DIY: B6 3.0L Vacuum Actuator/Drive Unit + Intake Manifold

First, credit where it is due.

SlickFix for the Vacuum Line DIY
&
Spike00513 for the Oil Check Valve DIY

Both of these threads were a great help to me during this process, and inspired me to post my experience to hopefully benefit other 3.0 owners.

I also used the thread at http://audirevolution.net/forum/index.php?topic=283.0]DIY: Intake manifold spacers for the part diagrams, which I believe are taken from workshop-manuals.com.

A few notes:
I am not a mechanic and prior to this had never done vacuum line or manifold work.
This post will have lots of pictures "expertly" edited with good ole paint.
I was flat broke when I did this fix so I didn't replace ANY of the sensors, gaskets, or split loom that were available to me with the parts out. The other threads include those steps if you need them.


Tools required:
I'm going to use SlickFix nicely compiled list and add just a few things.

Large channel locks to open large hose clamps on intake, or some similar tool.
Long 1/4" ratchet extension, I believe mine was 6".
Torque Wrench with 1/4" socket head. Something like this, though I personally have the old style.
http://www.samstagsales.com/Gedore/gd4550-10.jpg

5mm 1/4" socket driver
6mm 1/4" socket driver
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...OL._SY300_.jpg

Torx 30 1/4" socket driver (or screwdriver type, but much harder to use)
http://www.rodneydickman.com/T30Torx.jpg

1/4" ratchet
10mm 1/4" socket
Assortment of pliers
Assortment of small wire cutters
Assortment of screwdrivers: flathead, phillips

And if doing vacuum lines:
Small forceps(VERY important and helpful for this job. It allows you to lock the forceps onto the new silicone hose to use for leverage when installing onto a nipple in tight quarters).
Exacto hobby knife
Telescoping mirror
LED Headlamp or small bright flashlight
Dish soap(Fragrance of your choice).
~20 ft. of 3.5 mm silicone vacuum line(I bought mine from verociousmotorsports)
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...ov08142058.jpg

Backround:
Had obvious fuel trim problems, and hissing noise under the hood. Decided to follow SlickFix DIY for the vacuum line. When replacing the vacuum lines going into the part below I broke one of the nozzles housed in the rotary valves. This part is a Vacuum Actuator, sometimes called Drive Unit:
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_161255.jpg

And here is the nozzle that I broke out of the other side.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_161342.jpg

I tried several used ones, but every place I went only had broken ones, so I ended up ordering the part from Romney Papesh over at AudiUSAParts.com. MFG Part#: 06C133611 roughly $400.

After trying to pull the old cylinder out of the front of the manifold, I realized the whole manifold had to come off, but couldn't find a guide that didn't include a bunch of other work that I wasn't doing, which meant they were pulling parts out that I might not need to. Look how much gunk is on this. It was a nasty wet clay consistency.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_153935.jpg

Ok enough with all that on to what you are here for.

DIY: B6 3.0L Vacuum Actuator/Drive Unit + Intake Manifold.


Start with the basic safety stuff. Disconnect negative terminal of battery.

Remove plastic covers, or be like me and accidentally break all of them when you close the hood without remembering they are on the intake manifold.

Disconnect this plug.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...621_114928.jpg

Remove the 2 t30 torx bolts holding the actuator in. The bolts are in the peaks of the plastic housing. Then remove vacuum lines from unit.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...a/t30front.jpg

Detach this piece from its clip on the bottom of the actuator. I found it much easier after I turned it over.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_161328.jpg

You also need to remove this vacuum hose from the fuel rail if your car has it. I hear only the '02 and '03 do, I'm not sure. I have the '03.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_163953.jpg

Now to the fuel rails. These are held in by 4 5mm hex bolts.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_161230.jpg

Once those are out, you have to pry the entire metal rail off. You are supposed to remove the electronic components first, but I found it MUCH easier to get them off after I pulled the injectors out a few inches. Be gentle, it takes a little force, but don't he-man it. I just used the breaker bar I use to do under the car stuff. You only need it to come free, not to be completely out. Do the same on both sides.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_165037.jpg

Here is a shot of what the underside of the fuel injector electronic clips look like. You won't be able to see them so hopefully this will help you open them without breaking them. I broke 5 out of 6 myself, but they seem to be staying on the injectors snugly anyway.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_165142.jpg

Get the injectors and those plugs out of the way. I set the injectors on a nearby sweatshirt, and then covered them with some other cloth I had laying around. Ignore the still connected battery in this shot, I was being bad.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_165429.jpg

Take this part of the intake off by opening the 2 hose clamps on either end and pulling the hose free. I put the clamps back on to the hard plastic housings for safe keeping.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_165842.jpg


Remove the 3 10mm bolts holding this plastic plate in and disconnect the BLACK side vacuum line of that little thingamabob. I also disconnected the green circled plug on the right, and just pulled the whole plate out.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_164448.jpg

