I can't imagine how the o ring could try to exit like that unless the throttle body mounting screw were quite loose. Did you loosen those for some reason while mounting the new air cleaner?
When I disassembled my intake system to clean (part of the the polished lifter cover install project) my throttle body fit tight to the intake manifold with the o-ring installed in its' annular groove and correctly compressed; i.e. there should be no discernible gap between the throttle body and intake.
Looking at the stains present in your photograph it looks as it you have had a leak here for some time, so perhaps your throttle body was installed incorrectly at some point in the past with the o-ring not correctly clamped in position but still providing a (mostly) functional seal. Then just recently, perhaps due to a misfire on starting, the o-ring was blown out as depicted.
Last edited by Bitsobrits; 01/08/20 05:56 PM.
