HOW TO: A4 Intake manifold cleaning

fossill

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Location
Canada
TDI
Golf
Did mine the clean way. Got an exchange manifold. Lot of dealers have that. Give them your old cruddy one and for $85 you get a nice shiney clean one. Beats getting greasy from all that crud....nasty stuff tracking that all over the place.
 

DOKE-tdi

Active member
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Location
San Jose, CA
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI, 1999 Jetta TDI
Thanks logan.
I've bought a lot of stuff from idparts, so I'll get the kit from them.
Dave
 

dleverett

New member
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Location
Southaven, MS
TDI
2002 Jetta
Thanks for the excellent write-up DeafBug. '02 Jetta TDI. Did intake clean last week of Dec. '11. Did a test drive of ~320 miles, all highway, 60-65 mph; 39 mpg. Not great, but ~20% improvement over what it had been. For several years was getting low 30's mpg. Have had it since Aug. '03. For 18 months I drove it I avg'd 42-45 mpg, never lower than 39.9. Daughter has driven since '06. She called me today to say that the last tank she checked she got ~35 mpg. However, as of today she's down to 1/2 tank w/only 124 miles. She's 21, and her driving habits aren't the best, but they're not that bad and she tells me she's been trying to take it easy (as I've been on her to do).
Don't know if this is proper forum to post this problem or not. Direction to proper place, if necessary, much appreciated.
Ideas on other potential causes?
~166K miles. To my knowledge turbo is original (bought car used w/~42K miles). MAF sensor replaced at 147K. Auto.Trans. rebuild at 147K. Thanks in advance.
 

andyboy

Active member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Location
NJ
TDI
2005 Jett wagon
This tutorial was a tremendous help to me the past few weeks. I just completed an 2005 Jetta Wagon (A4/BEW) 115k miles and I took some pictures to show some differences I found so maybe someone else can benefit. Overall the process was not that bad as I am getting better at being a home mechanic. I shudder at the numbers of hours others posted here. I am sad to say this job took me 15-20 hours overall. Most of that was in dis-assembly/assembly since my manifold was not very dirty at all. Maybe 3/4 cup of soot total. Very little gunk. I estimated anywhere from 15-30 minutes per each of 12 poorly located bolt coming and going.

My preferences/observations:
1. I removed and reinstalled the air intake pipe from the top but secured the lower pipe connection from under the car.
2. Metal connecting pipe to the EGR cooler I disconnected from the EGR cooler from under the car.

3. This is a picture of the EGR cooler on these cars tied back.



4. The EGR cooler is connected to the intake manifold by 4 bolts. There are the 3 described by DeafBug and another that runs through the bypass flap assembly into the intake manifold. (there are faint green lines pointing to things in this picture)



5. The intake manifold on this car is actually in two pieces which makes cleaning it easier. The kit from idParts included the additional gasket.



No big change in performance because of lack of gunk I guess, but it did give me a chance to fix the turbo hose to EGR that likes to loosen up. If nothing else it sounds better.
 

DieselFan1984

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
2005 Mk4 Jetta TDI
This tutorial was a tremendous help to me the past few weeks. I just completed an 2005 Jetta Wagon (A4/BEW) 115k miles and I took some pictures to show some differences I found so maybe someone else can benefit. Overall the process was not that bad as I am getting better at being a home mechanic. I shudder at the numbers of hours others posted here. I am sad to say this job took me 15-20 hours overall. Most of that was in dis-assembly/assembly since my manifold was not very dirty at all. Maybe 3/4 cup of soot total. Very little gunk. I estimated anywhere from 15-30 minutes per each of 12 poorly located bolt coming and going.

My preferences/observations:
1. I removed and reinstalled the air intake pipe from the top but secured the lower pipe connection from under the car.
2. Metal connecting pipe to the EGR cooler I disconnected from the EGR cooler from under the car.

3. This is a picture of the EGR cooler on these cars tied back.



4. The EGR cooler is connected to the intake manifold by 4 bolts. There are the 3 described by DeafBug and another that runs through the bypass flap assembly into the intake manifold. (there are faint green lines pointing to things in this picture)



5. The intake manifold on this car is actually in two pieces which makes cleaning it easier. The kit from idParts included the additional gasket.



No big change in performance because of lack of gunk I guess, but it did give me a chance to fix the turbo hose to EGR that likes to loosen up. If nothing else it sounds better.

