Let the tinkering continue.....

[Greg Roles]

This goes out to all the Provent non believers. Stripped my EGR, "throttlebody" and inlet manifold today. Way worse than I had expected, and I've probably got less buildup than most TDI's around, given I put on the Provent from new, and now it's total loss. The clear bucket is just the scrapings from my EGR and throttle flap, got teaspoons full at a time out of the manifold. Two cans of CRC throttle cleaner, some metho, prepsol and petrol later, and it's a lot cleaner. The methanol and water injection will clean up the rest, but if you don't have a Provent yet, get cracking. This is my car at 48k with one from virtually new. SCARY!

Interestingly, the throttle body itself narrows down from the nice 2.5" intercooler plumbing to a miserly 1.9", and it's a very restrictive section as the pictures show. Definately the biggest restriction in the inlet, and I'll be glad to see that section gone shortly.

Pulling it apart isn't as big a deal as I thought, the inlet manifold gasket is the orange rubber o-ring complex, and seemed very reusable to me. O-rings through the entire setup. Just be prepared to spend the arvo getting absolutely filthy. It's all torx, and you'll need a decent set with a M8 size. Bolts aren't overly tight. 5 bolts total hold the EGR and throttle on, with one of them at the drivers rear side going through both pieces. Quite straight forward. I laid the bolts out in the pattern as I removed them though, as the manifold bolts have differing packing washers on them in some spots.

[Greg Roles]

The head inlet runners were quite good...hooray!

[Greg Roles]

[Greg Roles]

1.9" with all that restriction in it as well....and the throttle flap is part closed half the time as well....boo hiss!!



...and CLEAN, but that's 1.9" from all the rest being 2.5"...and that SUCKS!





The gunk just from my EGR / throttle flap parts!!!

[Greg Roles]

There's a nasty edge in that inlet too, and I dremeled it down while I was in there. My 2.5" OTP electric exhaust cutout I initially bought for a DPF bypass will make a perfectly sized anti shudder valve for ignition off, and it's going to open up the inlet no end.

Be aware that hole you can see at 6 o'clock just in the inlet is one of the manifold bolts, and I had to clean the hole out to get to it and get purchase on it!

Giddy up!

[mikinoz]

We just clicked over 50K with no provent. Maybe time to do the same... Thanks for the write-up that will help.

[Greg Roles]

Greg, when we were racing post classic road racers we bought our methanol from a chook farm. Apparently chook poo is used as the bio mass. It might be worthwhile talking to the speedway boys about where they get theirs from.

/methanol.htm

http://holdren.com/methane/operation.php

Thanks for the awesome tip. I'm onto it : )

[h100vw]

Bet you wish you had a bigger ultrasonic bath Greg. That's nasty looking in there.
Gavin

[Preen59]

Hmm that scares me... I'm looking into buying and making some parts to knock myself up a total loss breather system.. That is really quite frightening to see all that crap in the inlet like that!

Thanks for the write up and the pics Greg.

[Greg Roles]

I'll post the dimensions of the Moroso venturi pipe which is just a piece of waterpipe, and with a Moroso valve which is available seperately you're set there Preeny.

Given the obvious need, and the number of requests, plus the plumbing hassle, I'm going to investigate putting together a fitment kit for the Provent for the oiler crew. I'd recommend anyone who is handy under the bonnet get onto this asap, but give me a few days to see if I can set up a trade account with Mann and Hummel specifically under one of my businesses. Cost prices to everyone but Preeny.

[gregozedobe]

Cost prices to everyone but Preeny.

So why are you going to give Preeny a freebie - is he your current BFF or something ?

[Greg Roles]

He is...he just doesn't know it yet.

I meant Preeny pays a premium!

[niss_man]

All that gunk is really quite scary. I thought VW were good engineers. Why didn't they engineer this gunk out of the system to prolong engine life. Maybe they are thinking along the lines of the chinese and design something to just last past the warranty and then die like my kettle. I reckon theres an art form to predicting when something is going to die.

I am really tempted to perfom inlet surgery on my TDI as well but the car being under warranty is always on the back of my mind. Maybe next christmas santa could give me a mann oil/air separator and a day of patience.

[mikinoz]

Given the obvious need, and the number of requests, plus the plumbing hassle, I'm going to investigate putting together a fitment kit for the Provent for the oiler crew. I'd recommend anyone who is handy under the bonnet get onto this asap, but give me a few days to see if I can set up a trade account with Mann and Hummel specifically under one of my businesses.

I'd say a well thought out kit an instructions could be quite a seller here and OS... I'll wait until you know more before I go down this path.

[benough]

Man that's dirty!

I asked my dealer to check it and he said it's fine. I am thinking he lied to me now. I will get Derek to look at it next week.

But aren't they designed to never be squeaky clean? That the EGR is a trade off of soot/gas and it keeps the EGT down?