In replacing the fuel injection spider assembly on a 2006 Express 4.3L, five of the six nylon extender tubes on the end of the injectors popped off and stayed in the intake manifold. I'm assuming because so many of them stayed that this isn't that rare an occurrence. But I haven't yet been able to find anyone who has dealt with this. How do I get them out???? The tubes turn freely so that I am unable to screw anything into them to pull them out.

 

To extract those stuck nylon tubes, your best bet is to create internal tension using a plastic drywall anchor or a small masonry sleeve anchor; by inserting the anchor into the tube and tightening the screw, the anchor expands against the inner walls to stop the spinning and provide a solid grip for you to pull upward with pliers. Alternatively, you can slide a 90-degree dental pick down the center, hook it under the bottom edge of the nylon sleeve, and pull straight up, ensuring you've vacuumed away any surrounding debris first to prevent carbon from falling into the intake ports. Once they are out, double-check that the old O-rings didn't stay behind in the casting, as a "double-stacked" O-ring will prevent the new spider assembly from seating and cause a massive vacuum leak.

 

Yeah the masonry or drywall sleeve anchor seemed like the best bet but they don't seem to make one of a small enough gauge to fit in there. The problem with the plastic dry wall anchor is that once in, the tube still turns preventing the screw from expanding the anchor. If they made one both thin enough and long enough I could hold the top of the anchor with pliers while screwing but I haven't found anything suitable in that regard. The dental pick idea I considered but I'm a little leery of snapping off the tip when pulling on it and then having to pull the intake manifold to fish out the piece, I just thought that it must be a common enough issue that someone would have marketed an actual tool for the job. It would all be a little easier if the engine wasn't in a van and I could actually get my head over the work area.