The right way to clean a ALH TDI intake manifold?

Ben Dur · May 15, 2012

i just soak mine in diesel over night, knock out whatever is loose in the A.M. and torch it... i err on the side of caution because i dont have extras, so i usually torch less and let it rest more. (i wrap mine in a wet towel -rag- it seems to retain the heat which makes the temp fluctuation less violent)

Ben Dur · May 15, 2012

and tbh im not even sure if the () statement is true but it seems to be whats happening... regardless it hasn't failed me yet.

nicklockard · May 15, 2012

Oldpoopie came up with a simple method: get at the big, easy stuff with a screwdriver. Take a drill and chuck up 16" of small chain or twisted wire (fray the ends first). Use it like a drill powered bottle brush. Takes about 5 minutes.

Ben Dur · May 15, 2012

i doubt your gunna come up with anything that works as well in 5 minutes as flaming it... 5 minutes with any kind of bush method will leave the thing completely nasty inside and all you have done is loosened up some big chunks to get sucked through the valves.

HiltonjaceVwTdi · May 15, 2012

i like the idea of the blue torch and the vacuum blowing air out, the only thing is that causes alot of heat, especailly with the acetylene torch that it looked like you were using TDIjetta99, with that being said has anyone encountered cracking the manifold or any other heat damage from this method?? ive been wanting to do this to my tdi but i am just wondering what precautions one should take????

HiltonjaceVwTdi · May 15, 2012

blow torch***

Bob_Fout · May 15, 2012

Hilton, you can edit your posts for corrections like that. Use the "edit" button.

Seatman · May 15, 2012

You guys get Mr Muscle oven cleaner over there? It's the latest thing for intakes and turbos. Take the intake off and spray that stuff in, let it do what it does then rinse, comes out sparkly clean. As for the sticky vanes on turbos, pop off the down pipe and spray the stuff in there, let it do it's thing then fire the car up. Apparently it's the same ingredients as innotec turbo cleaner and one guy contacted garret who reckon it wont do any damage. It's also in some of our car mags now too. It's been talked about in auto express and performance vw.

Need to do more researching but if you google vnt turbo cleaning mr muscle you'll get lots of results

HiltonjaceVwTdi · May 15, 2012

seatman have you personally tried this ?? cuz that seems like a great idea,

Seatman · May 15, 2012

No I did the flame thrower method lol but I've been seeing this talked about a lot on the forums lately. Give it a google and see what comes up. I'm going to try it on my spare intake at some point soon out of curiosity but my turbo's sweet.

HiltonjaceVwTdi · May 15, 2012

yeah i did and i seen its a straight up oven cleaner, i dont doubt that it works but i was just wondering ill have to give it a try, google says that staples here in the US sells it, ill have to give it a try. might have to order it off the web tho.

snakeye · May 15, 2012

I used Easy Off oven cleaner. It melts the crud away pretty well; the only downside is it also corrodes aluminum.

Next time I think I'll use Geordi 01JetTDI's method and just soak the thing in diesel for 3 days.

gottdi · May 15, 2012

Scrape what you can then soak in cleaner then use a long metal handled bottle brush to do the rest inside and out. Works perfect. Since my stealth pipe was installed it has remained clean. It's just wrong to suck exhaust into the intake. Just wrong.

greenev.zapto.org/NewBeetle/intake_album

smeg760 · May 16, 2012

left mine in a bucket of diesel over night then set fire to it with a propane torch holding it with a rag, did it at work outside I work at a college . I can only say there was more smoke than i expected and then it got a life all of its own rather like a nuclear reactor that doesn't want to shut down. at least it was outside as ive allready set the fire alarm off twice.

jcool · May 17, 2012

gottdi said:
Scrape what you can then soak in cleaner then use a long metal handled bottle brush to do the rest inside and out. Works perfect. Since my stealth pipe was installed it has remained clean. It's just wrong to suck exhaust into the intake. Just wrong.

greenev.zapto.org/NewBeetle/intake_album

I agree. I want to delete my egr as well but am concerned with setting a CEL. I have no plans on tuning, but will eventually have vag com if that can disable egr function. you notice any mpg improvements without your egr?

gottdi · May 18, 2012

jcool said:
I agree. I want to delete my egr as well but am concerned with setting a CEL. I have no plans on tuning, but will eventually have vag com if that can disable egr function. you notice any mpg improvements without your egr?

