Intake Manifold Clean

bigolac

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
99 Beetle
Yep - I just did it yesterday with the help of my 8 year old assistant. Took us about 3 hours, including cleaning the intake. Here's the before:


And an after:

I worked off of two or three different write-ups from tdiclub, vortex, newbeetle, etc.
I had the hardest time removing the four 6mm bolts for the intake and output for the egr cooler. Two were rusted shut and had to be pb blasted and hammered (lightly ;)), but they finally came out.
We took it for a short test drive - I can't say I feel a performance increase, but it feels good to have done it. Spending my afternoon with one of my sons is nice too...
Thanks to the community again for a new New Beetle owner to tackle this project!
Now - onto my next two projects - diesel purge, and evry mod!
- Adam
 

AndyBees

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2003
Location
Southeast Kentucky
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
Cleaning the Intake.......all the challenges!

Awesome!

Yep, seems some of those bolts are not only difficult to access, but are usually way to tight!

Your engine will now breath much better! You can dissconnect the supplemental oxygen now!:D
 

TDIswanted

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 7, 2012
Location
Central Wisconsin
TDI
2002 Jetta 180K, 2003 Golf 335K, 2003 GMC Duramax 240K, 2006 Jetta 218K
The hardest part after you clean the manifold is getting your hands clean again... that egr stuff stains like crazy. You can usualy tell when i've done one within the last week because thats how long your hands stay black.
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
^^^ In a similar vein, I was hoping to see a photo of his "assistant", just to see how much of the black goo he managed to get on himself. ;)
 

bigolac

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
99 Beetle
My assistant came out of the experience nearly unscathed, save for a few splatters on his legs from the de-greaser spilling out on the gravel.... I needed two clean hands to run the camera for me.
 

dweisel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Location
Wheeling, West Virginia
TDI
dweisel isn't diesel anymore!
I'm currently repacing the turbo on an 03 Beetle ALH engine. The anti shutter valve picture above is a good way to keep tabs on the turbo's health. The carbon build up pictured above is DRY. When the turbo SEAL starts to go bad this DRY carbon build will be WET from oil leaking past the turbo seal. At that point its best to check the intercooler for oil.Pull off the intercooler hose. You may find a good bit of oil. A lot of oil may not be an indicator of a bad turbo seal as this oil tends to build up over time. You'll need to clean/drain any oil from the intercooler and then recheck it again after running the car for a couple hundred miles. I decided to change out my turbo because mine was leaking approx.1 to 1-1/2 ounce in about 140 mile round trip to work and back.If left unchecked oil build up can cause an engine run away from oil injestion.
Hope that helps.
 
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03Springer

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2003
Location
Southern Nevada
TDI
2003 Golf GL+ 2013 A3 TDI
Curious, the EGR valve you are holding has an elctrical plug on it. Is that strictly a Beetle thing?
 

bigolac

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
99 Beetle
I'm currently repacing the turbo on an 03 Beetle ALH engine. The anti shutter valve picture above is a good way to keep tabs on the turbo's health. The carbon build up pictured above is DRY. When the turbo SEAL starts to go bad this DRY carbon build will be WET from oil leaking past the turbo seal. At that point its best to check the intercooler for oil.Pull off the intercooler hose. You may find a good bit of oil. A lot of oil may not be an indicator of a bad turbo seal as this oil tends to build up over time. You'll need to clean/drain any oil from the intercooler and then recheck it again after running the car for a couple hundred miles. I decided to change out my turbo because mine was leaking approx.1 to 1-1/2 ounce in about 140 mile round trip to work and back.If left unchecked oil build up can cause an engine run away from oil injestion.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for your insight - I'll have to find out where the intercooler hose is and check it out!
 

Fallon

New member
Joined
Mar 28, 2011
Location
Oklahoma City, OK, US
TDI
2006 Volkswagen Beetle TDI
I'll be cleaning mine out this weekend to get rid of the awful whistling. Would you mind posting links to all the DIY's you found helpful?
 

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
Curious, the EGR valve you are holding has an elctrical plug on it. Is that strictly a Beetle thing?
Not a Beetle thing. That is the solenoid for the ASV and rather than risk breaking the nipple, the solenoid was unbolted from the intake manifold.

That's my guess, but I would put money on it.
 

dweisel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Location
Wheeling, West Virginia
TDI
dweisel isn't diesel anymore!
Thanks for your insight - I'll have to find out where the intercooler hose is and check it out!
Look down at the forward edge of the passenger fender and you'll see the intercooler. There is a short piece of rubber hose with hose clamp on each end.This hose is approx.2 inches in dia.and 3 inches long. It connects the intercooler to the hard plastic line. Remove both hose clamps.You may not be able to get the hose off yet. Follow the hard line up and you will see where it has a 10mm mounting stud.(Sorta slightly hidden) remove the nut on the stud.Now pull down on the pipe to give you some wiggle room. Once the pipe is off the stud you can remove the 2 inch hose. Have a drain pan ready to catch any oil.
 
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03Springer

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2003
Location
Southern Nevada
TDI
2003 Golf GL+ 2013 A3 TDI
Not a Beetle thing. That is the solenoid for the ASV and rather than risk breaking the nipple, the solenoid was unbolted from the intake manifold.

That's my guess, but I would put money on it.
My EGR doesn't have that on it, just the ASV vacum port. That's why I was curios if that is strictly Beetle????
 

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
Your EGR has the vacuum port and the line is still attached to the solenoid. The solenoid is normally attached to the intake manifold, but was unbolted and removed with the EGR valve.
 

duwem

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Location
Wi
TDI
2002 Golf GLS TDI 5 Speed
So to clean the intake manifold itself, what method do you guys use?

I have heard of:

Burning the stuff out (could overhead and warp it I would assume)
Media blasting it (bad if you get sand left in there)
Soaking (in what and what do you do after you soak)
Pressure washing (does that work?)
 

dweisel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Location
Wheeling, West Virginia
TDI
dweisel isn't diesel anymore!
So to clean the intake manifold itself, what method do you guys use?

I have heard of:

Burning the stuff out (could overhead and warp it I would assume)
Media blasting it (bad if you get sand left in there)
Soaking (in what and what do you do after you soak)
Pressure washing (does that work?)
Mine did not seem to be all that bad. 03 Beetle with 172k. I took it to a car wash and pressure washed the intake and erg cooler. Less black crap than I thought. Seemed to work pretty good in my instance. I'll finish it up with wire brushing and brake cleaner.
 

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
So to clean the intake manifold itself, what method do you guys use?

I have heard of:

Burning the stuff out (could overhead and warp it I would assume)
Media blasting it (bad if you get sand left in there)
Soaking (in what and what do you do after you soak)
Pressure washing (does that work?)

Yep. Those are all methods folks here use. Your choice comes down to you.

They all work and they have all been detailed on this forum many times.
 
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