golf intake manifold cleaning

[NicholasP]

Hi guys,

Having read quite a bit about golfs and the up keep of cars in general in the past 2 months, i've been anxious to keep my 140,000 mile Golf mk3 in top form. Especially as I had it chipped..

Having read about a bit, I read its a good idea to clean out the intake manifold as over time it gets clogged up with dirt and grime and reduces the air intake into the turbo and engine. Ive seen photos at what the manifold and surrounding pipes can look like at 100,000 miles and its a truely horrific sight...You sometimes wonder how an earth the car gets any air into it!

Anyway, I wanted to perform this procedure on my car as I imagine it must be getting clogged up. Its getting quite smokey and this is often a result of dirty air mixing with (alreadly) dirty diesel in the engine. I also read my turbo could be on its way out but not sure how to check that!

A garage quoted me £200 for the job..its about 5 hours of manual labour..its hard work. I can't afford that so was looking for advice from you guys. Ever attempted cleaning the breathing tubes?

Nick

[thefoolmccool]

Hi guys,

Having read quite a bit about golfs and the up keep of cars in general in the past 2 months, i've been anxious to keep my 140,000 mile Golf mk3 in top form. Especially as I had it chipped..

Having read about a bit, I read its a good idea to clean out the intake manifold as over time it gets clogged up with dirt and grime and reduces the air intake into the turbo and engine. Ive seen photos at what the manifold and surrounding pipes can look like at 100,000 miles and its a truely horrific sight...You sometimes wonder how an earth the car gets any air into it!

Anyway, I wanted to perform this procedure on my car as I imagine it must be getting clogged up. Its getting quite smokey and this is often a result of dirty air mixing with (alreadly) dirty diesel in the engine. I also read my turbo could be on its way out but not sure how to check that!

A garage quoted me £200 for the job..its about 5 hours of manual labour..its hard work. I can't afford that so was looking for advice from you guys. Ever attempted cleaning the breathing tubes?

Nick

You need to take the intake manifold off. This includes unbolting th eturbo and manifold bolts at the rear of the head. Tricky job.. and can be disastorous if you shear one of the mounting bolts.

If you do take it off leave it to soak in diesel/parafin overnight and then in the morning you will have to run a rag up and down each of the manifold chambers. This is the tricky bit. I wouldnt worry too much about cleaning the turbo.

Once you have everything spotlkess and assembled again, block off the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) valve on th eright hand side of the manifold. This is a small flexible metal pipe that joins the two manifolds. This is where the gunge comes from. It is just an emmissions control system and wont affect any of the cars performance. It just recirculates some of the exhaust gas into th eengine when the car is idling to cut down on particulate emmission. So unless youre a green freak, stick a small metal plate into one of the flanges.

[NicholasP]

thanks, great explanation..

obviously the bit that stuck in my mind having read what you said...is shearing the moutning bolts! Is there any special way to avoid this?

Have you done the procedure before?

[thefoolmccool]

I have had the inlet manifold off on a D before, though this was with the head off. The inlet manifold should be ok as the bolts usually aren't too badly siezed. The exhaust is a different story but you needn't worry about that.

Get the engine warmed up before starting. the bolts to take out are female hex 6mm I think. so you will need to get a specialised socket if you havent already done so. If there are any stiff or siezed, you will need plenty of WD-40 and some gentle persusation. But I would say you would be ok.

Take care when tightening these bolts back up. Rem you are screwing into an aluminium head so don't overtighten!!!

Hope this helps.

[thefoolmccool]

Oh aye,

Some of the bolts will be in hard to reach places, so before starting, make sure you can get a spanner/ratchet into the specific areas.

[NicholasP]

hey..

i was Allard Motor Company website and found some decent items..

From what I can see, replace my intel manifold and fit a performance one for £125...fitted! Does that sound decent...

http://www.allardmotorcompany.co.uk/...cat6.asp?cat=6

Thats the webpage...

Would you recommend my replacing anything else? Ive had the car chipped..and i only want moderate modding cause the car is getting on...

If i change the manifold, would you recommend the cool air induction system as well?


I dont want to get into changing the turbo..exhausts..intercooler etc..it will be come too much...but for £375 i can effectively change the whole air intake system...

Worth it? Decent performance boost?

Nick