I've managed to get my intake manifold off the car relatively easily, helped in part by the fact that the Skoda dealer who previously replaced 3 x injectors didn't even bother to put back 1 of the bolts, and cross-threaded another 

 

Another thing that concerns me though; mine is missing the underside central bracket (with the triple-square bolt that's a bitch to get to) entirely. I'm assuming it's meant to be there, and that said garage have just left it off?!

 

This is my new manifold with all the bits swapped over

 

And the engine bay

Very good, how easy was it to get it off and how long did it take? Are you just doing a carbon clean or did you need a new intake 

Good work the only thing you need to do is put something over the oil filter housing  .

Took about 4 hours, which included the cleaning. 

 

Wanted to have it all back together today, but have to wait until tomorrow for local VW main dealer to get bracket and replacement bolts in stock 

Clean(ish) valves:

 

Good job.  Took me 3 days to do!  Tough job, but I learned a lot.  

54 minutes ago, planehazza said:

Good job.  Took me 3 days to do!  Tough job, but I learned a lot.  

Did you get any benefit from cleaning yours out of interest?

10 hours ago, planehazza said:

Good job.  Took me 3 days to do!  Tough job, but I learned a lot.  

Putting it back may well take me another day! As I've got to figure out this bracket underneath...any tips?

12 hours ago, kton200281 said:

Did you get any benefit from cleaning yours out of interest?

 

It seemed to generally run a little better, but really I'm just a weekend warrior / novice so a more capable mechanic would be able to tell you better. 

 

3 hours ago, Rjg said:

Putting it back may well take me another day! As I've got to figure out this bracket underneath...any tips?

 

Erm, putting it back together was another day of 'fun' in itself.  I remember that bracket being a git to remove and reinstall, but I remember there being a sweet spot to get at it.  As you'll already know, there is a very delicate wire (a temp sensor I think?) that runs along that 'blade' on the metal bracket - just be careful when reinstalling.  Like anything, fasten everything loosely until you're happy everything is in and lined up, the tighten up.  I took all the intake piping off between the TB and the IC; this opened up a lot more access.   I also remember that fitting the injector loom was a bit of a mission.  I can't remember now when I fastened all the injectors back up, but I remember there was a point at which would be too late to do and I had to take the IM off again a couple of times.  

 

Here's the link to my thread if it helps. Not much in there, but the videos I link to helped me out a huge bunch:

 

 

Edited 16 February, 20188 yr by planehazza

Thanks. I must have watched Humble Mechanics vid 10 times...he conveniently glosses over everything regarding this bracket! 

 

I've just put the mani back on, but it's going to be coming off again already. 

Well it's all (ish) back together, and the car starts and runs, so I've done something right 

 

The 2 bottom bolt holes were cross threaded before I started, so I thought I'd fixed them by running a thread tap over them (tested with a bolt after = all good). However, I realised when re-installing the manifold that the good thread must be a few millimetres out of reach of the bolts, as neither of them tighten up  I'm going to see if I can try a bolt that's 5mm longer.

 

@planehazza

That bottom bracket is a joke though. I removed the TB rubber hose like you said. In the end I hand tightened the rubber section to the underside of the manifold, then reached in from the right side with my right hand to try and twist/push the bracket so the triple-square bolt lined up on the block. I then squeezed behind the alternator with my left hand and a socket extension, blinding poking and twisting until the bolt started to grab. Must have taken me a solid 2 hours of swearing and bleeding!

 

 

Edited 16 February, 20188 yr by Rjg

I can't believe this...cleared the old fault codes on Tuesday evening, and already today I've got the MIL back 

 

Brand new VW branded manifold from the states, and it's still giving the "Intake Manifold Flap Position Sensor (Bank 1): Implausible Signal" as well as another about the the fuel mix being too lean?

 

I've noticed the car is also much slower to turn over and start, but not had chance to investigate yet

 

Any ideas WTF is going on?

Wiring to the manifold position sensor fault. System lean fault may be something else...