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TSI Intake Manifold Removal DIY + Valve Cleaning

421K views 413 replies 120 participants last post by  findalex 
#1 ·
I've shared an album of pictures of the removal. Look for the red arrows pointing to the bolts, screws, sensors, etc. I apologize for the iphone quality.

Link to Picture Album:

http://s758.photobucket.com/albums/xx221/steelcurtain_4550/Manifold Removal/

Overall the removal is pretty easy and straightforward. Just take your time removing and disconnecting everything. Take pics so you can reference during the reinstall. Overall removal time is about 1-2 hours depending on your speed and access to tools. Having the right tools makes it simple.

Tools Needed

• Sharpie marker and plastic baggies to store screws / bolts and label where they came from
• 3/8’ inch ratchet with 90* adjustable angled head
• Socket that will hold torx bits
• #10 triple square (12 point)
• T-30 bit for all manifold related screws
• 9” ratchet extensions
• Protective gloves
• Respiratory mask for valve cleaning
• 17mm open wrench
• 10mm socket for disconnecting battery
• Sockets for hose clamps on throttle body, etc.
• GM Top Engine Cleaner, Part# 1052626 (aerosol can)
• Shop rags
• Wire brushes (cylinder bottle type)
• Metal pics
• Compressed air
• Vacuum cleaner
• Good ventilation


Manifold Removal

1. Lift front end of car
2. Disconnect fuel pressure sensor on top of fuel pump; turn on car and let idle for 10-15 seconds to lower fuel pressure from pump and rail.
3. Disconnect battery
4. Remove air intake (I have a Carbonio intake; I could have probably kept it on the car but it made it much easier to get to the fuel pump with it off)
5. Remove throttle body pipe
6. Disconnect PCV hose from manifold and PCV assembly on engine.
7. Disconnect sensor located on head beside PCV assembly.
8. Remove the 2 T-30screws that hold down the fuel rail and the 1T-30screw holding EVAP hose on top of mani. Use wire tie to suspend fuel rail out of the way. (I used the hood bracket and engine lift bracket to tie wire-ties around.
9. Remove 1 T-30screw on top of mani that is holding down fuel hard line .
10. Remove 2 T-30screws for wiring harness assembly that connects to the mani on the right side; remove sensors from assembly and take note of their orientation so you can assemble them into the wiring bracket later.
11. Remove 1 T-30screw located left of throttle body that holds the coolant line harness to mani.
12. Remove 1 T-30screw located on far left side of coolant harness (about 6” left of throttle body).
13. Disconnect spring clamp from purge valve and pull purge valve hose from valve. – store hose out of the way.
14. Place rags underneath bolt attaching fuel line to fuel rail assembly under intake mani , disconnect bolt using a 17mm open wrench then disconnect bolt under fuel pump using 17mm wrench. Use caution cause fuel will spill and may be under pressure if step # 2 wasn’t followed correctly. Use eye protection.
15. Disconnect vacuum actuator flapper sensor by sliding off of assembly mounted to mani and remove the vacuum line.
16. Disconnect fuel pressure sensor located underneath 1&2 runners.
17. Remove throttle body sensors.
18. Remove throttle body by unscrewing 4T-30bolts located underneath the throttle body assembly.
19. Disconnect EVAP hose from manifold located underneath runners 2&3
20. Remove the M10 triple square bolt for the intake manifold support bracket to the engine. This bolt is difficult to see. The location is below the intake manifold and behind the throttle body.
21. Remove the 5 upper T-30 bolts fastening the intake manifold to the cylinder head.
22. Remove the 2 additional lower T-30 bolts are accessible just above and to the left and right of the TB Module.
23. Remove the additional two M6 nuts located on the underside of the cylinder 1 and 4 intake runners.
24. Disconnect sensor on right side of oil filter / left side of mani; I believe this is the power source for the fuel injectors IIRC
25. Verify that all sensors are disconnected
26. Verify that everything has been disconnected then gently pull up on manifold making sure fuel injectors don’t stay connected to fuel rail assembly. It’s okay if the injectors stay connected but it will most likely leak fuel onto the engine.