Either way, you need to disconnect this next. Be careful, the clips next to that elbow will likely be very very brittle.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_170145.jpg

I suggest unplugging this plug, but it probably isn't REQUIRED.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_170924.jpg

Ok this hose in the back has a one time clamp. I removed it and in the process broke the interior nozzle, but a with a replacement hose clamp it still stays snug. It was convenient to move this hose out of the way for removing more of the intake, but may not be required.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_173741.jpg

Loosen the upper hose clamp, highlighted in green going into the resonator from the intake. And then loosen the 5mm hex bolt circled in red. This pic has both disconnected to show the location of the bolt better. The bolt is kind of a pain to get your hex driver onto, but is pretty easy to turn once u get any kind of bite. When you get a ratchet behind it, you only have about 2-3 inches of ratchet turning to work with so it takes forever.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...628_135220.jpg

Pull the 3 5mm bolts out of the Resonator bracket, 2 of which are also intake manifold bolts. Pretty important to not strip these manifold bolts, and my hex head didn't quite fit in the bolts due to to build up. Put the hex head on you ratchet extension, line it up on the bolt, and tap the back of the extension with a hammer. I would never directly strike a ratchet like that. Apply slow force to the bolts and you should be fine. The 3rd 5mm hex bolt not visible in the pic below (under the bullseye) is much shorter than the rest of the actual manifold bolts.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...628_132237.jpg

I am going to skip all the work that was done on the vacuum line, because I don't have anything of value to add to SlickFix guide.

You now will need to remove the remaining 10 5mm hex bolts. I undid the bracket for whatever this part is circled in green here. I think that is a 6mm hex there, but it MAY have been a 7mm hex. I apologize for not having a good pic of the manifold with the rails off so you can clearly see all the bolts, but my back was starting to hurt and I was losing light. Make sure to use the standard star pattern when loosening these bolts
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...626_161627.jpg

Once all the bolts are out the manifold should freely move with very little effort. I did not bother to pull it the whole way out, I just angled the front up and latched onto the front of the actuator cylinder with needle nose pliers and pulled it out. I then used a hammer and my breaker bar to prop the manifold up and install the new actuator complete with the front face with 2 t30 torx screws. I then set the manifold back into place and bolted it and the resonator back in. 10nm or roughly 7.5 ft lbs of torque is spec on the manifold bolts, and again follow a star pattern when putting the bolts back in. The short resonator screw it just into a bracket housing, does not need torqued.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...628_182759.jpg

Now do it all in reverse!

My car is running better than it ever has, and it feels good to be done with it. My gas mileage is much better as well!

Hope this helps someone out.


ScottZirra

edit: apologies if this got necro'd. I was checking out old content i wrote and was unhappy that the pics were missing rendering the guide less than useful. replaced all image links. I've since replaced this 03 3.0L A4 with a 2016 Golf R and couldn't be happier with it =D.

Very nice DIY writeup, ScottZirra, thank you so much for creating it!

Pardon me for injecting a little bit of experience into your excellent DIY, in order to help prevent broken fuel injector caps. The method that worked for me was to push down while simultaneously pushing in on the tab with my thumb. Then pull up. Worked like a champ, and I didn't break a single cap!

http://s14.postimg.org/7c1z4jz0h/IMG...626_165142.jpg





Another trick, is that before pulling up on the fuel rail, spray a little PB Blaster around the area where the fuel injectors plug into the manifold. By doing this, you can prevent any damage to the pintle caps, which are the very fragile little o-rings which surround the tips. It might be a good idea to order a few pintle caps and have them on hand in case you break some.


Regarding the gunk that accumulates in the hex bolts that hold the IM on. I found that using a small pick to scrape out the gunk will ensure that you don't strip the heads.


Nice job, sir. Thanks for contributing to the 3.0 DIY section after being here for such a short while. I look forward to your next one! [up]

Thanks for the write up... will be tackling this myself shortly. Would welcome anyone's views on the need for new inlet manifold gaskets when doing this? Not mentioned in the post but I would have thought it would be worth at least checking the condition of the old one or are they pretty tough?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mhk1058

Thanks for the write up... will be tackling this myself shortly. Would welcome anyone's views on the need for new inlet manifold gaskets when doing this? Not mentioned in the post but I would have thought it would be worth at least checking the condition of the old one or are they pretty tough?

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I didn't check mine because I didn't have the money to buy a replacement.

Quote:

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I was flat broke when I did this fix so I didn't replace ANY of the sensors, gaskets, or split loom that were available to me with the parts out. The other threads include those steps if you need them.

---

From what Spike says, it's not like a regular paper gasket and it seems OK to lift the manifold without replacing it. In the UK the part appears to be only available from the main dealer and I'm not about to give them any more money without it being absolutely essential.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spike00513

and nothing happens @ idle, how do you know that the forces at high RPM's aren't strong enough to cause leaks? I wish I knew more.

