If you have abs of steel (you will spend time lying on top of motor); at least three universal joints between wrist and elbow; with fingers like steel cable, go ahead and clean the IAC valve. But note you will more than likely find the gasket brittle and you will break it when you remove the IACV.
If you don’t have those specialized body accessories, live with the bad IACV until you can afford a new one. Don’t forget the gasket. Removing this thing on our first generation cars is so difficult that putting back on an old part doesn’t make any sense at all to me.
Ok, with that said I removed the following to get at it:
Air ducts (of course)
Windshield wiper (Right side)
Rear Hood Gasket (slips on edge of nozzle panel and firewall)
Right side washer nozzle panel (held by 4 sheet metal screws)
Right side firewall bezel (this hides the rough sheet metal edge of the firewall)
There was/is a plastic clamp that holds all the fuel hoses in a nice, neat compact line. I remove this clamp to allow me to move the fuel hoses away from the firewall.
There is a plastic cable clamp that uses the top end of the inner IACV bolt. I ended up breaking the cable clamp off while trying to remove it from the top of the bolt.
I also removed all the left hand plastic, wiper, and the wiper motor with linkage to see if that gave me any better access but it did not.
This is a very bloody operation --- yours!
