It's a certainty that on every vehicle, there will be some routine maintenance job that is almost impossible to do. For example, there are V-8's where one spark plug requires removing the exhaust manifold to change it. On our CIS vehicles, one such item is the air cleaner. This is due to the fact that the fuel flow to the engine is regulated by an air sensor plate hanging in a cone shaped passage, which is raised by the flow of air to the engine. So the first thing the air has to do after being filtered is flow upwards, through the fuel control system. Of course, since there isn't much room elsewhere under the hood of an inline 5 cylinder car, that tends to put the air filter directly under the fuel distributor! There are two schools of thought when it comes to changing these air filters, although one can be translated into a dirtier version. One, and probably generally the easiest, is to remove the headlight in front of the air box. Now, when the clips are undone (with the help of a coat hanger), and the top of the airbox is lifted an inch or two, the air filter can be fished out and removed through the opening in the front of the car. The other method is to dismantle enough on top of the air filter box to enable you to lift it up and out. This can get pretty scary! Let me say now, that with the A/C removed from my car, I can coax the top of the airbox just high and crooked enough, to wrangle the filter out and put a new one in without disconnecting anything. With the A/C parts still in place this would not work. So how do you do it this way? You remove the thing they call the "boot", which is the very attractive black molded rubbery thing that connects to the top of the air box and to the inlet if the throttle body. Each of these attachment points is just a matter of loosening a big hose clamp (hopefully the last dismantler or the factory put the screwheads where you can reach them. remember this when reassembling!). There will be one or two hoses or devices attached to the sides of this "boot" - and unfortunately there always seems to be one attached to the bottom of it. This one is nasty. While it isn't too hard to remove (loosen hose clamp, pull off), replacing it is a pain. You have to somehow press it into place with the boot just about returned to its home, thus in your way, and tighten the hose clamp gracefully, maintaining a good seal. With the boot removed, it is now a lot easier to lift the fuel distribution mechanisms up high enough to clear the air filter and remove it. You may have to disconnect one or two electrical connections, so remember where they go. Don't force anything - move slowly and keep looking at how you are pushing things around. The fuel lines themselves are quite flexible, but you still don't want to bend them more than necessary. If you're unsure at all about remembering where all these connections go, take some simple notes as you go, perhaps marking them with bits of tape or bread wrapper tags. When closing everything up, make sure the air filter is seated properly - it's easy amidst all this pushing and shoving to leave its gasket-like edge up a little and catch it between the halves of the air box. Make sure you reconnect every vacuum line and electrical connection that you undid. Be sure to tighten hose clamps in such a fashion as to make them easiest to get to next time, and try not to leave any tools or "leftover" hardware inside the air tract or engine compartment. I hate finding that missing screwdriver two weeks later when I pop the hood to check my oil....  |
