Valve Cover Gasket 2003 VR6 AXK 24V Replace

[Jonwid]

This project is third in line for take off after I finish the 01P trans valve body and then renew the engine/trans mounts.

There's a bit of oil in a couple of the spark coil wells. Not drowning, mind you. But it does need addressing. I have a Victor Reinz VC gasket set waiting.

Xtremjeepin has me inspired in his "Eurovan Building" thread, what with his 1 hour front end tear downs.

Anyone want to outline for me the basic process for getting the VC off (so to speak)? Is there that much tear down involved? Do I need to scootch the trans aside or anything that drastic?

As I go along, I'll take pics and share on this one.

[jjvincent]

Take the front end off (bumper, cover, bumper, radiator). It's much easier to do it that way. After you've taken the front off once, you'll be able to do it in 30 minutes the next time around. On top of that, you'll have great access to the alternator and the wire that runs to it.

You need to remember, that the intake manifold is held on by the VW traditional M8 allen head bolts. Last thing you want to do is strip one of those out.

In a nutshell:
1. Remove front end
2. Remove intake manifold
3. Remove valve cover

I come from the mindset of taking things off to just make my life easier. It's like removing the transmission from an EV. Why you'd try to do it with the front end on and not removing the engine and transmission as a unit, is beyond me. You can work at a leisurely pace and not be cursing up a storm.

[markcm2]

While searching parts for a suspected leaking valve cover gasket on my 01 AXK, I see there are "upper"(022133227B/022133227D) and "lower" (022133227A) intake manifold gaskets.

Will I need to replace both of these when removing the intake to access the valve cover gasket (022103483E)?

[jjvincent]

I reuse the gasket. It's graphite coated and normally falls right off the engine.

[VanGeek]

Just started the process of swapping out the spark plugs for new ones in my 01 weekender. plugs in cylinders 3 and 4 have considerable oil in the tubes. Not fully drowned, but enough that the tip of my socket was very wet.

Looks like my spark plug replacement just turned into a valve cover gasket replacement. Looks like the best way is to pull the front end completely. I've removed portions of the Eurovan front-end and seen photos of a full front end disassembled.

However, is there a good reference or video of with tips for disassembly and recommendations for doing it in a way that minimizes disconnect and reconnect or various hoses etc? I searched here but didn't see one.

[kourt]

Earlier in this thread the two intake manifold gaskets are mentioned. There is one that seals the two halves of the intake manifold, and another that seals the whole manifold to the six air intake holes for the cylinders.

I noticed last week when I was doing some exploratory work (preparing to replace my fuel injectors) that my intake, when split in half, showed some small pooling of oil within it. So your issue of oil in the spark plug holes may be from either of the two intake manifold gaskets.

I had to get the larger of the intake manifold gaskets--the one that seals the two halves--from Lativa via eBay.

kourt

[VanGeek]

Thanks Kourt. Always appreciate your helpful ideas!

In your situation, the intake was filling with oil and dripping into the spark plug tubes?

If yes, I don't see an easy way to inspect the intake manifold to assess if it is filling with oil unless I remove it. Am I missing something?

[kourt]

I would say that the tablespoon of oil in the intake was moving around enough to get to the 24 year old gasket for the intake manifold halves, and oil was seeping through the front part of the intake seam (where the alternator is). I didn't see oil in my spark plug tubes, but I saw the potential for it.

kourt

[VanGeek]

Getting started. Wasn't too bad getting everything off. Took about two hours and some of that time was scratching my head to figure things out. The order I went for removal was:

Lower power train shield
Upper grill
Side marker lights
Lower grill
Headlights
Bumper cover
External trans cooler and power steering hard lines
AC condenser
Radiator
Bumper

Took considerable time to assess which connectors and hoses should be disconnected to get the radiator out but in the end wasn't that hard to sort thru.

Already found considerable oil inside the intake and some in the vacuum connection and will soon hopefully know where that came from

[VanGeek]

Got the intake off. Wasn't too bad except for an extremely stubborn allen bolt securing the air pump bracket that blocks two of the intake allen bolts. Bolt head was in fine shape, but the threads had apparently rusted inside the bracket and mounting threads. Had to destroy the head with a bolt extractor and fortunately didn't lose nor break the bolt.

Now that the intake is off, it's not entirely clear where the oil leaks originate. Could very likely be the valve gasket seals for the spark tubes. The intake itself also had oil in it so there is oil:

In the tubes -- mostly the four innermost ones.
On top of the valve cover
Inside the intake -- perhaps a more than Kourt experienced. I probably had 2-3 tablespoons of oil in mine.

While everything was opened up, got a good look at the fuel lines and they look a bit torn-up. There is evidence that the PO had rodents underhood and I found some "relocated" underhood insulation and acorn shells all piled-up between the intake and the firewall. They didn't damage any wiring, but now wondering if they were chewing on the lines?

