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Valve Cleaning DIY

TwentyonePSI

Crody
Location
Toledo
Car(s)
FSI
Great work. Thanks for taking the time to do such a detailed write-up. :thumbsup:
 

TheTroyness

I changed a tire once...
Location
Arkansas
Do you HAVE to remove the bumper?

That's actually a great question that I was going to include in my initial write up but forgot.

You don't have to remove the bumper.

I removed my bumper because I was also installing the S3 intercooler. However, I planned to do the S3 install and the valve cleaning at the same time because I knew I wanted to take my bumper off for the cleaning. I don't have anything to put on the front end of my car to protect it from damage from me leaning all over it and working with extremely destructive chemicals over it. By taking off the bumper, I also had MUCH better access to some of the hard-to-get bolts and such (like the M10 triplesquare for the manifold support). Also, being able to pull the top of the radiator back slightly made removing the manifold a lot easier. I feel like not taking off the bumper would have made this much more difficult. Since removing the bumper isn't time consuming at all, it probably saved me time from not having to work around the fixed radiator and having to be as careful to not mess up the front end of my car.

In short, while it is not necessary to remove the bumper, I feel like it is absolutely worth the extra half hour, at the most. I should also note that the long bolts for sliding out the lock carrier aren't necessary. I'm undecided if they made things easier. I'll edit the DIY to reflect this reply.
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
The reason I asked is, the dealer more or less said they would like to clean my valves. I'm going to take it in tomorrow to try to diagnose misfires. Could really be almost anything. It was a couple of months ago that they replaced the valve cover gasket, maybe something came loose. If not, it could be clogged injectors, since I started out a month ago with misfires just on cylinder 1, now I have them on 3 and 4. Or carbon (I have 36K miles), coils, plugs, who knows. They are not doing anything if it's not covered under warranty.
 

steelcurtain

Go Kart Champion
Removing the front bumper is very easy if you haven't done it before. Just a handful of Torx bits to remove and it can easily be done by 1 person. I can see where it would be waY more comfortable on the back while leaning over cleaning those valves with it removed.
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
You know, I re-read the original post, so, OP, is the car running good now? It's too bad you may never know if it was the injector or the carbon build-up on the valves.
 

TheTroyness

I changed a tire once...
Location
Arkansas
You know, I re-read the original post, so, OP, is the car running good now? It's too bad you may never know if it was the injector or the carbon build-up on the valves.


The car is driving awesome! In fact, just last night I was driving to Walmart with the gf and I was talking about how much smoother the car runs. I think the misfire is gone, but I would like to make certain with VAG-COM before I say for sure. But yea, the car runs amazing now. I'm completely satisfied.

While I don't know for certain what was causing the misfire, I'm inclined to believe it was the injector, simply because none of the other cylinders were misfiring and all had carbon buildup. And they weren't as bad as I was expecting. But then again, cylinder 4 was the worst of all of them. So.... yea, who knows.

Sent from Outer Space using Magic!
 

JP2008

Ready to race!
Location
Atlanta - Virginia
Car(s)
GTI
I cant seem to pull my manifold off. Seems like something is holding it down, but I followed this step by step to the T. I also followed stasis pdf. Any ideas why its stuck?
 

TypeR_126

Ready to race!
Location
Concord, CA
Car(s)
GTI
If you have a rubber mallet, or a dead blow hammer, you might want to try giving it some light taps as you pull. I remember mine being a little sticky coming off and I believe it was because it was caught up on one, or more, of the clips as mentioned.
 

JP2008

Ready to race!
Location
Atlanta - Virginia
Car(s)
GTI
If you have a rubber mallet, or a dead blow hammer, you might want to try giving it some light taps as you pull. I remember mine being a little sticky coming off and I believe it was because it was caught up on one, or more, of the clips as mentioned.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Seems its just the top half to, because I can kinda tilt the manifold up easily vs pulling straight out. I gave it some good tugs, but I thought it was implied that it comes out easy, so to gently guide it out. Thanks again! Will update you, this is my 4th day attempting to take this thing off haha. Just got the M10 in the mail and just need to finish.
 

steelcurtain

Go Kart Champion
Got it off, thanks guys. Seems it was the plastic railing underneath. Now I cant figure out how to close the valves, any hints?


You have to rotate the crank by turning the belt connected to the crank pulley. You can pull the spark plugs and insert a long screwdriver to determine top dead center for each cylinder or just gauge it by the valve head alignment to the intake bore.

Turning the pulley pretty tough. You might want to drop the kids off at the pool before you attempt it. :lol:
 

JP2008

Ready to race!
Location
Atlanta - Virginia
Car(s)
GTI
You have to rotate the crank by turning the belt connected to the crank pulley. You can pull the spark plugs and insert a long screwdriver to determine top dead center for each cylinder or just gauge it by the valve head alignment to the intake bore.

Turning the pulley pretty tough. You might want to drop the kids off at the pool before you attempt it. :lol:

Lol, Ill be attempting this soon, No kids to worry about. To bad I dont have along screw driver.
 
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