Smokin

I have a quick question... I was just going through the DIY section and saw a DIY project that I need to do soon. I know that overfilled my oil the first time I changed my oil. I have a feeling that I have a little junk in the intake system.

dfinnegan wrote up a great DIY about cleaning the intake system. In one of the pictures there is a black container that holds vacuum. You can see it here (circled)...



My question is... What happens to this container when you switch to a K&N air filter? I don't remember seeing this anywhere in my engine compartment.

Thanks!

dfinnegan

Rick,

I think I've read here that folks have just zip-tied the vacuum canister somewhere handy. I'm pretty sure it stays.

Glad you found the diy useful.

Cheers,
Dave

DWS964

The small canister is listed as a vacuum resevoir; but I am still not sure which component in the engine it serves. Does anyone know the function? My car came with a K&N cone filter installed, but the canister is not installed and the vacuum line is just plugged. I have the canister still attached to the air box - just haven't tried hooking it back up, yet. The car runs fine - why fix it if it isn't broke?

JasonAndreas

The vacuum canister is plumbed directly into the resonance flap so if your canister was removed for a MAF installation then you might not be achieving full power above 5500rpm. I would also like to say that it might help the vacuum assisted brakes operate with the ignition turned off but there is a check-valve sitting between it and the intake manifold.

Do you still have the thin vacuum hose or was the t-connection removed or plugged?

hawk911

Oh yeah; those t-fittings are a pain, and very fragile. But, you can get them at any local true-value or Ace hardware store.

Smokin

Jason... I'm not sure about the vacuum lines OR the canister. I am taking the intake apart tomorrow for a thorough cleaning and will know more then. If the canister is NOT on there... Can't I buy or make one and put it somewhere in the engine bay so that the resonance flap will be guaranteed to have full functionality? I know that they sell vacuum canisters for old VWs... I could use something like that.

Thoughts?

I'll post what I find tomorrow... I have A L L day...

Smokin

Here's a few shots of the engine bay after removing the air filter (right side) and fan (left side)... I've looked for some sort of canister to hold vacuum but don't see one. I do see where it looks like a "T" was capped off on the vacuum line. Is this what should have gone to the canister? I've included shots from different angles. The "T: is circled in red.

Left side


Center



Right side



The AFM was pretty clean when I took it off. In fact the whole engine is pretty clean... Except for a little sneaky leak somewhere on the bottom.

Smokin

Well... After taking off the right side I found a few things...

My intake valves are clean...



BUT... Not the throttle body... The bottom part had oil coming out. Is this a sure sign of it having been overfilled? Do I need to take this all the way off or can I clean it in place?



The top part looks to be a little grimy too...

dfinnegan

Rick,

The vacuum line shows up in post #8 and the canister in post #9 in the Intake Cleaning thread.

It's not very clear, but it does appear that your capped "T" is where my vacuum line taps in.

Cheers,
Dave

dfinnegan

I cleaned mine inplace, but I think if I do it again I'll pull the whole unit in order to do a better job. So, it's your choice.

Smokin

Dave... I started to clean the intake runners with carb cleaner but then decided just to get a bucket of hot water and scrub them out with a bottle brush that I use when making champagne (sparkling wine to purists)... The right side cleaned up very well. I'm in the process of taking off the left side now.

dfinnegan

All the best. It's a diry job, but it should be worth it in the end.

Smokin

Everything is off and clean! Now to put it all back together. Two of the parts were a bear to get to... The fastener that holds the oil breather lines to the back of the intake and the breather tube that comes off the back of the intake. Both on the left side. Hopefully they will go back together a little easier... <yeah... right!>

dfinnegan

Yeah, that's right about where I stopped and did some final cleaning in place. :-)

Smokin

Well... Everything is back together. This is where I will err on the side of caution. I think I'll take out a quart or so of oil out. The last time I checked my oil level it was between the high and low mark... At almost exactly the half way mark. I'm not sure if the oil that was in the throttle body was left over from when I overfilled the oil last year or not. Certainly it won't hurt it to run it a quart low for a nice 30 minute drive to get it all warmed up to check again.