Valve Cleaning

1. Wear protective mask and gloves at all times. The GM cleaner is very strong and harmful to inhale and touch!! Use caution and common sense.
2. The GM cleaner works very, very well. It does most of the work for you. You just have to be patient mopping up the carbon soup it creates in your intake ports.
3. Remove intake flaps and soak in GM cleaner. Use wire brushes if necessary to scrape off the excessive amounts of carbon. Use rags to wipe away the carbon. Keep applying cleaner to areas that have the most build-up.
4. Hand turn the belt around alternator to turn the crank so it closes off valves on intake side. Once closed, spray GM cleaner into each valve one at a time. Let soak for 10 minutes then scrape with wire bottle brushes to loosen carbon. Tear apart 2” x 2” rags to use to soak up GM cleaner from each valve port. Use picks to move rags between the front and back of valves thoroughly cleaning all sides and “mopping” up the dirty cleaner. Keep repeating until valves are shiny silver. Use vacuum to suck out carbon bits. Use compressed air to assist with cleaning. Be careful not get bits of carbon in your eyes.
 
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#2 ·
Excellent write-up. Lucky for me just got the new manifold and valve cleaning done under warranty.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Thanks for the write up. I'm thinking of selling my 2010 VW Passat Wagon because of this issue. But I may not sell it if I can do this procedure myself. The thought of having to fork out $700 every 40k miles is nauseating.

I'm wondering if investing in a borescope like this might be helpful? Would it be easy to put this down the pipe and see the fuel injectors without ripping it apart?
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the right up. I'm thinking of selling my 2010 VW Passat Wagon because of this issue. But I may not sell it if I can do this procedure myself. The thought of having to fork out $700 every 40k miles is nauseating.

I'm wondering if investing in a borescope like this might be helpful? Would it be easy to put this down the pipe and see the fuel injectors without ripping it apart?

I wouldn't buy the scope and you don't need to do this every 40k. I'm a performance guy so I wanted to do it but you could go 80-100+k miles without needing to do it. The only time you really need to do it is if you experience misfires,loss of performance, cold start issues.

Will a scope work? Yes. Just go through the IAT sensor and make sure the camera and camera tube diameter will fit into the IAT port before you buy it.
 
#8 ·
I've updated the photo album with some better pics of the dirty valves and removed the bad pics. I've also placed some helpful installation notes in the description fields of the photos that have titles (excluding the cylinder pics).
 
#11 ·
I just ordered my manifold today; I have a question though. where did you find the Triple square tool? I want to make sure I have all the correct parts before I tackle this. So looking forward to getting this replaced, I simply cannot take it any more.
:beer:
 
#13 ·
I just ordered my manifold today; I have a question though. where did you find the Triple square tool? I want to make sure I have all the correct parts before I tackle this. So looking forward to getting this replaced, I simply cannot take it any more.
:beer:
I ordered mine thru ECS tuning but they sell them at pepboys and other local auto stores. They may be hard to find depending on your area. Snap-On sells them too so you could always find your local rep and meet him somewhere. That route will cost $$ though.
 
#12 ·
Nice write-up. A better way than using all that dangerous paint killing solvent (not to mention what it does to your eyes, skin, and lungs) is to blast it clean using a forced walnut shell blaster instead. Just make sure both valves for that cylinder are closed, and have someone hold a powerful vac to suck up the shells and debris as you work blasting out the port. I've done this for decades without issue. :)
 
#16 ·
I'll have to call up my pepboys and see if they have them.
I need a set of stubby tripple squares.
 
#17 ·
Good write up, but those valves didn't look that bad. I work for a dealer and seen some real bad ones even on the newer 3.6s. There are a lot of sprays that different companies are coming out with but i have yet to see a chemical clean better than CLR. Make sure the valves are closed, poor it in, let it sit, wire brush it, blow it out and they are shiny clean.

