intake manifold & intercooler cleaning

a few weeks ago i fitted the egr bypass, it was just a quick job and didnt get time to clean the manifold and intercooler pipes and what not.

is it safe to put the air intake pipe (the double pipe thingy where the air feed and intercooler pipes connect to) and the intake manifold in the dishwasher after being soaked in a bath of petrol. i know petrol will clean it spotless as oven cleaner doesnt do a great job and i cant be arsed with the scrubbing (lazy i know).

just wanted to double check that the intake manifold is just hollow plastic and nothing mechanical inside that i could damage, same goes with the plastic air intake pipe.

Ha Ha Ha,

You are either single or Mrs Gary is away for the weekend!

Seriously some people tell me they have done this.

As far as I know there is nothing mechanical / metal to damage inside.

Report back please as I don't have the balls to try this.

Mrs Singvogel would def not be chuffed.

There is a presure sensor in the manifold somewhere, it just unscrews, I would take that out to be safe, other that that, dishwash away, have you got room for another?

The plastic moulding has no sensor in it and I found that just cleaning out with Jizer was more than enough.
The sensor is in the top intercooler hose, both this and the elbow could probably do with a clean (replace if soft or damaged) but I have found that the S-shaped pipe doesn't suffer anything like as much.

cheers for the replies

mrs gary is here but we have ordered a new dishwasher and im plumbing the old one in the garage for the odd car part.
its not using the dishwasher that would annoy her, its taking the car apart hehe

Well, well, well - 2 dishwashers eh! I'm jealous.

Are you plumbing in a header tank and a catch tank so that it can run on hot de-greaser or do you only intend using mains water and Finish tabs?

Keep us posted.

no just normal pipe work and dishwasher tablets, so yeh will be putting all the oil infested pipes and manifold in there and will order a new crankcase breather which will help, not sure wether to go for the bmw part though

Use dishwasher liquid, not tabs.

I don't know whether it's psychological or not but I get the impression that the BMW vortex/cyclone thingy lets the turbo spool up a little quicker.

As the engine ages it may well be inclined to foul up the old style filter.

I also read on another thread that someone found that the inside of the turbo pipes and inlet manifold stayed cleaner. I can't vouch for that personally though, and I can't be bothered taking a pipe off just to have a look.

The BMW bit also gives me peace of mind, when I hear of the horrors of oil coming out the dip-stick.

As long as the original filter is replaced anually then there shouldn't be any difference and you still need to check the one-way valve so I personally am sticking with the fabric type. The problems all stem from the filter never being replaced as it was not on the servicing schedule but you can easily see the difference between the original one and one that has only been in place for only 12-months.
When I took over servicing my wife's 2006 TD4 from the main dealer I found the crankcase filter oil soaked and the housing wasn't much better, this had resulted in oil seeping out of the intercooler pipes and when removed these were found to be heavily contaminated (well the would be wouldn't they?). I cleaned out the housing, replaced the filter and also cleaned out the inlet manifold & pipes and now at the annual service the filter is still contaminated but nothing like the original and the engine & pipework have remained clean.

Litch said:

The plastic moulding has no sensor in it and I found that just cleaning out with Jizer was more than enough.
The sensor is in the top intercooler hose, both this and the elbow could probably do with a clean (replace if soft or damaged) but I have found that the S-shaped pipe doesn't suffer anything like as much.

Click to expand...

The plastic manifold that gets full of gunk defo has a sensor in it, As I took mine out, maybe its somewhere else on later TD4`s?

Its a boost pressure sensor, causes running probs if it gets blocked up, Mine was quite clogged when I took it off, gave that a clean also carefully.

Taken from rave

"A boost pressure sensor is located in the right hand end of the inlet manifold. The sensor is secured to the manifold
with a bolt and sealed with an 'O' ring. On the left hand end of the manifold, four threaded holes provide for the
attachment of the EGR valve. The valve is sealed to the manifold with an 'O' ring."

We seem to be going round in circles here - sensor or no sensor???

The later TD4s have a 3 turbo hose set up.

I believe that the short black plastic pipe part (between 1st hose from the intercooler and the little short straight hose) has a sensor attached.

I believe that is the boost pressure sensor.

So I think the early 2 turbo hose TD4 manifolds had a sensor and the later ones with 3 turbo pipes did not.

I may be wrong and the above may be rubbish! If so what is the sensor on the plastic turbo pipe?

Its probably the same sensor but on later ones its in a different place? My 2001 defo has a sensor in the manifold.

When I bought a new intercooler hose from Guy Salmon L/R it also came with a new sensor, genuine L/R hose on the later model is not supplied without the sensor, cost over £30 though.

On later models the sensor is in the hose but when replacing the hose you can just remove the sensor from the old hose, cut the new hose and fit it in as before. As long as the sensor is working correctly it means you replace the pipe for £12 instead of £35.

Erm.....


There are people in this discussion that are talking about 2 different things surely?





Some people are talking about the Air Intake Manifold, the big hollow plastic thing that sits across the top, front of the engine and slots into the airbox. This gets slightly moist with oil, but should never be gunked up. It doesnt contain a sensor in it, but as stated, the later ones have a sensor on an intercooler hose that goes to it. The Boost Pressure Sensor.


Other people seem to be talking about the Inlet Manifold, the big heavy plastic thing that bolts onto your head, which does indeed contain a MAP sensor and which does Get full of gunk.




Else im just confused

The plot thickens, I've got both sensors on my 2004 model TD4, I think the one at the end of the inlet plenum is the MAP sensor, aren't sure about the one between the two hoses but I think it is the IAT sensor.

my 2006 freelander had one in the hose on the left (hose was 3 piece) from intercooler, and it also had one on the plastic manifold just after the egr valve.

The sensor mounted between the 2 hoses is actually an NTC thermistor, I had one in an old hose assembly in the shed, held it over a flame & resistance went down from about .7 K to .4 Kohm. What it is actually for I can't find out, it isn't mentioned in Haynes (no surprise there though !) or in Rave, it isn't shown on any of the circuit diagrams either. I would imagine it limits fuel if the intercooler outlet temp gets too high.

I just thought I'd add this. After about 03 the air sensor seems to be in the air intake between the air cooler and egr.Mine is 03 and has the sensor fitted but no connection any where. What is it for?.I can only presume that the hose had blown and who ever replaced it has fitted a later pipe with the sensor.This costs alot more than normal pipe so it could be garage making a few bob or just ordered wrong part.As far as Iv'e heard the turbo boost pressure sensor is located in the left hand side of the inlet manifold.
I hav'nt looked for it so if anyone can put me straight on that one I'd be happy to know

Neilc