HOW TO: A4 Intake manifold cleaning

With the arrival of ULSD, I can see that many of us will want to get our intake manifold cleaned. So I created this document. My goal is to guide the newbie or a shade tree mechanic on how to clean the intake manifold. Experienced wrenchers will not need this document. However I do appreciate their feedback.

It is 27 pages with plenty of pictures. I made sure I cover the difference between Beetles and Jettas/Golfs. File size is 3MB.

http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/517/Intake_Manifold_Cleaning.pdf

Thanks to all those who motivate me to do this.

That's a pretty good how to good work

All we need now is to incorporate one with wingnut's stealth racepipe and an egr cooler delete

Good writeup! 2 comments

When you talked about cleaning out the intake ports on the head you said to remove the intake port and make sure the lobe for intake valve was up..... Which of the 2 valves per cylinder is the intake valve?

Also, when you talked about cleaning the intake you never even mentioned the pressure washer method. Its pretty effective and I think it atleast deserves an honorable mention.

Yes indeed, thanks Brad! Please, will you explain the association of the change, from 500 ppm [sulfur] to 50 ppm sulfur concentration, with intake cleaning?

Nice phots Brad.

I'll add to remove the flex pipe from the exhaust manifold too. It's an expensive piece and can become fatigued enough from the cooler moving around behind it to make it break sometime down the road.

Also if you pull the EGR cooler to clean it make sure you cover the intake ports with a towel so you don't drop coolant into them.

Jason

Great job Deafbug...

doc_m, I wrote the document with stock car in mind. If you did any mods, I expecte you do know how to do the removal and reinstall of the mods.

Doug Huffman, there is plenty of information about the fuel in the Fuel and Lubricant section. Use the search on that forum.

david_549, darn it! I was going to add comments on using the pressure washer as I do that all the time but I did one with a bath method for those without one. But I forgot to add a sentence about using the pressure washer. Thanks for the reminder. As for the intake ports, I plan to take a picture of it for which ports and lobes are associated but that will have to wait until the next time I get an intake cleaning. That section is really short and no pictures. It needs to be worked on.

jasonTDI, that is why I mentioned to remove it at your risk as I broke one stud already. So and I provided instructions for both methods. Care to tell me about the coolant going in the intake ports as I didn't mention about disconnect any coolant line. You don't see any pink fluid in this instructions. I know the old one mentioned it but I eliminate that. (I already had a guy to review my document before I finalized it, he mentioned to me that he removed the connecting pipe from the exhaust manifold.) (It is called connecting pipe on the ETKA, I know we call it flex pipe.)

You don't always clean the EGRcooler. Just if it needs it. I see a lot of them that are to far gone and need to be replaced.

I'll throw in a word about the flex pipe breaking. I've broke mine and I know another who did. I managed to fix mine by taking it to an indy welding shop and he welded it back together. The reason it broke was from the bolts on the EGR cooler falling out after replacing it. Its a $100+ part new, so try not to break it!

Wow, that is a job that someone else will do for me. I would no confidence to do that job. Deafbug, I will definately look you up when my time is due. . I am at 64500 miles in an 03 Jetta, should I probably be thinking about this soon? I bought it with 50K, I have a feeling it was not driven very hard, so it may have some buildup going on.

As fas as I have found the way the car is driven or even if the egr vag com adjustment has been done doesn;t make much of a difference in how much build up there is

jumpn said:

Wow, that is a job that someone else will do for me. I would no confidence to do that job. Deafbug, I will definately look you up when my time is due. . I am at 64500 miles in an 03 Jetta, should I probably be thinking about this soon? I bought it with 50K, I have a feeling it was not driven very hard, so it may have some buildup going on.

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Excelent job, DeafBug!

I just cleaned my intake a week ago and this write up would have made it a bit easier. My intake was as badly clogged as the one in the pictures.

I did remove the EGR cooler to clean, in which case some coolant is inevitably lost. It's good to have some G12 around to top off the reservoir. Hose pliers also help - to pinch off those coolant hoses.

Coke removal using special additives

I should be asking this, because I know that pouring additives in is no substitute for getting into the intake manifold and cleaning it out. But I have a space problem to do the job properly. I'm a librarian, but maintained my own and wife's BMWs (gas) in South Africa (they don't pay well down there...). I've never touched any diesels. Is there any additive that I can use to clean out the intake manifold reasonably well without undoing everything else? Mine got coked up (and cleaned under warranty) at 30,000 km because I didn't know about high sulphur diesel. All South African diesel is ULSD, so I didn't think to find anything else in Canada. I just had a 100,000 km service done and the injectors cleaned. The dealer says the manifold is beginning to coke up again. And this time I don't have a warranty...
Sandy

Intake Manifold Cleaning

I cleaned my first (and last?) intake manifold. It took about 2 hours to remove, 2 hours to clean, and 4-5 hours to reinstall. Lots of picking up dropped bolts from under car!