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Thanks Spike.. good point, started hoping that's why I'm getting very occasional random misfires on one bank that are driving me to an early grave - new gasket it is..

Just pulled my intake out to replace the oil check valves. Not as bad as i was expecting and really fairly easy. Couple of points i noticed. My intake manifold bolts were barely finger tight, i wonder if that has been contributing to my misfire issues? Also i have the thin red gasket and my car is an 04 although the engine was replaced when the block cracked. The replacement was built up from a used block with my original heads so i don't know if the manifold was my original or if it came of the donor.

Lots of gunk in the valley under the plastic cover but the check valves looked ok (they moved when pressed on the end at least). On to clean up and starting to replace parts.

Spike (or anyone else),

do you know if the manifold has different part numbers corresponding to the red or green gasket you posted part numbers for above?

thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by deyrag

Just pulled my intake out to replace the oil check valves... .

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What are you referring to when you say the oil check valves? Pulling mine off this weekend and just want to make sure I have evrything I need.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mhk1058

What are you referring to when you say the oil check valves? Pulling mine off this weekend and just want to make sure I have evrything I need.

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underneath the intake manifold in "the valley" there is a some cover that holds some oil check valves and tubes. A few 3.0 guys have been replacing these recently as preventative maintenance.

Spike (or anyone else),

do you know if the manifold has different part numbers corresponding to the red or green gasket you posted part numbers for above?

thanks.

Edit. from what i can see from searching there is only 1 p/n for the manifold (06C133201J) and a change to the gasket for 04/05. Mine looks like crap and barely sticks up past the surface of the manifold so i am going to replace with green.

Seems strange to me that there are no sealing washers on the banjo bolts on the oil spray bar or on the check valves. Doesn't sit well with my engineering background.

Bad picture, but good for reference I suppose. The plastic cone guides for the IM snapped off and are sitting on the coolant reservoir.
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...ps72d7262c.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SJorge3442

underneath the intake manifold in "the valley" there is a some cover that holds some oil check valves and tubes. A few 3.0 guys have been replacing these recently as preventative maintenance.

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Ah, thanks, deeper than I intend to go [eek]

for those of you that have removed the manifold all the way what did the inside of the runners look like? mine are coated with a thick black layer of dirty oily crud.

Mine had a nice coating too, but it easily came off with parts cleaner. I doubt it was was enough gunk to cause any issues.

I'm pretty sure that everyone's has that gunk. My S4 had the same gunk on the 4.2L engine.

Couple of months later, after an 800 mile drive in 12 hours I am now experiencing pretty bad misfiring. Order the manifold gaskets (both left and right, same part) and am going to pull the manifold back off and replace my fuel injector o ring seals. Will update after I do the work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spike00513

What makes you think that injector seals and manifold gaskets have something to do with misfires? More details, such as DTC's, might help.

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I previously yanked the manifold and did not replace the gaskets. Today I cleared codes, replaced gasket, no more misfires. However I still have a high pitched ting ting ting coming from my driver side valve covers(i think). Time to have a mechanic look at it. The codes were multiple cyl misfires.

EDIT: I went for the gasket and o rings because I knew I had exposed them previously, and did not replace. Which seems bad.

Did replacing the intake gasket really fix the misfires? I have a similar problem but can't see how it would be related to a leaking intake gasket. After a few weeks of driving I started experiencing misfires with CEL on and codes

P0300 - mult misfires
P0301 - cyl 1 misfire
P0302 - cyl 2 misfire
P0303 - cyl 3 misfire
P0305 - cyl 5 misfire
P0201 - cyl 1 injector circuit open

Sometimes acceleration under load is perfect, and sometimes it hesitates. Sometimes idle is perfect, and sometimes the misfires are noticeable. There doesn't seem to be any correlation between hot/cold engine and the car's performance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mike176

Did replacing the intake gasket really fix the misfires? I have a similar problem but can't see how it would be related to a leaking intake gasket. After a few weeks of driving I started experiencing misfires with CEL on and codes

P0300 - mult misfires
P0301 - cyl 1 misfire
P0302 - cyl 2 misfire
P0303 - cyl 3 misfire
P0305 - cyl 5 misfire
P0201 - cyl 1 injector circuit open

Sometimes acceleration under load is perfect, and sometimes it hesitates. Sometimes idle is perfect, and sometimes the misfires are noticeable. There doesn't seem to be any correlation between hot/cold engine and the car's performance.

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Update: these problems appear to have been caused by a loose electrical connection to one of the injectors. I broke several of the plastic tabs when I removed the wiring harness from the fuel injectors. Even though they appeared connected I removed them and plugged them in again as firm as I could. I haven't had a single misfire or loss of power since!