Hi everone,
Well, this has been an interesting day. I was changing the oil and when I removed the oil cap I accidently hit the breather hose?? next to it and snapped it off (it was quite brittle). Upon futher inspection, I noticed the 90 degree piece that fits into the valve cover was not all there. Being a little OCD, I removed the crossbar and valve cover and there were pieces of plastic inside. The car has 210K and to my knowledge has never had the valve cover off. The inside of the crossbar and the intake manifold are absolutely FILTY! Big huge chunks of black crap are everywhere. I also noticed that on the otehr side, the little hole to the EGR is clogged 100% with this sooty stuff.
So, here's where I need some help. I'm going to remove the intake manifold but the angle to reach the bolts looks difficult to reach. Anyone know the type of wrench and socket I need to remove them?
Also, should I remove the EGR valve and try to clean it? OR should I just replace it? There is alot of black crud on the outside near the bottle of the EGR too.
I would be very appreciative of any advice
Thanks,
Joe

Maddoc based on what all I have read about the diesel everything inside the intake system should be cleaned. I would try to clean the EGR valve before I would try to replace it.

As far as the Jetta - check out

http://forums.tdiclub.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro

Jim
'95 E320
'97 Honda CRV

Do you really want to clean the EGR valve? The reason you have big huge chunks of black crap inside the intake duct is possibly because the EGR valve channeling the exhaust gas back to the intake. The EGR valve is controlled by an electronic module. As I learned from this forum, the big huge chunks of black crap may cause bent rods.

David