I brought the manifold to a friend's shop and dipped it into his spirit tank. Lots of scraping to remove the goo:

While cleaning the EGR, temptation got the best of me to remove the anti-shudder valve piston, which of course, broke. I glued splints on with superglue, safety-wired the splints, and then covered everything with hot glue from a glue gun. My wife thinks it will all melt next time it's 95 degrees out and the car is sitting in a parking lot.

I used the instructions from DeafBug--Thanks DeafBug!
A few comments about my experience for the next intake newbie:
The mirror and magnetic pick up tool are essential.
While I used lots of different short extensions on my 3/8" socket driver as well as long ball-end allen wrenches, I think this would have been a great addition to this project, as short drivers often don't clear the parts you are trying to remove:

You only need the 5 and 6 mm.
I had a *heckofa* time getting the three bolts back in for the EGR cooler. I succeeded by installing the *bottom* bolts first, and tying back all of the wires and hoses that were slightly in the way:

I did remove the much-warned about connecting pipe, but not until *after* I removed the EGR cooler. I had better access that way, and could see what I was doing.
I also reused my 6 intake manifold bolts. They looked perfect and perfectly clean, and also had what looked like OEM washers on them, which the new ones did not. All bolts and the 2 connecting pipe nuts got slathered with copper paste.
The only bolts I had trouble with were surprisingly two of the valve cover bolts, which got a little mushy while removing.
I did my cleaning over parts of two days. Disassemble and clean one day, and install the second day. It was nice to take a break and not be rushed. Finally, take heed to Deafbug's warning about the black goo! I took my intake into the basement to scrape it on my workbench. I *thought* I was being careful but there is evidence that I was not on certain throw rugs in the kitchen and as well as the shower in the second floor.

"Great Job" DeafBug. I just cleaned my intake with your help two weeks ago! My intake ports were also gunked. Is there a good way to clean the intake on-the-block or should I remove it first?

CTDieselHead said:

"Great Job" DeafBug. I just cleaned my intake with your help two weeks ago! My intake ports were also gunked. Is there a good way to clean the intake on-the-block or should I remove it first?

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Pull valve cover to make sure the valves are closed on the cylinder you are working on. Vacuum, toothbrush and solvent. It will trash a shop vac so be prepared to clean it. Messy, nasty and back-breaking.

Thank you for this.

I cleaned my intake last week. I agree with Kombifahrer in that the long allen sockets would be VERY helpful. I, too, re-used my intake bolts because that A) had the washers (replacements did not) and B) weren't beat up at all. The only bolts that gave me trouble were ones which connected the connecting pipe to the EGR cooler.

Although mine wasn't as clogged as some of the ones I've seen on here, the car is a little bit more peppy now than before.

I have just ordered the gasket set and I am looking to do the job for the first time, so this write up is GREAT. I have noticed that it is advantageous to have the mirror and socket ball end allen wrenches, and I assume that it will be taking be about 6-8 hours from what I have read.

Can anyone else chime in on what is the best thing to use to clean it for me, as I do not have a garage, I live in an apartment.

I don’t have a pressure washer or blow torch, so I think that I will have to use some solvent in a bucket and just try my best to scrub it out, unless someone else has some more advise/tricks.

Thanks

Have a trashbag ready to put it in as soon as you lift it out of the car.

Take the nasty thing to a carwash and use the high pressure wash on it. Then do the final cleaning in a bucket of solvent. This will greatly reduce the mess where you are working.

Wear old clothes and safety glasses. Use an old door mat or car mat or rug to cover all the openings except the one you are blasting into.
Remember whatever you squirt in there is going to come out very nasty, and you do not want it aimed at you.

Have some clean clothes to change into, or on under your throw away clothes.

Work the wand as far up every opening as you can, and get as many angles as possible.

Intake Manifold Cleaning Tips

I didn't use a pressure washer, but that seems like good advice from DanG144 about deflecting the exit spray coming out of the holes that one is not spraying into. And the extra old clothes is a good idea too. This job isn't just "dirty" in the conventional sense of working on a car--your clothes will get permanently dirty and the residue is extremely difficult to clean off of surfaces.