Will replace the intake gasket and valve cover gasket. What are your thoughts about the fuel lines? Any other recommendations or feedback based on the pics below???

Top of valve cover with small puddle of oil and oil in inner spark plug tubes

Driver-side of intake where throttle body is mounted. See oil puddle.

Close-up of flexible fuel lines. They are holding up ok but appear to have some damage

[kourt]

I'm pretty sure at least some of the oil inside my intake was from the PCV connection, where crankcase air with aerosolized oil is being sucked into the intake.

I was really intrigued by how well developed the Eurovan air intake is. The air travels quite a way, and makes quite a few 180 degree turns. I think this is designed to provide the most controlled flow of air, moderate its temperature, and clear it of aerosolized oil.

My intake had about the same amount of oil, now that I remember--about two tablespoons. It was just sitting left of center near the spark plug galleries. I would assume this is the source of your oil in the spark plug holes.

I am glad you are paving the way and documenting this. In my exploratory disassembly last week, my biggest issue was locating the allen head bolts that hold the intake on at the rear of the engine, above the exhaust manifold. Despite having done this in a junkyard last month, I don't remember which bolts are where. I'll figure it out.

Looking forward to more of your posts.

kourt

[VanGeek]

I hope that I didn't do all this work for nothing!
Still probably a good idea to swap the gaskets cause they're gonna go bad if they haven't already. Also a good opportunity to inspect and clean things up. I think that I'll also swap out some additional cooling tees for metal ones since they're presently a lot easier to access.

Here's a pic of the rear and bottom of the intake (the side facing the firewall). If I recall correctly, these are the three not-so-obvious mounting points. The side bolt towards the throttle body mounting point (driver's side) was tricky to see, find, and access. Appreciate jjvincent's recommendation to just pull off the front to do all this work. I can't imagine trying to wiggle and worm myself and tools in the tight spaces -- even with the radiator in service position. Also easier on the back since you can sit on a roller while doing a lot of the work.

[kourt]

Thanks--that's very helpful. Did you have to remove the exhaust heat shield first, in order to get to that middle bolt circled in red?

Update: never mind, I can see the heat shield still in place in one of your helpful photos.

kourt

[VanGeek]

Wondering how common it is to get oil in the intake on our VR6 Eurovans. If yes, also wondering if it's possible to build an oil catch-can solution to catch and trap the atomized oil and keep it from leaking onto the plugs and going back into the intake runners.

Thoughts on this?

[aclutter]

Hi All,

New to the forum and Eurovan ownership. I'm about to do this job myself, but I read about the intake oil being related to a clogged vacuum line tee on a separate forum.

See post #27 in this link:
https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/hesitation-after-startup-02-eurovan.6992023/

Hope this helps.

[kourt]

That thread on vwvortex is painful to read. A lot of people talking about secondary air injection (SAI) problems who don't understand that the system exists or how the system works. There was finally an explanation of the system at the end of the thread.

kourt

[VanGeek]

[paddygarcia]

Correct - the red area is vacuum supply for the servos that move the internal manifold flaps.

[kourt]

That driver side upper intake manifold bolt--one of the three you have circled--had a stripped head, and was galled to the aluminum manifold due to heat blast from a missing freeze plug. I had fun using a mirror, a headlamp and a Dremel to cut the head off! Halfway through this job now.

See my post on the 02 Eurovan - SAI Issue thread for full photos.

kourt

[VanGeek]

Been busy lately and haven't had time in the garage this past 7-10 days, but finally did some wrenching this morning. Removed valve cover, cleaned up mating surfaces, and installed new gasket. Torqued valve cover bolts to 10nm and all looks good.

Now I've got to reinstall the intake assembly and all the "plumbing." I ordered a new intake manifold gasket that is used to join and seal the halves of the intake manifold because it MIGHT be leaking -- saw oil and crud on both sides of the gasket when separating the halves and the intake itself had a few tablespoons of oil in it. These gaskets are difficult to find. I finally sourced one from an ebay vendor in Latvia. ...after three weeks learned that he didn't actually have it in stock, sent the wrong part, and fortunately refunded my payment. But now I'm without a gasket.

Someone please tell me why it's a bad idea to make my own gasket to join the intake halves using traditional intake gasket rtv from a tube. Is there a downside to following this approach vs obtaining the original metal gasket???


Here are some pics:

Valve cover removed. Vanna doesn't have a ton of miles (90K) but this looked better than I expected...

Valve cover cleaned-up with new gasket in-place and ready for install

Lower half of intake manifold. You can see the shiny mating surfaces for the OEM metal gasket. Wondering if I can use RTV gasket maker here instead: