Took the thing off to clean it, got most of the gunk out. In order to clean it a bit better, connected it back up to the wiring harness and turned the ignition to 'accessories' with A+B jumpered on the ALDL. The pintle/spring came out, cleaned that as well.

Now for getting it back in, the previously posted suggestions of pushing the pintle back while wiggling it didn't seem to be working. I did find a post that suggested while A+B are jumpered, you can reverse two of the IAC wires and the motor will retract the pintle. I was going to try this (although unsure of which wires), but in the meantime my dad while playing with it, managed to grind out the plastic inserts that the pintle grooves line up with. So the pintle now fully retracts, but is it shagged?

Thanks for any help

 

You should of pulled back the spring by hand and screwed it back in with your fingers. The tiny grooves are there for a reason. It's to stop the spring from moving in either direction which will help create a force to close the little port because the IAC motor is very sensitive to pressure, so the spring is there to help the motor create a complete seal. If there is no extra force to help the pintle close the port, then your going to run into idle issues (because the motor is not designed to apply great force). If you would of spun the spintle as far as it goes until it can no longer plunge into the IAC case, then you would of been good to go. The ECU would of handled the rest as in adjusting the pintle byitself by closing the little port. Im not sure if it'll affect anything but maby you'll run into bad idling problem later in the future. You may of had spent a few minutes to mess up a $25 dollar part. All you had to do is pull back the spring and start twisting (righty tighty, lefty loosey).

 

Re-install and test it out. maby there wont be a difference. Good luck.

 

I've never pulled the IAC out of my TPI. But I have dealt with stock GM and aftermarket ones. I've only seen two types - the stock type had an indentation down the length of the shaft and therfore could not spin. These are the type that should be rocked side to side while pushing inward.

The aftermarket type does not have the indentation and screws inward.

I'm guessing it does this on our cars but I know on 730 ecm cars and such when you turn the key (without turning the car on) it ully extends the IAC. Test it and see if yours works. simple

 

I know mine works. Barely replaced it 3 months ago. Here's what happened to my old one. I had it sitting on top of the Throttlebody to test it out, as I turned on the key to ignition, a mosquito bit me so I took my eyes of the IAC. When I looked up, the pintle and the spring where gone. After about 5 minutes, I found them and cleaned it off with carb cleaner. I reconnected and turned the key. Now there was a fast clicking noise. I never knew it was coming fromthe IAC so I ran the IROC like that for 1 hour, then the IROC turned off and would never start agian. I suspected that the IAC went bad so I pulled the connection and checked for power. I got voltage so I pulled the IAC out and reconnected and hoop, there it is. The IAC was bad. The type that mine had is the plain shaft that just screws in when holding down the pring. So mine is good and new.

 

I screwed the pintle in as far as it would go by hand, this was still outside of the 1-1/8" maximum length, so I was trying to figure out how it would go further in. It couldn't have been placed into the socket at that point, the pintle would have just crushed the worm drive gears when screwing it in.

Thanks anyway for the responses

 

Well if it doesnt screw in anymore, then sorry to say but it's bad already. sounds like the threads or something may of had stripped down to that certain point. Sorry bro. Besides, it's always better to have new parts.