Some people say to use diesel fuel, but perhaps someone can chime how to best work with it. Soak in fuel and dip toothbrush in when brushing?

As an aside, I had my car chipped in the fall, but did not do the EGR cooler delete until May, almost two months after I did the intake clean. If you are considering chip tuning in the future, do it and then do your intake cleaning and EGR cooler delete all together. One of the upsides of the EGR cooler delete is that you will save time with your intake job by not having to reinstall the EGR cooler and flex pipes. (Instead of chip tuning, you can also fix the check engine light that I've read will come on with the EGR delete with VAG-COM.)

We used round wire brushes on stiff cable shafts. Sort of like huge bottle brushes. They came from Harbor Freight. Disposable. Cheap.

I do not worry about getting the intake spotless - Just make sure the thick layer and chunks are off of it. So that nothing comes loose and goes into the intake during the next startup.

The reason I mentioned the trashbag is that several folks have done these at my place, and no matter how careful they were, dollops of that foul goo fell on my floor, got on our shoes and got tracked everywhere. I think it would take a wire brush to get it off of the floor. Oil dry is ineffective.

Same for any EGR or intake flapper that comes off - straight into a bag and out of the shop.

I have checked the intake ports on the cars we have done, just to ensure they are not so caked up they will grossly impede flow. So far we have not cleaned any. Look at what happens when the valve moves in. Does a good sized passage open up? Or does a column of sludge on the backside of the valve just move into the cylinder, essentially not allowing an opening?

Oilhammer mentioned the way he did it, low pressure air into the glowplug holes, so that the intake port you are cleaning will have flow out of it, not into it. Rotate the engine to do each cylinder. Remember that air in a cylinder can move an engine. Many diesels start with compressed air systems that port into the cylinders. I will search for posts by Oilhammer and find his instructions if I ever have to do it.

This seems to be really messy! I just bought a TDI with a bit more than 30000 miles; I can only buy 500ppm sulphur diesel. When do you think this work will be due?

take a propane torch to the inside and let it burn a while, let it cool then tap it gently on the ground and then stuff falls off

diesel-dave, I just saw that method on a You-Tube video, it seemed really clean, the dude cooled down the intake with some liquid, not sure if that could cause some cracks...

However, will have to ckeck how my Jetta looks. It's a PD model with almost 40k miles on it. Is it worth checking? Any signs that can lead me to think it's getting clogged?

also on you-tube is the redneck intake cleaning method which adds compressed air to the propane torch for the jet engine after burner affect, very cool, might scare the neibhors though, very quick, about ten minutes from start to finish which beats the heck out of taking it to the quarter wash, if you search "redneck TDI intake cleaning" it should come up.

So I tried and ran into some small problems with not having ALL of the proper tools and with the 102F heat I realized that I was running out of patience, and not everything was coming off as it should, so I'm going to have the pros do it.

I'm looking for a little advice on where to take it to have it done.

The Dealership wants to charge me between $600-800 depending. Not sure exactly what its depending on…

The shop that I like and where I usually take it, Richmond European, wants to charge me about $425 and he says that it will take a few days because they send the intake out to a machine shop that soaks it in a chemical (some acid I think) to clean it and then they put it back on.

A shop my fiancé just took her Ford Exploder to out in the country said they can do it for $140-150 and I can wait on it. He expects it to take a few hours.

My gut says take it to the European shop and pay more for someone who works exclusively on European cars and have it done right, rather than the shop in the county, but they do a lot of work on diesel farm and horse trucks, so they know how to work on diesels but primarily on pick-up trucks.

Any thoughts/advise would be much appreciated...

Soak it in diesel over night. Wipe down the outside.

Use a propane torch. And some air. Trust me it work
find some shade. And protect your eyes.

This is a free deal here 600 is crazy. All you need is a gasket set 22 bucks tops

I'm curious if there are any measurements that a VagCom could take that would indicate the degree to which the intake manifold might be plugged.

I've started another thread to discuss the specific topic, any thoughts/comments would be welcome.
Intake Manifold measurements - Mrscottdi
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=2913775

Sure, your MAF readings will be lower than normal, and decay lower more rapidly than normal as RPM increases at full throttle.

When I did this, the two 12mm nuts on the exhaust manifold pipe may be rusty, mine almost stripped, but I was able to carefully heat them with a plumbers torch from the passengers side for a minute, and they came right out. (Of course everything must be out of the way on backside of the engine)