First Carbon Clean Up - 60K Miles

[Carmex]

Here is a download link for a PDF that I created for taking the intake manifold off: Audi B8 S5 4.2 Intake Manifold Removal

i have an 08 S5 with the 4.2.

It took me about 2 hours to get the manifold off the first time and about an hour to get it back on. I could easily get it back off in an hour, which is what I will be doing tomorrow night...

I will be taking the manifold back off tomorrow after work because I forgot to put the divider things back in. Unless people think it won't hurt the car's performance... I'm sure they were in there a reason haha!

Got intake off Friday night. Sprayed Seafoam until each port puddled up a bit and let sit over night.
Saturday afternoon went to town with an array of tools:
Flat head screw drivers
Dental pick/scraper tool set
Dremel w/ snake attachment to make it easier getting inside each pocket.
Steel brush attachments for Dremel
Q-Tips
Paper Towel
Gloves
5 Flood lights, Might have been excessive haha
Small LED light
Small Shop vac with 1/4" hose attached to suck up the debris and Seafoam after each sitting.

I soaked the valves for about 20 minutes after I made progress on each one. It helped to get what can, let it soak, and then come back.

Carbon - 60K Miles








Clean - Or at least as far as my sanity would let me go... 8 hours...

[Okan509]

looks good man! for 60k, that is still a pretty healthy engine

[ProfileX]

Nice work, I'm impressed. So did you have a check engine light, or what motivated you to do that? Mine is at 50K with no issues yet. Let us know if you noticed a big change when you drive it.

[JimWB]

Just curious, what are your driving habits? Do you usually drive longer or shorter distances? I assume you drive it aggressive ;)

[Jesse@USP]

Wow man great job self cleaning! Looks great

[man03999]

Great job!

[FaceSmA5h]

Great stuff man. Post a DIY as well.

[Carmex]

Nice work, I'm impressed. So did you have a check engine light, or what motivated you to do that? Mine is at 50K with no issues yet. Let us know if you noticed a big change when you drive it.

Yeah I had a check engine light and the light would flash anytime I got up around 5k rpm's. I had misfires like crazy, so much that the engine just vibrated the drivetrain in an odd way only when getting on it. Up to 3k rom's it was pretty smooth. So consequently I was also feeling a lose of power.

I just drove it to work this morning and it feels MUCH better and smoother. The CEL did flash twice when I got on it twice but the light never stayed on so I'm wondering if things are just getting cleared out still. I'm going to pull the plugs and see how they look. Supposedly they were changed 5k miles ago, but could be fouled out because of the misfires I was having.

Just curious, what are your driving habits? Do you usually drive longer or shorter distances? I assume you drive it aggressive ;)

I've only had this car for about 1k miles, so the build up is the current owners. He wasn't an aggressive drive from what I could tell and he only drove downtown for his daily commute. So he had very short trips where he couldn't really get on it.
My driving habits are pretty aggressive, however I only drive a 1 mile stretch of 50 mph to work and home. So i get on it, but I don't go very far. Most of my driving is around town and I do try to get on it.

Wow man great job self cleaning! Looks great

Thanks so much! I was nervous at the beginning because I kept reading that it took 4+ hours to get the manifold off. I only had one hang up and it was those 12 point bolts at the front of an engine, luckily I had a buddy that had a bit set to get them off.

I do have one question, I'm getting a weird vibration around 1800-2000 rpm's, I'm wondering if that could be because I forgot to put the metal dividers in the cylinder ports and airflow isn't happening properly... I'll be taking the manifold back off tonight to put them in.

[FaceSmA5h]

Also is this for a 2.0, 3.0, 3.2, 4.2?

[IanCH]

Also is this for a 2.0, 3.0, 3.2, 4.2?

I count 8 cylinders.

[Carmex]

Thanks again everyone!

Great stuff man. Post a DIY as well.

