feasability of intake removal for cleaning?

I've got an old (02) TDI that I'd like to clean the intake on, but in my experience, there's always a bolt or two that's rusted and frozen on old cars. I'm reluctant to try and take it all apart when there's a good chance I'll either shear a bolt, or be unable to reach one.

Is this a legit task for a guy with some tools and a driveway to tackle, or is this a garage thing?

The ALH engines are pretty easy to do the intake r&r.
You'll be glad if you have a ratchet set of allen tips. Ball end allens will help.
Since the IM is on the upper side of the engine the bolts shouldn't be rusted too badly.

Mods, please delete, I found this thread:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=318660

Looks as impossible as I'd feared. Thanks!

It is hard to get to some of the bolts, but with the correct tools it isn't that big of a deal. I have done several of them. Just takes time.

Yeah it's well within legit with a decent set of tools and a driveway. When I delete the EGR will probably be cleaning my intake and turbo.

be careful of just cleaning the intake, some of us have blown up an engine due to cleaning ONLY the intake and ignoring the head. It can be done with some plastic pics and what not and a shop vac or air gun.

OP, removing the two heat shields on the exhaust manifold to gain access to some of the Intake bolts will be necessary and your biggest challenge. I suppose the Intake could be removed without removing those shields but it sure makes it a lot easier. I do this from the bottom...

With appropriate tool(s), give each Intake bolt a good whack or two prior to trying to break it loose.

As Mongler98 said, if you don't clean out the Intake ports in the head you will be making a mistake. The crud build-up in the Intake ports is quite flakey and hard due to the heat. Leaving that stuff in there will create a good amount of turbulence as the charged air transitions from the clean Intake to the head.. If and when it breaks off, there's a good possibility for the flakes to land on top of a piston at the wrong place (piston jams it against the head) or jams it against one of the valves....... and, it can get caught under a valve causing piston contact..

Just remember to make sure the (EDIT) Intake Valve is closed on the port you are cleaning... pick, gouge, vacuum, compressed air, use of small mirror and lots of light... repeat until all the big stuff is gone!

Andy, I think you may mean intake valve but yeah to everything else.

So the way i did my cleaning was i took a handful of plastic eating utensils and melted the ends into various picks and scrapers. Make sure your cam lob is NOT on the intake lifter, use some break cleaner and some oven cleaner and a few brass gun brushes, i used a .22 and a 12 gauge. A shopvac with a small hose duck taped to the end with a catch can rigged up in the middle of the line a mirror and a few beers.
You can actually get your head back there and see out of the corner of your eye but the mirror is best. Flashlight too.
Pull the glow plugs or injectors, anything to let you crank it by hand and purge ANY fluids that might have made it past the valves. They should not leak but its not worth the risk. I would highly suggest you do an oil change after you do this but before you start the car, just to make sure that any oven cleaner or break cleaner that might have made it past he valve and the piston rings does not damage your internals by messing with your oil.

Do not burn out the intake manifold, go to walmart and get a $6 lint brush for cleaning out your dryer line. its like 30" long and works FANTASTIC at getting into the corners and the runners. Again, some mineral spirits, oven cleaner and break cleaner will to most of the work for you.

It would be helpful ot have a bolt extractor socket set and a few spare bolts on hand.

You can easily rig up a torque wrench with a fish hanging scale and a 12" bar. 1 ft lb is 1 lb of force at 12" away at a fulcrum. No reason to not torque down your bolts properly as you cant get a torque wrench back there for some of the bolts. MAKE your own tool

You can get creative but the #1 thing you do not do is do a half assed cleaning. If your not prepared to do a proper job, dont do it at all. you would be surprised at how little HP you will not gain back by not even cleaning it.

Yep... Intake valve. Thanks Flee.

Most don't have the opportunity, but I use a pressure washer to blast out the Intake. Once I've hit it a number of times from all angles and ports, I blow it out with compressed air and finish the inside with either Mineral Spirits and brushes or a combo of both MS and Carb Cleaner....... followed by another blasting with the pressure washer.

Yeah, I did one burn out... too much trouble, mess, smoke, etc... never again.

I don't use any liquid in the ports. I made several scrapers from aluminum bits from my source stock. When I am finished, anything left is too small to cause a problem. No, it is not all bright and shiny. But, by the end of the life of the engine and use of 15ppm diesel fuel, it'll never be a problem again.