As the alcohol is flammable, using a vacuum cleaner is definitely not a recommended way of removing the alcohol. The fumes hitting the motor in the vacuum could have made for a disaster.

It would have been much better to just suck it up with a rag, or skip the alcohol and just use a blast of air to clean the area.

It was Mythbusters or another show where they tried to make a "jet engine" out of a vacuum cleaner.
Funny stuff.

I dont know what happened but my car threw the exhaust side code twice. I came upon this thread and decided to take out the exhaust side, inspect and clean it to see if that would get rid of the code.

After clearing the codes with the Interceptor, the car ran soooooo much stronger. I don't know what was up, maybe one of the alleys inside the solenoid was clogged, but my car feels MUCH better in a middle peddle load situation. What I mean is that before if I put the throttle anywhere in middle between WOT and regular cruising speed the car would bog down and although it boosted 15bs the car felt like it was really retarding the timing or something. Now that I cleaned an reinstalled it I swear the car feels like I added 30whp, car is boosting to 30lbs now??

Why would it do this? Could the solenoid have been clogged, not allowing the correct variation of timing on the VVT exhaust side that would have made the car bog down?? I really don't understand and wondering if it is OK to be boosting that high, I always thought that 25lbs is really the limit for the stock turbo/bypass valve.

Any insight would be great, I was also dealing with a major cold start issue. If the temp was above 78* outside the car, when started cold, would fire up and as soon as the tach came down to the idling RPM range it would start to misfire really bad, until the car was slightly warm (maybe 1 minute after start). I could push the peddle down to raise the rpm's up to 1500-2000 and it would prevent it from misfiring but I needed to solve that problem and it seems to be gone now??? Weird, I am going to clean the intake side here today.

"could the solenoid have been clogged, not allowing the correct variation of timing on the VVT exhaust side that would have made the car bog down?"

Yes, that's why they say to change the oil at the same time.

You got lucky JMM
 

In time I believe your code and problems will reoccur. The actuator fails and it can fail real slow or real fast. GM has redesigned the part at least 3 times clearly showing they have a problem and have continued to "improve" upon the part. You still have the old part.

If the code reappears, just get yourself the part and replace.

You could have just disturbed the electrical connections and that alone "fixed" your problems. The electrical slowly failed on mine. I know this because I could slightly push on the contacts and get different ohm readings.

As donbrew says dirty oil will exasperate the problems with this part.

x2 what they said.

If you are looking for some feedback/advice on the overboost, you might want to post something in the SS thread - some of the SS guys really know their stuff, but may overlook your comments here.

Yea well the extra power was short lived, it felt stronger and I did change the oil but something is still making it bog. I forgot to mention I ordered a new one anyways, just turn 100k, the part was $40 shipped, no biggie, especially if I get that power back.

Very easy fix, however the part I ordered for the intake( dorman 917-215) did match my electrical connection. the part has said number on the side too. My connector has a half moon key on one of the long sides( like pictured in the how to post) but the new part has keys in the middle of either side of the short sides of the connector. Anyone else get this? miss marked part?

When you say "did match my electrical connection", I gather you mean "did NOT match my electrical connection"?

If so, that's the first I've seen it reported. Once again I will stress to ONLY buy the GM part - GM has revised the part twice now, and the aftermarket manufacturers haven't necessarily kept up (although some say Dorman supplies GM, but I haven't seen any proof of it).

I'd suggest that you return the part as a "does not fit" - and get a genuine GM one. You can take a picture of the connector to show the store where you bought it to prove your point.

Any chance you were trying to install in in place of the EXHAUST solenoid? the connectors are different.

Yes did NOT match. No it was the intake. The intake has the black connector towards the back of the engine compartment, even says intacke next to it. Everything else matches perfectly, its just the connector is keyed different. :( in the process of returning the part now.Thank you!