Intake Flap Question

A6 All/ S6 All
#1

Hi there,

First time poster. Thank you all for the great information. I recently got done with pulling my intake manifold to do a carbon clean on my S6 V10, and noticed pieces of the intake Flaps stuck in the intake ports like many other posters have noted. I decided to remove the intake flaps and re-assemble for now, as new intake prices seem to be going to the moon recently.

Since putting everything back together, my car seems to stumble at almost exactly 2500rpm. After 2500rpm, the car seems to be down on power until around 4500rpm, and then runs great. Now I did expect to lose some power in the midrange from the intake flap delete, but hadnt heard any other stories on the engine stumbling/misfiring in this range. I dont currently have VAG-COM, but have other Audi specific software that isn’t showing any codes for the issue.

Now my question is related to the other flaps in the intake that control the airflow directly to the port (forgive me for not knowing the name). The flaps that are still controlled by the two motors. These seem to be activated at around 2500rpm, which match the rpm where I am having my issues.

If these flaps weren’t working correctly or were getting stuck, would I expect to have error codes thrown? Is there the possibility that these arms/motors could have been installed in the wrong position?

Thank you for any replies received, and look forward to updating on the status of my project in the future.

#2

Hello and welcome to the group, any pics of the car?

I had a recent failure of the bank 1 actuator sensor. The car threw codes for the issue. Are you seeing any rough idle, especially after the cars been warmed up?

I would suggest running an adaptation using VCDS for the intake, to home and recalibrate the actuators. I struggled to remove the intake the first time, stupidly lifting up on the runner arms.

If that does not help, I would try an adaptation of the throttle bodies, since you took off the air distribution plenum.

Let us know what you find!

#3

Hi I just posted this on another thread. But I had the same issue and I hated the car. Searched for weeks and found a new pierburg manifold from carpartsonline.co.uk… looks like a generic website and I was skeptical too but I got it for 1400 and sold the old one on ebay for 400. Totally worth it for the grand. Fell back in love with the car

#4

Thank you both for your replies!

Revolv0: not many pictures yet, I am trying to work through the mechanical issues first (there have been plenty) and then get to changing the front grille and a detail of the car. Will update then! Thank you for your input. When you say you lifted up on the runner arms, and those the thin metal arms that connect the actuators to the motor on the intake manifold? I’m sure I did that as well. I will take a look at what capabilities my current software has in this regard, but I expect that I will have to purchase VCDS in the future.

Cpj: thank you very much for sending this over! This will be a huge help when I get around to ordering a new intake manifold. I live in Canada, so even the JHM intake would run me close to $5000 CAD. I plan on driving my car a few thousand kms to make sure there are no issues with burning oil before I take the plunge, but this price is much more manageable.

#5

@spencerprince

The intake flap removal really kills the power. The stumble is something some feal more than others. If you don’t or haven’t already. Grab the vag com tool. It’s going to be incredible helpful if you work on your own car.

The power flap is the plastic flap you removed. The tumble flaps are the ones that the motor is still connected to and you can see are the closest to the cylinder heads.

The stumble can also be from injectors so get the vag tool and check your LTFT data that will help more. Also it’s common to break or damage the PVC lines on the intake removal so check that to make sure you don’t have a leak.

The power loss sucks but you can really get a ton more power back after you have done all of your maintenance with the JHM ECU and TCU tune. It will take you back and WAY past the power the car was making with the intake working. It’s also great to support one of the companies that is still supporting our platform. If you didn’t already. Look into the JHM intake spacers. They are a huge help in both the performance and long term carbon fight.

#6

Thank you for your reply! I do agree that the car feels down on power, and I think I will be going the new intake manifold route once a few other things are sorted on the car. I should be able to check the LTFT with my current tool, but may need the VAG-COM soon to bleed the ABS system.

On a different note, have there been any cases of transmissions shifting weird after the intake flap delete? All of my issues seem to happen at 2500rpm. The car doesn’t want to rev past this RPM and seems to short shift. If I change gears myself everything is fine, and if I give it a bit of gas, it downshifts and drives fine above 2500 rpm as well.

Injectors are definitely something I think my issue may be. I currently have a bottle of Audi fuel cleaner in the tank to see if there may be a carbon issue on injectors themselves. As for the PCV, I did smoke test the system and didnt find any leaks, although I am slightly skeptical and might change the PCV hoses anyways.

Once the car is in working order, the ECU tune will be a top priority! And probably the spacers too since it seems to be universally recommended.

Even with the car not running properly, I am already in love with this car. There is just something about having a V10 in an unsuspecting sedan. The ride is much better than I expected from the early reviews of the car, and the interior feels about 5 years newer than it is.

Spencer