Almost every vw tech has a set of these exact ones:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VIM-...Z200601546285QQptZMotorsQ5fAutomotiveQ5fTools
 
#19 ·
#20 ·
Question, are you sure its an M10 triple square and not 8? I have an 8 that fits all the other triple square attachments under the hood (heat shield, engine lift/jack brackets on top of the engine) I was able to get my hands on an 8 but no dice with a 10. also, did you replace the fuel injector seal kits when you pulled the mani? I'm trying to determine if its needed, if not I can do this tonight and be done with it. if it is, I'll have to wait till the weekend cause I won't be able to get to a dealership until then.

Thanks,
 
#22 ·
Yes, it's a 10. I wouldn't replace the seals unless you see damage. I had damage on two of mine but they stayed in their bore when I pulled the mani. If they're damaged now, it's just a matter of time before they go bad so might as well knock it out now. I replaced all of my seals. 2 were cracking and 1 was gone.
 
#21 ·
You only have to replace teh injector gaskets if an injector pops out when you pull the manifold.
I ordered 4 just in case...
 
#23 ·
You only have to replace teh injector gaskets if an injector pops out when you pull the manifold.
I ordered 4 just in case...
Are the injectors attached to the bottom of the manifold?
Yes, it's a 10. I wouldn't replace the seals unless you see damage. I had damage on two of mine but they stayed in their bore when I pulled the mani. If they're damaged now, it's just a matter of time before they go bad so might as well knock it out now. I replaced all of my seals. 2 were cracking and 1 was gone.
so only if there is damage. got it. fortunately I'll be doing the job at my mom's house and shes walking dist. from the dealership. if they're damaged I'll simply acquire as needed. hopefully none of them pop out.
Mani should get here today, have the gasket, just need the G'damn 10 trip. square still can't find it :mad:
 
#25 ·
That's awesome! I think you're the first to respond to actually performing the DIY on all of the forums I have posted on. Glad to hear it went well and thanks for letting me know.

How did the GM cleaner work for you?

-patrick
 
#33 ·
Cool; yeah I bought one from the dealership and the manifold came with a new throttle body gasket and mani gasket as well. So now I have two. looking forward to tackling this tomorrow afternoon. so long as I can find that trip square. think I'm going to try and borrow it from a local :thumbup:
 
#32 · (Edited)
AAHH, what's the Reason for doing this ?

Seems Like a Good Fuel Cleaner would have done as good , and really looking at the Pic's

Hope You Stuffed three layer of Cotton and Rags in there before the Wire Wheel on the end of a Drill , can see the Marks . Just to - Keep out the Debris !

Done Plenty of Port and Polishing - those are small wire wheel marks - all day long !



I have done this Method and Cheated to do a Slight Port on Bowl , then Vac , then Air.
 
#34 ·
Seems Like a Good Fuel Cleaner would have done as good , and really looking at the Pic's

Hope You Stuffed three layer of Cotton and Rags in there before the Wire Wheel on the end of a Drill , can see the Marks . Just to - Keep out the Debris !

Done Plenty of Port and Polishing - those are small wire wheel marks - all day long !



I have done this Method and Cheated to do a Slight Port on Bowl , then Vac , then Air.
No wire wheel on drill was used. I used wire handheld bottle brushes. That was listed in the DIY.
 
#35 ·
I don't know how you guys did it. All but the two triple squares and the rear left intake mani bolts are taken off. there simply isn't enough clearance for me to get any tool in there to take the rear left TB bolt off. It's driving me crazy I was at the local hardware store buying smaller flex socket wrenches, mini ratchets, and nothing. not to mention I can't see the trip squares yet. the GLI noise pipe is causing/had caused a lot of problems. there is a bracket that supports it that comes off the alternator that blocks the hard pipe from moving, I removed that bracket (by undoing both alternator bolts) and have a little more room to play but that was about 45 mins ago and the lack of light had me calling it quits. very frustrating.
I'm going to pick up tomorrow after work. everything else came out with ease, and when I can actually see/get to the triple squares I'll tackle them now that I have the right tool.