Not really. That is because I have a chip and I usually drive quite chipperly if there is such a word. My main vehicle today is my Nissan Leaf all electric which I love. Now with over 12,000 miles I can say that electric is a way to go. It has the grunt ilke a TDI.

Deadend · Jun 6, 2012

Franko6 said:
If you notice, the guy in the Utube video is smarter than the average bear... he hits the manifold with a laser temperature gauge when he's putting the fire to it...

Don't believe for a second you can't melt the manifold with STRAIGHT AIR. If you don't have a laser temperature gauge, the other way you can tell the manifold is getting too hod is when you smell a sweet odor. This smell is the only other sign that I know you can tell the manifold is ABOUT TO MELT!

Laser is easy enough. But... what temperature do I look for to avoid warpage?

firehawk618 · Jun 6, 2012

I just did the torch cleaning on mine last weekend. My intake was almost completely clogged. Took a lot longer than I thought it would to burn it all out but it's clean.

TDIJetta99 · Jun 7, 2012

I've tried to melt the manifold with the torch and air a few times and have been unsuccessful so far.. The hottest I got on my infrared was around 750-800F.. It takes over 1200F to melt a regular aluminum part if my memory is correct..

eddieleephd · May 17, 2013

Seatman said:
You guys get Mr Muscle oven cleaner over there? It's the latest thing for intakes and turbos. Take the intake off and spray that stuff in, let it do what it does then rinse, comes out sparkly clean. As for the sticky vanes on turbos, pop off the down pipe and spray the stuff in there, let it do it's thing then fire the car up. Apparently it's the same ingredients as innotec turbo cleaner and one guy contacted garret who reckon it wont do any damage. It's also in some of our car mags now too. It's been talked about in auto express and performance vw.

Need to do more researching but if you google vnt turbo cleaning mr muscle you'll get lots of results

I really recomending not using Mr Muscle Oven and Grill Cleaner or anything with
sodium Hydroxide to clean your intake or other aluminum parts!!
Horrible corrosive reaction with this mix !

http://www2.uni-siegen.de/~pci/versuche/english/v44-10.html

SmoothVW · Jan 25, 2015

An easier, safer and better option

I just cleaned up my manifold. I used oven cleaner spray, a lot of it, left overnight to work. The following day I washed the manifold with hot water. All of the gunk came right out, the oven cleaner makes it semi-liquid and it dilutes right up with the hot water. It leaves the inside of the manifold back on the metal. Just make sure to avoid breathing the nasty fumes of the oven cleaner as you're spraying it inside the manifold, best to do this outdoors. Eddie I missed your post, recommending the oven cleaner too. It really works.

bchaszar · Apr 7, 2024

Seatman said:
You guys get Mr Muscle oven cleaner over there? It's the latest thing for intakes and turbos. Take the intake off and spray that stuff in, let it do what it does then rinse, comes out sparkly clean. As for the sticky vanes on turbos, pop off the down pipe and spray the stuff in there, let it do it's thing then fire the car up. Apparently it's the same ingredients as innotec turbo cleaner and one guy contacted garret who reckon it wont do any damage. It's also in some of our car mags now too. It's been talked about in auto express and performance vw.

Need to do more researching but if you google vnt turbo cleaning mr muscle you'll get lots of results

Hi Seatman -- This post is MANY years old, but time has come to clean my intake. Wondering if you've ever tried / had success with the over cleaner method yet??

PradoTDI · Apr 7, 2024

I absolutely do not recommend oven cleaner, it will eat the aluminum of the intake manifold. Tried it on a really nasty manifold and it severely pitted the sealing surface where the EGR valve bolts on and ate the threads out a couple of the EGR bolt holes.

fatmobile · Apr 8, 2024

I load it up with some paper to get the fire started and use a hair dryer to give it that roaring jet sound with the sparks flying.
I spray the outside with water while or set it in the snow while heating.

Seatman · Apr 8, 2024

bchaszar said:
Hi Seatman -- This post is MANY years old, but time has come to clean my intake. Wondering if you've ever tried / had success with the over cleaner method yet??

I used stuff called G101 in the end then power washed it through but mostly it's scraping and petrol or similar with a bit of fire thrown in lol

The right way to clean a ALH TDI intake manifold?

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