Funny....folks in cold regions often put pipe insulation in the slats of their grille in the wintertime. We may be doing a 'snorkel mod' in the wintertime as well.
Well, the outside louvers can be blocked with a piece of shipping tape, or use the removable window seal tape as well. IIRC, the airbox is open to the front and to the rear and acts like a foreign object separator (rain / bugs / ...). Once the engine is warm and the radiator starts putting out heat, I wonder if the reverse may happen...instead of too cold air getting to the IC, now maybe air that is too warm may get there. Even though providing warmer air increases its ability to hold moisture, if the IC is cooling down past the dewpoint, condensation still could take place, unless the IC can't cool the air down that quickly. Also, nothing is being done about the moisture supply coming from the pre-IC EGR system (and probably can't because of the Ever Present A**hats (EPA).
Well, blocking the outside air made no difference in the intake air temperature, as reported by VCDS with the car working. I was comparing the MFI reported temp to the VCDS report of intake air and they were just about the same. Blocking the forward intake grille with tape should have been the same as pulling the snorkeling from the airbox, as suggested in other posts. The only time I saw the air temp go up was in the garage after the run, sitting still and idling.
I think that VW should engineer a little flapper at the bottom of the cold side of the intercooler. Every once in a while, it could open and the pressure inside the intercooler would allow whatever liquid goo that accumulates there to blow out. Call it a "hankerchief" feature.
Thanks. I also was more careful about aligning the hose so that it lined up as well as possible with the IC and therefore was less off-center which helped a little but it definitely has a different feel than on the passenger side.
I can see it now...I think that VW should engineer a little flapper at the bottom of the cold side of the intercooler. Every once in a while, it could open and the pressure inside the intercooler would allow whatever liquid goo that accumulates there to blow out. Call it a "hankerchief" feature.
nhdoc, see my post, number 188, in this thread. I too found my driver's side clamp, the one with the wire snap ring, to be quite loose. And some oily residue leaking from the connection.
Seems to be "typical" of our engines to have that particular connection be loose like that. I will probably try to make it better next time I have a reason to drop the belly pan. I had considered adding an o-ring around the IC tube where it tapers to meet the metal sleeve which would probably fix it and provide an air-tight seal.
Itchy - thanks for the report!! That is interesting info to have - I may just need to look into a VCDS for my shop.
. Thanks for all the useful discussion.
I've wondered if that's part of the seal design, where it closes when pressurized, then relaxes when the engines off to allow the oil mist to seep out. I would imagined the seal would have been spring loaded if that's not the case. The passenger side doesn't do that though, so maybe not. You just never know with VW.
You're giving them too much credit, IMHO. If they wanted to design a joint to seep oil it should be the other one, where the oil is always more plentiful.
I kinda wondered the same thing. But it's sloppy and not very 'German engineering' like.
I think that VW should engineer a little flapper at the bottom of the cold side of the intercooler. Every once in a while, it could open and the pressure inside the intercooler would allow whatever liquid goo that accumulates there to blow out. Call it a "hankerchief" feature.
The flapper would do the trick, although you'd have to cycle it before cranking the engine to prevent hydrolocking from ice-melt water. So now we've got our cars periodically blowing "Snot Rockets" - a neat Mario Kart like entertainment feature that may cause you to lose the rear end next time you are throttled up in the twistiesNow, it can be "Gretchen, you left a pile for me. How quaint." Another scene that came to mind is when Col. Potter was given a horse in his office and he slid on a "road apple" and went down and me repeating the same.
People with cars under warranty don't get them towed to an indie shop. Think about it. Ask him again in a few years.
So all we have to do is drive mach 2 and we'll be all set.
