thermostat housing.

You may be able to remove the mouse but if it got trapped in the TB then it may have a few pieces missing and you would want to remove those parts as well as verify nothing else(nesting material, another mouse, etc) has fallen into the intake/engine.

 

[QUOTE=MAD_MIKE;51139837]Depending one what year/engine you have the coolant does not have to be drained.
If your car has FITV then it will have some coolant in it, but no reason to drain the system. Just remove the two hoses and whatever piddles out can be replenished after install...[clip]"

Well, that's good to know. I spent 45 minutes struggling to get off the radiator plug--didn't succeed in getting it off all the way (cold hands, and awkward reach), but got it open enough to drain the radiator and drench my sleeve cuffs.... I don't think I'd be able to get at the bolt on the engine block, where the car is, so if I don't have to, I'm relieved. Should I still flush the radiator out with water, even if I don't drain the engine block?

Now washing all the coolant soaked outerwear, and will get back to it. Fortunately, the plenum removal itself seems straightforward. It does have the FITV I think--my book is not in front of me, but it would be connected to the the throttle body that is already removed? If so, I plugged those hoses with saran wrap and a pencil. :D

BTW Mad Mike--I really appreciate your comments, and giving me the confidence to proceed. I'm not really a "car person" in the sense that I only work on my car when I have to, and I do enjoy the learning process, but often worry about getting in too deep with this stuff.

Another question: What can I expect to find in the intake manifold after removing the plenum? Does only air go through the large openings? Or coolant, too?

 

you will need a new plenum gasket set and the old one will be paper and it will likely need to be scraped off using the long side of razor

 

Thanks holmesnmanny--I did order the gaskets for the throttle body and plenum, and the plenum one isn't stocked, so I ordered from the dealer and it arrived yesterday. Thanks for suggesting the razor blade--I tried steel wool on the throttle body gasket--got off the remnants but made a mess with steel shreds. Fortunately it is off the car, so I don't have to worry about getting shreds in the system. A razor blade sounds like a much better option.

I also got antifreeze from the dealer--$18 for the 50/50 blend! I was shocked by the price of it and only got one gallon since I have some prestone in the garage. Now the manual says don't mix coolant brands. Is this for real?? I mean, who bothers to remember what coolant they used last time.

****************

I've got various tubes/connectors on the plenum labeled and I'm about to work on removing it. To be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed by the number of things connected. I didn't know about the boost thing until I saw a gasket and thought, oh no, I hope I don't get held back because of yet another gasket...but looks like I don't have to remove it? Not entirely sure until I try, I suppose, but there's a ground connected to one bolt on the booster and another plastic tube (wiring?)) connected to the booster via some clip I'm not sure how to open.

I guess I can leave all the sensors attached--but some of the tubes are hard to reach. It's hard to see all the connections even in full daylight!

Also overwhelmed that I have to loosen the throttle cable and cruise cable from a bracket attached to the plenum. Or maybe I can keep those attached to the bracket and remove the bracket from the plenum.

The service manual stuff I printed from Service Express shows a lot of incomplete pictures--so one with all the bolts and where all the sensors are, but not with the tubes/wiring/how to remove connectors.

The Hayne's manual is even worse, basically just says to label everything, remove stuff and put it all back when you reinstall.

Thanks so much to anyone reading, and I do hope when I am done, this will be helpful to someone else.

Am I going to mess up the throttle or worse? UGH.... going back outside and see what happens. Will report back later, but will keep checking to see if there's anything I should look out for because my printouts and book made it seem a lot easier until I got started.

 

Take your time. Rushing things will lead to mistakes.

Keep everything clean and organized. Good luck

 

Thanks--doing my best! Couldn't rush things if I tried--in the half hour I was out there, I got 3 rubber hoses off --tearing one, 3 more are stuck as of now, and I can't seem to get my hand in the right angle to squeeze the electrical connectors to disconnect those, which would probably help a lot because I think if I can disconnect those, then I can unbolt the plenum, then work on the hoses.... I am so, so frustrated. And I'd love to be able to get this thing out before dark, as I'm outside under a plastic cover that is disintegrating with each heavy snow...

Eh, lunch break!

 

Make sure to get a high quality razor blade and it takes a few times and practice to get the hang of it. But using the long straight side and just going straight will strip off the paper gasket. Try to get as much of the razor surface area on the part that is being scrubbed so it goes straight. Ignore the temptation to use the corner, it can scratch and it is not as effective. Try to take off only the top part of the intake if at all possible. Not sure if you have a butterfly or not you didn't state what car you have.

 

Good news--it's sunny today and it's helping me see a lot more clearly, not to mention, no strong winds and heavy snow to contend with.