Thanks Anyboy! I have an 05 BEW as well. It's going to take me some time, as I'm due for a timing belt and I'm also going to replace the camshaft. I'm also replacing the turbo, so the entire intake is coming out of the car...so I will certainly be cleaning the intake as well....I'm thinking since the Cam will be out..would be the best time to blast the intake ports since everything will be closed off.....
 

ebrooker007

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2010
Location
Kentucky
TDI
2002 wagon 5 speed
Given that this is my wife's car that she drives all the time I can't have it down all weekend. How long does it take? I would especially like to hear from the people that did it for their first time because this to would be my first time. I know it will vary drastically with experience and how good you are with a wrench but I would just like to here some other's experience.
 

mz1

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2009
Location
San Antonio,TX
TDI
2011 GTD Stage III / 2015 Touareg TDI LUX Stage II
I have tamed the Beast!!!! just did mine, took all my sweet time and took me one day to dissasamble and one day to put it all back together. I had a horrible time cause I did not have the long allen set of tools, instead I had the short ones so I had to get reative and took extra time. My car did not have too much dirt. Only about a quarter inch layer, yet when cleaned it and tested it, it felt a bit faster and the turbo sound increased. It is a high acomplishment for me. I feel proud I did it. And by the way I also disabled the EGR....ooouuuhhhuuuu!!! :)
 

flee

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Location
Chatsworth, CA
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS wagon
Ebrooker007, a person with some mechanical ability and metric tools should be able to get it done in 4 or 5 hours. It took me about an hour and a half to get mine off, 2 hours to clean and dry it and about an hour to button it back up.
If your ports are really bad they could cost you several more hours if you have the tools and patience to do it right.
Good luck.
 

bigolac

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
99 Beetle
I'm going to attempt this in the next week or two on my 99 Beetle with 207k.

Looking through the anti-shudder with a mirror - I'd say it's probably about 30-40% 'closed' with crud - I can't imagine its ever been cleaned.

The only thing I don't quite get yet is after reading through the pdf, I still need to know how to remove the wiper cowl to have better access - anyone have pics on how to do it?

What kind of performance increase have people noticed after cleaning a very clogged intake? I'm hoping for some... ;)
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
If your air flow is reduced by the crud, then fuel is reduced, and power is down. If it is still getting the required air flow, then you will see no power change.

The metal brow under the plenum unbolts with two 10mm bolts, I think. You may have to remove the mount for the solenoid valves, again just two bolts for the mount. Don't unbolt the bolts that hold the solenoids, just the two that hold the mounting frame.

The plastic can be tricky to do without breaking. I remove the windshield wipers - small screw driver for the cover then 13 mm socket. May need a puller, or they may just come off by applying counter torque and jerking on them. Then I use a putty knife to insert from the windshield side, and put my hands under the plastic cover from the engine side and apply pressure to get it out of the slot under the windshield. If it is warmed by the sun or a hairdryer then it probably will not crack.
 

bigolac

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
99 Beetle
Thanks for that - I'll have a look at it when it's not raining.... Just ordered the gasket kit - should be here in plenty of time for the weekend!
 

JaysinSpaceman

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Location
Skull County, Ca
TDI
Golf
I just wanted to say thanx for posting this great write up on cleaning the intakes on these cars. I just did the intake for my dad on his 2003 Golf Tdi and this great write up really helped make it an easy job, messy but easy. I chose to clean the intake by hand as opposed to the fire method, and after scraping the majority out with tools (screw driver, bent hacksaw blade, etc...) I found that the single best cleaner for the job was Super Clean by Castrol. It dissolved the leftover muck as you sprayed it on. And with my pressure washer the rest was history. Spray on Super Clean, blast with pressure washer and repeat, three or four times. This is useless without pictures so here you go.

The Muck and The Cleaner


Before.




After.




Thanx again,
Jaysin
 

Tuco21

Active member
Joined
Jun 14, 2011
Location
Utah
TDI
Bits and pieces
I just cleaned my intake using the redneck method. I chose the redneck method because it looked like the most fun! My egr looked like the one in the post above. I could almost not see through it. My turbo hasn't been working so I pulled it at the same time and found that the actuator was solid and the turbo moved just fine...phew! I don't have the money for a new one right now. Thanks for this post.

Matt.
 

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
WOW! Some awesome info above! Really great stuff. I am wondering what you did with the gunk and soot, those who cleaned it out manually. Can I just put it in regular garbage or am I supposed to take it someplace? I haven't had time to clean mine out yet. I have been way swamped with work and school at the same time, but I'm hoping to get on this this spring along with a couple other small things I wanted to do. Also, how much did you guys pay for your gasket sets, kind of ballpark number. Thanks.
 

JaysinSpaceman

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Location
Skull County, Ca
TDI
Golf
Jaysin - That looks like the route I'm going to take - thanks for posting the pics!
You're welcome.

WOW! Some awesome info above! Really great stuff. I am wondering what you did with the gunk and soot, those who cleaned it out manually. Can I just put it in regular garbage or am I supposed to take it someplace? I haven't had time to clean mine out yet. I have been way swamped with work and school at the same time, but I'm hoping to get on this this spring along with a couple other small things I wanted to do. Also, how much did you guys pay for your gasket sets, kind of ballpark number. Thanks.
In my case I live in the woods and have regular burn piles so I just tossed the soot and gunk onto a nice hot burn pile and done. I know that our local dump has a clean used oil tank but they also have a "mixed" automotive chemical/oil tank as well and if I had not burned it in a fire I would have just brought it to my dump. It is really mostly carbon with a bit of oil and unburned hydrocarbons so I don't really see a problem with throwing it in the normal trash either.