 
#36 ·
That TB bolt is a bitch. Before I got a flex head wrench I used a t30 bit that had a loop on the end. I would use a very small flat head to insert into the loop to turn the torx bit. It is possible to reach that bolt from underneath the car using a long narrow extension. It's still a PITA but doable. You're just gonna have to get creative. If you've removed the coolant line support bolts, you should be able to push the line bracket to the side to make it easier. GL man. You'll git er done!
 
#37 · (Edited)
I really hope so because I was very close to snapping that bolt off since I'm replacing the mani anyway...I just didn't want to damage the TB. my knuckles and fingers are all sorts of scratched up thanks to that back left TB screw. Why they thought hardline coolant hoses were/are necessary is beyond me. going to pick up four injector rebuild kits just in case since it seems I may accidentally go beast mode on this thing and whip out the dremell & sawzaw tag team :laugh:

picked up a stubby pivoting ratchet and a socket style T30, hopefully that will give me better access.
 
#39 ·
when I pulled the manifold out Two injectors came with it. I put everthing back together and now I've got a serious missfire and EPC light on.
I'm thinking it has something to do with the injectors because the little white washers sit between the fuel injectors and the engine came out when pulled. My buddy pulls out the rebuild kit and tells me there was a revision and this goes in place of the white piece.


Now I'm afraid that this piece that I installed on the two injector was wrong and is causing some kind of failure. I think i'm going to take it apart tomorrow morning to try and see where I went wrong. this is going to be miserable
 
#41 ·
Actually right before I went to sleep last night I remembered I forgot to plug in an injector. So epc is off but I still have the same studders whenever boost exceeds 12 psi. Im going to get vcds this afternoon so we'll see what codes im throwing. Plus I have to clear my old codes.

Sent from my Galaxy S using Tapatalk
 
#43 ·
Actually right before I went to sleep last night I remembered I forgot to plug in an injector. So epc is off but I still have the same studers whenever boost exceeds 12 psi. Im going to get vcds this afternoon so we'll see what codes im throwing. Plus I have to clear my old codes.

Sent from my Galaxy S using Tapatalk
Resolved the issue yesterday, it was my spark plugs. Car runs like a raped ape! absolutely astounding. First time I've been able to actually feel/enjoy my stage two tune. :peace:
Many thanks for the DIY, before this I was blowing out the nipple that is attached to the pressure actuated arm, and upon removal of the manifold I noticed that the flaps just didn't work.
My fingers are still healing and despite starting with gloves they were torn and tattered beyond usefulness by the end, which resulted in an excessive amount of engine grime cracked under my fingernails :laugh: oh the joy's of owning a VW; rear brakes and oil change on deck for next weekend. :thumbup:
 
#50 ·
Nothing Is Fixed : and what the F___ is the Subject Matter Attached to Your Response ?

Spark Plugs aren't Going To Cut the Mustard Here !


Glad you go it fixed. I'm sorry I didn't chime in but the email notifications suck since the new website and for some reason I didn't get any notifications from the posts in July. WTF? now I starts to notify me for some reason.[/QUOTE]
 
#54 ·
Nothing Is Fixed : and what the F___ is the Subject Matter Attached to Your Response ?

Spark Plugs aren't Going To Cut the Mustard Here !


Glad you go it fixed. I'm sorry I didn't chime in but the email notifications suck since the new website and for some reason I didn't get any notifications from the posts in July. WTF? now I starts to notify me for some reason.
[/QUOTE]

My reply wasn't to you so quit posting nonsense. The mani has a bad actuator arm. There is a TSB it will be fixed under warranty. deal with and quit posting here. This is a DIY. There are a million posts about this TSB. Take it somewhere else.
 
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