Today, I was able to remove the vacuum hoses from the back of the plenum with a simple device known as the screwdriver. :D

Oddly, I went to Napa this morning looking for some tool to jump out at me, and ended up buying some long bent nose pliers (having seen a review that someone used these for the same purpose successfully). I could NOT remove the hoses with these pliers (though I did wrap in electrical tape so as not to damage the hoses, reducing the gripping power), but while I was doing this, the sun revealed a small gap between the hose edge and plenum body, so I got a small screwdriver not expecting much and the hose popped right off. Same with the other two hoses, even though those didn't have a gap.

I also saw online a specialty tool for helping to remove the electrical connectors, which looks like a large pair of plastic Channelocks, with foam inserted in the jaws to grip the connectors without breaking them. Well, this tool costs $60 and is also a special order item, but I figured, well, I do have Channelocks and wrapped the teeth thickly with electrical tape and squeezed oh-so-gently and it worked! I don't know that I formally recommend it--and definitely should make sure your ground wire is disconnected from your battery terminal--but it's what I did.

I have the plenum unbolted, but it's still sitting in the car-- having been distracted by not being able to remove vacuum hoses, I completely forgot to remove the coolant lines attached to the IACV. This isn't a big deal, but I felt that the electrical harness seems attached to the IACV, and I can't see how it's connected (the manual printouts I have don't even show this!). I know I unplugged the connector. I'm going to have to find a mirror and go back out to look at how to proceed....

But yeah, I feel like I'm finally making real progress!!

And bonus: I've taken many pictures--not absolutely everything since I can't keep my camera outside in this cold--but I think enough to do a writeup on throttle body and plenum removal with pictures.

 

I got the plenum out, gasket material scraped off and about to reinstall parts.

I've wiped off the plenum and throttle body with the throttle cleaner (and wiped out the insides of both--could have done better on the plenum if I had actual shop rags, but it's at least an improvement), but was curious if wiping them down with a light oil after installation is a good or bad idea to help prevent corrosion....

Also, pics later... the flash in my camera is blown now, so might not get much of the reassembly, though.

 

The plenum doesn't get nearly as hot as the intake manifold to cylinder head gasket so it's a lot easier to come off. Good to hear.

 

Got everything cleaned up and back together today, filled and bled the coolant system and all is good so far. Will put on new brake pads tomorrow and check the rotors and tires--do very much hope the rotors are OK. Try to drill out the holes with broken bolts that are supposed to hold the radiator hold down.

I was reminded of a very slight thunk sound that occurs when removing the foot from the gas. The car seems to let out a rapid, course grumble and very slight thunk--this is with the car in park, just giving the car throttle while bleeding the coolant. I have noticed the sound a couple of times in the past... and will have to do a little research on this tomorrow as well. But I'll take the good news--car runs, car shifts! And I'll start a write up in a separate thread.

ALSO JUST WANT TO THANK EVERYONE AGAIN--your advice and support helped me immensely!

 

I wanted to post pictures back when I did this, but I get pretty busy at times, and car repair is more of a thing of necessity for me, rather than a hobby. Plus, halfway through my repair, my camera flash shorted out while I was taking pictures. I was going to do a separate write up, but because I didn't get all the pictures, I'm just putting what I have here. Most of the details are in this thread anyhow, so it prevents redundancy.

A mouse chewed through the air filter...


...and held open the throttle body flap, causing me to have a scary ride!


Failing to get the mouse out of the throttle body, I removed it.


I removed the gasket from the throttle body...


And cleaned out the carbon build up.


Meanwhile, the mouse slipped into the air intake plenum.


Here's a close up of the poor mouse.


The throttle body is off, and you see pencils and plastic bags in the radiator hoses to prevent spillage.


Here are some of the supplies for the job: new air filter, TB gasket, plenum gasket and antifreeze. It's important to replace gaskets when removing the throttle body and plenum.


There were many hoses, brackets and connectors attached to the plenum that needed to be removed. Here, I think I was removing a ground cable from a bolt.


This electrical connector was very difficult to remove. I ended up wrapping a lot of electrical tape around pliers to get this one out.


More bolts.


Here I was loosening the throttle cable and cruise control cable from the bracket.


There five bolts needed to be removed.


These hoses were difficult to get off.


There was also a difficult bracket in the back of the plenum along with another electrical connector.


Alas, the mouse fell into the manifold. Freezing temperatures made it easy to remove.


I had to clean up the plenum and scrape off the remaining gasket material.


The plenum is cleaned up and ready to be reinstalled!

Reinstalling everyone was pretty straightforward. I labeled hoses as I removed them, so it was easy to determine where they went.