Cleaned Intake Manifold This Weekend--Observations

Removed and cleaned the intake manifold on Mom's 2000 Jetta TDI this weekend. Car has 30,000 miles on it and she puts maybe 10,000 miles a year on it, a good bit which consists of short trips. In otherwords, conditions that favor intake clogging. The EGR valve and manifold opening was about 30% clogged. No clogging existed in the intake ports of the cylinder head.

Observations:

I do all the wrenching on my and my families cars and I consider myself profecient at it, but I would rate the removal and cleaning of the TDI manifold in terms of pain in the ass/difficulty of about 8 on a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being the hardest. This IS NOT an enjoyable job. It took me five hours, start to finish. The lack of clearance is the main culprit here. After doing this job, you can better believe I'm doing the EGR mod for Mom.

1. Put the car firmly on jack stands and remove the belly pan. Although may be possible to do the job from the top, you will invariablly drop tools and fastners that can not be retrieved with the pan on. I do think its necessary to go from underneath to access one of the three EGR cooler mounting bolts.

2. Replace all the gaskets to be safe. There are 3 metal EGR tube gaskets and one fiber one, an EGR valve-to-manifold O-ring, and the metal intake manifold gasket. They all were special order from the VW dealer and were about $30 for them all. Order them a week ahead of time to have them on hand.

3. There is a vacuum valve/device that is screwed to a little thin metal stepped plate. I unscrewed the metal mounting plate from the manifold, but broke the valve's plastic mounting tab because I thought this was a metal part. It was very brittle. This necessitated a plastic wire tie to secure it upon reassembly. This little valve has a hose running from it to the anti-shudder valve.

4. Be very careful prying off the anti-shudder valve arm from its pivot for the throttle plate. The arm is plastic and can break.

5. A bottle brush is indespensable, along w/ a gallon of kerosene and a can of "Gum Cutter" and an old long thin knife for cleaning out the intake.

6. I was able to access all the allen head screws using 5 and 6 MM standard allen wrenches and a 6 MM 3/8 inch drive allen wrench.

7. I removed the little heat shield on the exhaust manifold that the "Instructions" on the Forum said to bend a little to get one of the manifold bolts out. The shield is held on my two 12 MM nuts that are fairly accessable. The studs came out w/ their nuts.

8. By far the biggest pain was accessing the EGR cooler mounting nuts. There are three of them. 10 MM heads.

9. Do other maintenance activities while the car is off the ground w/ the pan off. I cleaned the snow screen (and this made easy access to the clutch bleeder for fluid flushing), flushed the brake system, checked the gear oil level, checked all the rubber boots, and rotated the tires and checked the brake pad thickness.

--Nate

Thats not a bad time for a first timer... Tomo took 8 hours to do it

About the heat sheild... yeah lately i've removed it... much easier that way, i'll make an effort to get the stuff changed (when I can access the original form - web access is up but indiviual server access isn't).

I guess why I find this job very easy and quick is I know where all the fasteners are, and i'm 6'6"
the long reach means I can stand anywhere and reach everything... makes it a bit easier/faster

A comment to add regarding the cleaning.
Parts washer solvent works incredibly well on this gunk. One of the ones we did was let soak overnight in it - pretty much pulled it out of the parts tank and rinsed it off IIRC. But a parts cleaner set up isn't in everyone's garage...

Its kinda like working on anyhting in this car... if you only do it once ya might as well pay someone to do it cause the second time to do the same thing is light years easier... Timing belts for example, turbo change, suspension change... brakes... first time takes much longer...

I cleaned my intake last Saturday too. Same observations as you had. However it is a bit harder on the Beetle. It took me about about 8 hours from start to finish. I mean removing the engine cover to putting the engine cover on. This is a Beetle so there was tight spaces back there.

I spent about 2 hours cleaning the intake manifold, EGR, and the connecting metal pipe. I had to go to a car wash to rinse out the intake manifold then I used Castrol degreaser (purple gallon jug) to get the remaining gunk out. Of course, I had paused to clean my hands and take pictures of the cleaning. I strongly suggest that you go somewhere or someone you know with a degreaser unit. I made a mess on my driveway but then God gave us a nice downpour later that evening so it washed it away completely.

A bit frustrating too when you don't have the exact tools so I had to be a bit creative on some areas.

I didn't have to bent the heat shield. I took that bolt out last. It allows you to have room as you take the bolt out.

The exhaust cooler is the hard part as I did drop the 10mm bolt. You just can't see it as you have to feel it. Well, you can see one of them but the third one is out of sight.

I started out with the car on the ground but then later I put in on the ramps. I just find it easier to work with if the car is up. Before I put it on the ramps, I can be on my knees and do some work. But you have to bend over a lot and so low, I just felt it was easier on the ramps.

Of course, this is my first time. I still want to rinse out my intercooler sometime soon.