As I take it apart tonight I'll try to take some pictures in an order that makes sense to to remove the intake. It's actually not too bad. Here's the order that Ill remove things tonight:

Let car sit for an hour to allow engine to cool down and fuel pressure to go down.
Remove engine cover.
Unplugged PCV hose from drivers side head.
Loosen Main black fuel line going to fuel distribution block. Have a rag under it as fuel will come out. 17mm
Loosen and unscrew all the fuel lines on the distribution block and High pressure pumps on each head. 14mm & 17mm
Unbolt and remove the fuel distribution block. T-30 Torx
Remove Intake tube and any hoses or wires connecting to it. MAF Plug and two hoses on top near throttle body.
Remove Top coolant hose. A gush of coolant will come out so be ready with a towel.
Unplug connector to throttle body.
Remove Throttle Body. 4 T-30 Torx
Remove 2 vacuum lines going into the top of the black tube next to where the coolant hose was.
Unplug vacuum line by firewall. (I'll show in pic.)
(The coolant hose and vacuum line attached to the bottom of the black tube are easier to get off as you take the manifold out. Helps to have a buddy hold the intake.)
Unplug connectors going to each High Pressure Pump and the ground attached to the head and move out of the way.
Unbolt the two black brackets at the front of the heads using a 12 point bit. I found that a T-50 Torx bit worked also. For the front bolts it was easiest to just clamp some vise grips and loosen them. Bolts weren't too tight so doesn't take much.
Unbolt the 10 intake manifold bolts. T-30 Torx
You may need to pry up on the intake to loosen it's grip from the rubber gaskets.
Start lifting manifold up from the back to remove the two hoses I mentioned earlier.
Now lift the manifold from the front. There will be 4 connectors that you need to unplug, 1 on each side and 2 in the middle. There should be plenty of slack on the wires that you can lift them up to where you can see them. The intake will get stuck on the front metal arms so be careful when pulling up.
Now remove manifold with black tube attached, maneuvering it around the fuel lines and anything else in the back.
Remove gaskets and metal dividers and enjoy the next day of your life, because your body will hate you for leaning over that engine bay haha.

Install is the opposite of removal. I found the Torque specs for the RS4 engine so I used those for the intake manifold. Everything else like the fuel lines and throttle body I just snugged them down. You'll notice when taking them apart that they aren't extremely tight.
You will need to replace a couple clamps with worm gear clamps for the hoses as they aren't reusable or not after the way I used to get them off haha. I used a small flat head screw driver in the little hold to pry them apart. (You will see in the pictures.

Pretty sure I got all of the steps. If not I'll get them later.

[Carmex]

Also is this for a 2.0, 3.0, 3.2, 4.2?

I count 8 cylinders.

Sorry yes it's the 4.2. I have an 08 S5. I'll add that info to the top post.

[pdubb]

Please continue with more pics of the removal and install of manifold. This is great. Thank you so much.

I had my car in Audi this past week and asked what it would cost to do a Carbon Cleaning while it was in for being investigated for fast oil consumption.
They quoted me $400 for parts and labor ('12 S5 4.2)...

Question: Was this process worth saving the $400? Or are you a more a hands on person so you'd rather do it yourself anyways?

Thanks!

[Carmex]

Please continue with more pics of the removal and install of manifold. This is great. Thank you so much.

I had my car in Audi this past week and asked what it would cost to do a Carbon Cleaning while it was in for being investigated for fast oil consumption.
They quoted me $400 for parts and labor ('12 S5 4.2)...

Question: Was this process worth saving the $400? Or are you a more a hands on person so you'd rather do it yourself anyways?

Thanks!

I will definitely get more pics tonight. A DIY write would be great as it's not too difficult just time consuming.

I think this was worth saving the $400. You could actually take that money and put it towards some intake spacers from JHM and end up having a much better performing engine for less money! I think I might actually order them since I'm taking the intake back off anyways.

I am a very hands on person and have built a few engines myself, but everything that has to be done can be done by the average person. For the $400 who knows how clean they will get the valves. You could always ask them to take pics of before and after to see, but if you feel like you could have done a better job then it almost feels like wasted money. For as much as I scrubbed/scraped those valves clean, I knew there wasn't much better that could be done aside from installing new valves. You can't get them completely clean as the carbon/oil will stain the metal a bit depending on how bad it is, so remember that otherwise you will go insane trying to get every last little bit clean haha.

