Accessing the exhaust manifold area

[golf]

As title, does anyone have any experience of this? Mine's blowing, and I'm going to check it out in the morning. I'm imagining it's a massive pain in the **** to get to. I think one of the gasket's have gone and will need replacing.

I'm looking squarely at Welly and tuffty here, they're good at this sort of thing. :icon_thumright:

 

[<tuffty/>]

Not done an S3 mani as yet (I removed mine still attached to the head).

A3 one is a case of removing bits of the charge pipe to get to the mani nuts, they are 12mm nuts. Undo the three 17mm turbo to mani bolts on top (these need replacing as they will have been heat stressed and will come loose if reused) then work your way round the top of the mani and the bottom to undo the nuts...... the 2 on the bottom either side of the turbo are a little tricky to get too and unbolting the turbo first will help access... the bottom 2 nuts towards the cam belt end of the engine are tricky to get too due to the turbo water pipe but you can bend this down a tad to get a socket on.

You will need a turbo to mani gasket and a mani to head gasket to replace the ones that come off.

A3 mani's will have cracks around the collector and these are generally ok to live with. They can also break around the branches in which case it will prob need replacing. You may find the mounting surface of the mani where the turbo fits (collector) is distorted. Before refitting, flat this back with some 180 grit wet and dry on a flat pad to get the mounting surfaces as flat as poss else it will just blow the gasket out again after a while.

Soz, can't remember if you have an S3 or an A3 but the principles are the same...

As with anything on these cars, there are lots of stuff to remove and lots of tight spaces... the turbo bolt nearest the head is difficult to get a socket on for example...

Good luck :icon_thumright:

<tuffty/>

 

[HTC]

Profile says R32??

Pull off the inlet stuff and heat shielding and your golden, for the R32 anyway.

 

[golf]

Sorry, forgot to mention it's an S3. R32 is long gone, profile obviously not been updated for a while.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Righty... I can categorically say the S3 is a **** to do... been working on one today and everything is so much less accessible than the A3/Ibizas I have done in the past...

DP needs to be undone, turbo removed or moved as far down as poss and driveshaft removed for access so far... the angle of the exhaust mani of the S3 with a K04 makes it much harder to get at the nuts holding it on and its really tight between the mani and the bulkhead...

When I did mine I just undid the turbo bolts (which on this S3 Bill had to impact drive off while also turning the flat edges of the socket with a spanner) and removed the head making access to everything easier... turbo out but even then the DP was a **** to remove.

Not a job for the faint hearted but doable if prepared to take the time....

I am sure there may be an easier approach but even with a pukker ramp its proved to be trickier than first thought to get to everything tbh..

<tuffty/>

 

[Speedy Steve]

I looked st mine and thought it was to much of an **** to do so took mine to Bill on sat. Am looking forward to to getting mine back with its Hybrid turbo and downpipe. Not expecting much more power just the fact the old turbo had done 112000 miles

 

[<tuffty/>]

Hi Steve... I can see why you booked it in LOL...

What fun its been so far

<tuffty/>

 

[golf]

Cheers tuffty.

Well I had a gander today to see if I could see where it's blowing from, and I thought I had an easy job on my hands when I saw that one of the three bolts were loose which hold the turbo in on top of the manifold. So I tightened it all up and thought it'd cure the problem, but it's still blowing. The Seat Leon Cupra guys reckon it's an EGT sensor round the back of the engine which could be the culprit, but I've not heard this happening on an S3?

 

[<tuffty/>]

Mine was loose tbh... didn't blow but I tightened it up non the less...

<tuffty/>

 

[golf]

Any idea where the EGT sensor roughly is?

It might be the cause of this infernal blowing, because everything else seems OK. The manifold is flush with the engine block, the DP is not loose, and the turbo > manifold bolts are tight after today.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Any idea where the EGT sensor roughly is?

On the back of the turbine housing... easy to spot tbh... come out at a right angle...

<tuffty/>

 

[golf]

Thanks for the help tuffty, I'll have a look in the morning to see if the sensor's gone AWOL.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Lets hope not... they are £180 new

<tuffty/>

 

[badger5]

I looked st mine and thought it was to much of an **** to do so took mine to Bill on sat. Am looking forward to to getting mine back with its Hybrid turbo and downpipe. Not expecting much more power just the fact the old turbo had done 112000 miles

its very oily in the charge pipes and everythings beyond tight and seized...
turbo to manifold gasket was cracked in 2 places when it came out and is egg shaped...
be interesting to see how cracked the manifold is when it finally comes off.

i luv S3's I do (not)

 

[Speedy Steve]

its very oily in the charge pipes and everythings beyond tight and seized...
turbo to manifold gasket was cracked in 2 places when it came out and is egg shaped...
be interesting to see how cracked the manifold is when it finally comes off.

i luv S3's I do (not)

Oh the joys no wonder it felt so flat to drive! Let me know if the manifold is bad ill try and get one in better condition.

 

[tompearson]

Any pointers on how to undo this? Can't get socket on it and a crows foot just gets forced off as the manifold is so close. I assume it needs to be removed to get the mani off, but I just can't see how.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Any pointers on how to undo this? Can't get socket on it and a crows foot just gets forced off as the manifold is so close. I assume it needs to be removed to get the mani off, but I just can't see how.

You can't remove it without first removing the manifold... the bolt is too long... yet another great VAG design

You don't need to remove this to get the mani off though but it does make a stupidly difficult job a little tighter... most of the undoing is best done from underneath. Remove the driveshaft for easier access and drop the downpipe. All the nuts are undone from underneath the mani unlike the K03 turbo'd cars which are much easier to work on.

Removing the exhaust manifold on an S3 is quite frankly one of the most awkward jobs I have had to be party too...

Enjoy

<tuffty/>

 

[tompearson]

Joy! I was hoping that removing this would let me see what I was doing.

Thanks

 

[golf]

Removing the exhaust manifold on an S3 is quite frankly one of the most awkward jobs I have had to be party too...

Amen brother :icon_thumright:

One quick question tuffty, I have evidence to believe that it's actually the manifold > turbo gasket which has blown causing the tractor noise on cold starts and reving.

Can the turbo bolts be loosened enough to separate it from the manifold without actually removing it all together? I'm talking about the three torx headed wa**ers, or are there any more to remove in order to access the turbo to manifold gasket?

 

[<tuffty/>]

Amen brother :icon_thumright:

One quick question tuffty, I have evidence to believe that it's actually the manifold > turbo gasket which has blown causing the tractor noise on cold starts and reving.

Can the turbo bolts be loosened enough to separate it from the manifold without actually removing it all together? I'm talking about the three torx headed wa**ers, or are there any more to remove in order to access the turbo to manifold gasket?

You should be able to yes, fairly sure anyway

There should be enough give in the bracket underneath the turbo to allow for this...

You will need new bolts to replace the ones you have removed but be warned they can be an **** to remove... don't lose the washers though as Welly discovered they are about £5 each... bolts are cheaper ironically...

The gasket only fits one way round IIRC so try and make a note of how the existing one is orientated when you remove it... If you get stuck I should be able to take a pic of one on a K04 over at Badger 5...

<tuffty/>