Mine's never been done and it has 80k on it. I am not looking forward to it but alas... In 2 weeks I think I'll resigne myself to doint it...

I started out with the car on the ground and the belly pan on it just like you, trying to get away with it. After I dropped a nut I forgot about that idea.

I have a small 2-step folding stool. With the car on jack stands, getting on the stool made it easy to reach the rear most areas of the engine compartment. Sometimes I'd have the stool near one of the front tires at the side of the car, other times I moved it up in front of the grill, depending on the area I had to reach.

--Nate

It must have been the weekend for spring cleaning of intake manifolds. I did mine last Friday night.

Replacement parts:
intake manifold gasket 028 129 717 D
intake manifold bolt N 904 242 01 (6 total - if you fear stripping them)
EGR to manifold o-ring N 905 216 01
pipe to EGR valve gasket 069 131 547 D
pipe to cooler, cooler to other pipe, and other pipe to exhaust gaskets 038 131 547 A (3 required)

There are also six N 904 154 03 bolts, two N 902 002 01 nuts, and five N 101 154 02 bolts that I've never had a problem with. But if you fear stripping any of them, you now have part numbers.

I did it in 3 hours. Of course the car was warm, not hot nor cold. I know where all the bolts are by feel. Did not jack up the car, nor drop anything (this time ). I reach all the bolts from the right side of the car.

I left the electrical part of the anti-shudder valve on the bracket and unbolted it with its bracket from the intake manifold. Previous experience showed this to be a brittle part. I managed to disconnect the vacuum line to it without breaking the nipple, and the line at the vacuum actuator. Having warm hoses helps. It must have been my lucky night. I left the vacuum actuator attached to the EGR valve. I see no reason to remove it.

I scraped out the bulk of the stuff, or loosened it, with a screwdriver. Then I sprayed Gunk Engine Brite cleaner into the EGR valve and let it sit for a few minutes. Sprayed a lot of the same cleaner into the intake manifold and let it sit.

Proceeded to blast the EGR valve with a small Campbell Hausfeld pressure washer. It came mostly clean. Wiped it out and reapplied more Gunk. Used Mity-vac to open the EGR valve so I could clean the valve seat and applied Gunk. Let it sit.

Dumped the Gunk from the intake manifold into a plastic pan and used a bottle brush to scrub into the intake as best I could. I didn't have an adequately small one to get into the ports, but it was the right size for the large opening. Then I blasted with the washer. With it mostly cleaned out, I reapplied more Gunk and let it sit.

Returned to EGR valve and blasted it. It came clean as good as it was going to get. Set it aside.

Returned to intake and blasted it. It came clean as good as it was going to get. Took a flexible retrieval tool and ran in one port and out the big intake port. Grabbed a rag and pulled it through. Repeated several times. Blasted again with the washer until I was satisfied it was as clean as I could get it.

Took a heat gun and adequately dried out the intake so no one here would think I was going to get water in my cylinders.

Reassembled car. Took it for a test drive into town and back. Since there wasn't enough soot to choke off the intake too bad before the operation, there wasn't a lot of improvement, but I did notice a little smoother and better accelleration if I put my foot into it.

From this I conclude: a pressure washer is a good idea whether it is a small one like I got, or taking it to a car wash. My crud was just a gooey mess, not caked in hard. The Gunk cleaner was just the thing to break down the oily stuff.

On a NB I recommend removing the wipers so you can remove the plastic water deflector and tray. That only takes a few minutes and provides a lot more room.

I used 1/4 inch drive 5mm and 6mm hex bits, 10mm and 12mm sockets, 3 and 6 inch extensions, 1/4 inch drive ratchet and hose clamp pliers, for the removal and re-installation.

I did my 01 with 55k miles last week. It was about 80% clogged.

I removed the heat exchanger and left it off! I also wrapped the exhaust manifold with heat wrap. It has cut down alot of heat soak into the intake manifold, which is right above the exhaust.

A few tips-
1 just buy a race pipe. you don't want to this twice

2 If you don't have access to a parts cleaner or pressure washer use dieselgeeks intake cleaner service. I spent about 15.00 in parts cleaner! 1/2 gallon of pure simple green after I used two cans of degreaser and it barely cut the grit. Two more cans of citrikleen.
3 go ahead and buy oldmans intake pipe. you can install it at the same time.

I spent about 8 total hours. Took my time and did it right.

I have a one word suggestion:

pressure washer.

Just shove the nozzle up in the manifold and let it rip. Just don't get a spray in the face.

Lacquor Thinner would cut the crud quick I bet, simple green seems like water in comparison although I use it often for cleaning of less severe oily messes... Wear a Respirator and gloves with the LT.

-Jack

Damn f*cking slow server took 10 minutes to load the "Add a post" page. Sorry I had no idea it was being double posted. I opened another browser and surfed while waiting.