[Carmex]

Oh and I tried leaving the PCV unhooked as that is the source of oil getting in, but the engine stalled after a couple minutes of warming up so I had to put it back on.

[pdubb]

Nice. Thanks for the info.

[hidefS5]

Great Job! Subscribed.

[Pop.Tremuloides]

Outstanding job!!!! Looks like it is just off the assembly line :)

[B72011]

Why not go with the Harbor Freight Soda blaster method...? It's found in the b6 or 7 area. Basically you put down a sheet with a hole in it, held down with a plate, rotate the crank, close the valve completely.....blast away, vacuum, repeat till clean. Then move on to the next. Prolly would have saved 5 hrs.

[drufe]

Looks awesome, as good as any walnut blasting I've ever seen. Great job man!

[hidefS5]

Why not go with the Harbor Freight Soda blaster method...?

Thanks for the heads up!

[ActivS5]

Good job! That's pretty much what mine looked like on my 2008 at 65k miles too.

[Carmex]

Thanks again everyone! I'll be opening her back up this weekend to put the dividers back in. I was debating getting the JHM Intake Spacer, but I think I'm going to put that money towards a VAG COM.

I'll also be pulling the injectors to see if there is any carbon build up on the tips since the when I pulled the spark plugs there was carbon build up on them. I bought some BG Fuel Injection System Cleaner to run through them. The car has run soo much smoother since removing the carbon but I'm still getting some misfires around 6k rpm's. Already order new plugs and will be putting them in this weekend too.

Why not go with the Harbor Freight Soda blaster method...? It's found in the b6 or 7 area. Basically you put down a sheet with a hole in it, held down with a plate, rotate the crank, close the valve completely.....blast away, vacuum, repeat till clean. Then move on to the next. Prolly would have saved 5 hrs.

That would have been an awesome idea and I actually have a soda blaster. But I don't know how well it would get the side of the valve stem that you can't see, underneath where the valve guide is, and also the build up by the valve seat...

Good job! That's pretty much what mine looked like on my 2008 at 65k miles too.

Thanks and I actually used your old thread a little bit to see what parts you disconnected. I don't have a manual so I just did it by looking at what was attached.

[TitanG545]

60K miles on an 08, GEEZ. Previous owner just checked the mail in the car or what. I will probably have my dealer check the carbon build up levels every 15K miles. Once the warranty is up, it will be time to trade her in for something new, but that is 5 years for now.

[Carmex]

Ok So I took the manifold back off this weekend and here is the carbon build up that built up in just a weeks time, about 100 miles of driving for me. So based off that I think I am going to try to find a way to inject fuel into the intake and am thinking out using a nitrous type system. Reason I am not thinking methanol is because methanol is more expensive than 93 octane.

[Carmex]

Secondly here is a download link for a PDF that I created for taking the intake manifold off: Audi B8 S5 4.2 Intake Manifold Removal

I would love for someone to give me the proper torque specs for the last page of the PDF. The ones currently are for the RS4 and I'm not sure they are right. Thanks.

[invncble]

Secondly here is a download link for a PDF that I created for taking the intake manifold off: Audi B8 S5 4.2 Intake Manifold Removal

I would love for someone to give me the proper torque specs for the last page of the PDF. The ones currently are for the RS4 and I'm not sure they are right. Thanks.

Thank you for taking the time to do this. It is greatly appreciated.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Carmex]

No problem, I'm glad I could help out others with a problem that unfortunately plagues our cars and many others.

Thanks!

[hidefS5]

Awesome, Thanks for taking the time to document and export to PDF! +1,000,000 rep points!

[Carmex]

Awesome, Thanks for taking the time to document and export to PDF! +1,000,000 rep points!

Thank you very much! I'm a graphic artist so I couldn't help formatting it all haha!

And for anyone that has downloaded it already I fixed a couple typos, but the most important one is you need a 10mm triple square bit NOT a 12mm one.