My gasket set cost me about $35 (IDI Parts.com) and came with new intake bolts but the bolts didn't have washers and the stock washers were captive on the stock bolts. I didn't have any metric washers for the new bolts so I reused the old bolts and washers. I was a motorcycle mechanic for many years and you never install bolts without washers against aluminum castings, if you do they will almost always come loose and/or ruin the boss that the bolt head is against.

I didn't do the Redneck Fire clean out because I live in the woods and didn't need flaming fireballs shooting out into the brush and starting unwanted fires.

Jaysin
 

duwem

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Location
Wi
TDI
2002 Golf GLS TDI 5 Speed
1/2 way through mine. Intake is cleaned (scraping, parts cleaner then pressure washer) intercooler cleaned with diesel then soapy water. Going to let it sit over night now that its drained then start hooking up hoses. Hard to get it all out, they sa to idle the car for 20 minutes to evaporate any left.
 

Forke

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2007
Location
Manitoba
TDI
'02 Jetta
Another huge thanks for these instructions! I just finished taking apart and cleaning the egr, manifold, and flex pipe. My 2002 Jetta has 195,000 km's on it, and to my knowledge has never been cleaned. For those considering this, I can't stress enough to buy the longer 5mm & 6mm allen sockets, and to have a mirror.
Here are a few pictures of the damage:



I am at the point where I either put everything back together, or clean the intake ports on the camhead. I'm not a mechanic, and don't want to get in over my head if it's not necessary. Here are a few pictures of the camhead intakes:


Do you think it will make a noticeable difference to clean them? If you folks think its worthwhile, how can I tell what position the valve is in, by the "lobes"? There seem to be two for every cylinder.


Thanks!
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
I would probably not clean those ports.

If you do, I put air in the glow plug ports, about 10 psi. Then roll the engine until you hear the intake valve close on the cylinder that you want to clean. Then do the cleaning. That way you cannot get any crap in the cylinder.
 

greengeeker

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Location
Cambridge, MN
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS
I'm with Dan: skip the port cleaning. I use the cam lobes to indicate when the valves are closed (both up = both valves closed).
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
Not a dumb question.
If you are looking in past your anti shudder butterfly valve at your EGR, it often looks clean. Very misleading.
To really tell, pull the EGR off, if it is clean on the downstream side (toward the engine) then your intake is probably clean.
 

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
Would you guys recommend pulling my charge piping off and cleaning it all out? I know our intercoolers sometimes end up with some oil in there and such. I've heard it's ok to run some brake cleaner fluid through it to rinse it all out so it's not pooling excessively. I dont know for sure if thats safe or is a good idea.
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
I would not think it necessary.

Just a full power pull, accelerating at full throttle through a few gears once a week will keep normal oil mist from building up in the intercooler to harmfull levels.

When a car has had a boost problem for a while, and you cannot get good high air flow, then the normal mist builds up. Or if Granny is driving it, it might.

If I think a car I am working on might have one of those two conditions, then I open the bottom pipe on the intercooler and remove any pooled oil, then reassemble and run it. I do this before a full throttle run, to prevent a run away.

But there is no use at all in cleaning all the piping with anything - it will be oily again after 100 miles.

Just to be sure - I find your statement ambiguous - you never run anything through the intake into the engine or while running. You must always take it apart before doing any cleaning.
 

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
Oh yea, I meant to take the piping off, hold it over a plastic bucket or something and run some cleaner through the parts. Definitely nothing but air in the intake as the motor runs.
 

BioRick

Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Location
Denver, CO
TDI
golf tdi
great how-to!

just bought my "new" 01 golf tdi and read a lot about this. having never wrenched on a VW engine before this was a great starting point.

1 quick thing, hopefully someone can tell me if im on a destructive path or not.

the clamps holding on the air intake is a major pain in the ass and i'd like to swap em out for hose clamps. is there a chance the clamp could wiggle loose from the engine vibration?

heres what i want to replace:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94625433@N07/8616286599/


thanks for the img and manual DeafBug!
 

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
just bought my "new" 01 golf tdi and read a lot about this. having never wrenched on a VW engine before this was a great starting point.

1 quick thing, hopefully someone can tell me if im on a destructive path or not.

the clamps holding on the air intake is a major pain in the ass and i'd like to swap em out for hose clamps. is there a chance the clamp could wiggle loose from the engine vibration?

heres what i want to replace:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94625433@N07/8616286599/


thanks for the img and manual DeafBug!
I wouldnt. They sell those if you need to replace them because of breaking. I used to fight them all the time, replacing intake filters and such, but then i got vice grips and it's no longer an issue. Get those and you can just put em back when youre done. I've seen a lot of people using hosecalmps, but they usually end up being too tight and may crack or squish things too much.
 

BioRick

Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Location
Denver, CO
TDI
golf tdi
aight thanks volt.

it also says to take the hose off the egr cooler to make it easier to move, i did and coolant started to leak all over the place. do i need to prime this somehow before startup?
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
No priming of the cooling system is needed if you spilled some - just make sure that the coolant overflow bottle is full about 1/2 way up when you start it - any air will bleed into that ball, and you can top up as needed.
 
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