I went to a car wash and the pressure from the hose was enough to get the gunk out but it didn't clean it like it was shiny new. It still had some black coating on it. So I went home and did the following. Yes, I did get splashed on my clothes pants with the gunk. Left a mark on the floor mat in the car as it did get on my boot. I worn hunting boots at the car wash as I had to hold it down somehow.

Anyway, when I got home I took a plywood board I had and drilled some holes. Found a pink plastic sleeve, thick enough to have it compressed and it doesn't bleed thru to prevent it from leaking. I board up the intake ports as you can see in the picture.


There are three holes near the top that I switched to and closed up the opening where the EGR would be. While it is board up, I poured the degreaser in and shaked it out. Did this like ten times. Then I went to the utility sink and rinse it out. Now it looked new.

I did the same with the EGR using the three holes. filled up the EGR and shake it alittle in it, use the flapper and flapped it a number of times. Rinse out the EGR.

Finally, I got out my vacuum pump and connect it to the EGR and pumped it to create the opening and clean it out.


I have more pictures but I don't want to bore you.

...
pipe to EGR valve gasket 069 131 547 D
pipe to cooler, cooler to other pipe, and other pipe to exhaust gaskets 038 131 547 A (3 required)...

Click to expand...

Yes! I put the fiber gasket in the correct location! For the life of me I could not remember where the odd-ball gasket went. I went by the soot marks left on the EGR valve. The hole is bigger in the fiber gasket and left a bigger soot mark. Logic told me to put it on the cast iron exhaust manifold, though. Glad I did not do that.

--nate

Re: Cleaned Intake Manifold This Weekend--Observat

I cleaned my EGR (and cooler) and intake manifold (on my 2002 Jetta TDI)
last summer (2004) as well (at 60k miles). Spent somewhere between 8 and 10
hours I think (I'm an amateur and sometimes I spend 20 minutes just looking
for a tool that will reach some of those fasteners). I used B100 (biodiesel)
to clean some of the crud, probably similar to the effect of kerosene.

Since I managed to lose some coolant out of one of the hoses (by not tying
it up properly), at one point I walked into the local parts store, with my
face covered in soot and dirty glasses (they didn't say anything), to buy
the pink stuff. There were soot stains in front of the house for quite some
time;

Now at 80K miles, my EGR is probably gunked up again, and my anti-shudder at
engine-off time seems to have stopped working last summer too. When I was
working on it, I only noticed one gasket on that elbow tube (forgot the name),
though my Bentley book clearly showed one on each end. I wonder over what
range of vehicle models/years MOGolf's part numbers (above) will work. I
expect to do the cleaning again this summer, and will probably just put in a
new EGR/anti-shudder and intake gasket; Larry.

Re: Cleaned Intake Manifold This Weekend--Observat

Not like they need any more advertisement from this site, but somebody (probably Lito) has prodded Impex into putting together the full package of gaskets and manifold bolts under a single sku.

I picked one of these up with a bunch of other maintenance stuff as I need to do this little job soon.

Re: Cleaned Intake Manifold This Weekend--Observat

Who, me?

The kit doesn't include 3 metal gaskets, so if you need the third, be sure to order it.

I never had to remove the heat shield, nor the pipe to the exhaust manifold. I just removed the egr cooler and moved it out of the way.

That's why there are only 2 metal gaskets in his kit.

It took me 4 hours and I had a spare/clean intake manifold ready to go. Of course I take my time and need to include socializing with all the neighbors asking

"what are you doing now"?

I was able to do everything from above.

L

The studs came out w/out their nuts.

Click to expand...

Sad state of affairs these days when that happens...

But this reminded me of the gal in the Jetta TDI that I followed briefly today. Judging by her car tags, she has a PD, but if she were driving an older Jetta TDI, she would have intake clogging issues. and she probably has breaki-in issues as well. A young gal and she's driving like a granny. I figured that the young-uns would love to get on the power that is there. But no... she's moseying along clogging her intake. I should have gotten some numbers so I could offer to clean her intake.

That may be a poor choice of words though.

It’s interesting that none of you indicated that you had a starting problem after cleaning. Some of us have gone through some real heart ache and stress after cleaning the EGR and intake. Go to start the car after reassembly and nothing. The car will not start and just turns over, quickly. Possibly carbon stuck on a valve and no compression equals no start.

This may not be the norm, but it has happened to some of us.

With the issues like Whatnxt and others have had, makes me wonder if cleaning the manifold just to see how clogged it is, instead of waiting until you actually are experiencing problems is a good idea.

Sounds like if you use good diesel and drive it right then you shouldn't have problems until many many miles. Why shouldn't the old if ain't broke don't fix mentality apply to the intake manifold?

Re: Cleaned Intake Manifold This Weekend--Observat

I think some people clean their manifolds because they read that it's a problem, so they do it even if they have no symptoms. I think other people clean their manifolds because they have some problem that they can't identify, and they are trying everything they can think of to solve it.