I received my new spyder pipe from ECS Tuning last night and want to tackle this job Saturday morning. I have searched but have come up empty trying to find a step by step DIY post for this job (02 A6 2.7t tip). Anyone know of one? If so, thanks in advance. If not, guess I'll get out the camera and make a contribution to the cause.

Thanks,

Bob

 

There is not much of a guide for this - just follow the shape and design of the pipe and take the old one off. Get familiarity with the locking ends of the pipe.
Photos are hard to produce as the action takes place close to the firewall.
Mine was changed with valve covers off - much easier,
The old pipe was rendered unusable as it gets very brittle and the locks were broken during the disassemble.
Pipe is dealers item only!!! Make sure it is climate specific for your region.
The major reason for failures happens to be the move of cars between regions with different climate conditions.
Vast Performance sells an oil cup with pressure relief valve - would worth to try.
Good luck.

 

Just did this on my car. Only after returning three different hose assemblies. I have an 01 6spd. Different hose then you, (I think). Long story. I have a thread on here somewhere about it.

Kinda a PITA job. For my application anyway.
I had to remove the Y-pipe and the MAF housing to get complete access to the back of the manifold. Also, you may want to remove the valve cover "plastic" covers as well. Not the valve covers, themselves. You know what I mean.

The clips can be a little tricky. Just pinch the two sides of the clasp, then gently pry out the nipple using a thin flat head screwdriver.

Should be just plug-and-play.

Good Luck!

 

SO I did this job yesterday and what a PITA!!!! Not that this was hard, but two of the six pinch clips could not be reached to Pinch them to free them up! I destroyed one of them and I have no idea how the other one came loose. I had the first five undone, but the large one at the bottom rear of the intake manifold could not be reached. I wound up taking the air pump off to get access to the clamp, only to find, when I removed the pump, that the hose had come off all on its own!!!! SO, I cannot tell you how to undo that clamp!

Now, to replace the other leaking valve cover gasket as the oil smell has not gone away!

Bob

 

Thanks

 

Yeh, yeh, yeh.

I started to, but when I got to those nipples on the back of the engine, I forgot to take pictures. Besides, I don't know how I got the bottom one off, so how could I show it in a picture?

If you need some hints, I can write up what I did and maybe that would help.

Bob

 

That would be great, Bob. Thanks.

 

I feel your pain, fortunately for me the clips came off w/o any hassle. I had trouble gaining access to the back of the intake as well.

 

OK. To the best of my memory, here is what I did:

Park car in garage and turn on heat. Very important in February in Michigan!

Open Hood.

Remove three engine covers and the power steering resevoir cover. Set aside.

Remove two screws holding air intake snorkel in place. Remove air intake snorkel.

Remove 4 wire connectors and two hose clips from top of air box. Undo two clips holding air box top to MAF, Undo four clips holding top of air box to bottom and remove top of air box.

Remove wire connector to MAF. Use big pliers to remove the clamp holding the MAF to the intake y-pipe. Remove MAF.

Use vice grips to clamp off rearmost hose coming out of the radiator overflow bottle. Use pliers to remove clamp on that hose then remove the hose. Watch coolant spew everywhere because you didn't let the engine cool down enough!

Remove one phillips head screw holding coolant resevoir in place. Rotate the front of the coolant resevoir up then pull back to release the resevoir from the rear clips. Remove the wiring connector from the bottom of the tank. Set aside.

Remove both valve cover covers. Set aside.

Using a 10 mm socket, remove the five bolts, three on top and one on either side, holding the y-pipe to the engine. Loosen the two y-pipe to recirculation valves on the front of the y-pipe. Pull the valves loose. Unclip the spyder pipe to y-pipe connector by crimping the clip with your fingers or a pair of pliers and pulling. This one is fairly easy to undo. Remove the y-pipe and set aside. Stuff a rag in each turbo inlet pipe.

At this point, you can see the spyder pipe. Compare it to yours and make sure you have the right part. On mine, the big round thing that is just off the intake manifold was somewhat different, but I didn't worry about that as I had an Audi part. I figured that had updated the design somewhere along the line. In any case, if you are in doubt, stop here, back out and make sure you have the right part before proceeding.

There is a vacuum hose that runs from the air pump at the rear of the engine to valves on either side of the engine at the rear. At the valve end are some thermal covers. Undo the covers (they are snaps). Remove this pipe from all three connections. It will still be connected to the air pump. You can remove this from the air pump and set aside.

Looking down the side of the air pump, you will see a wiring harness and a wiring connector. Undo the connector to give the harness enough play so you can get to the 10 mm nut holding the air pump side. Loosen, but do not remove this nut. Remove the two allen bolts holding the top of the air pump to the intake manifold and the electrical connector and remove the pump.

There is a hard plastic pipe the runs from the firewall to the back of the intake manifold. Unclip this from the manifold and place out of the way.

Now you have access to all the spyder pipe connectors. You have already undone the one from the y-pipe. Undo one on either side of the intake manifold using the clips. There is a small pipe that uses a crimp connector that you have to pry the crimp connector off. Then, there are the two at the rear of the engine. You can access the top one that goes into the intake manifold by standing on the passenger side of the car. I took a screwdriver and broke the clip to get the connection loose. I moved over to the driver's side of the car and, working in the space where the air pump was, I got to the lower one. It came loose all on its own somehow, but breaking it is probably the most reasonable way of getting it loose. Remove the old pipe. There is a stiff plastic pipe on the driver's side of the engine that the spyder pipe is intertwined with. Watch how it is intertwined as you remove the old spyder pipe then immediately intertwine your new pipe.

Connect the large connector to the back of the engine making sure you hear it click into place. Pull on the hose to make sure it is firmly in place.

Connect the small connector to the back of the intake manifold making sure you hear it click into place. Pull test it.

Reinstall the air pump, electrical connector and the air pump hose. Make sure you hear all connectors click into place. Pull test all connectors. Re-snap the heat thermal covers.

Reconnect the electrical connection you undid down by the air pump nut.

Reconnect the vacuum pipe leading from the firewall to the rear of the intake manifold making sure you hear it click into place. Pull test it.

Reconnect the spyder pipe to the pipes on either side of the engine. Pull test.

Reconnect the small pipe and use a hose clamp to attach.

Reinstall y-pipe. Be sure to remove those rags! Clip the remaining spyder pipe connector to the y-pipe before bolting down.

Reinstall valve cover covers.

Reinstall coolant tank and hose and wiring connector on bottom.

Reinstall MAF, Air box top and snorkel. Reinstall engine covers. Start engine and make sure you don't get a CEL. Close hood. Drink beer!

I think this covers everything. I may have missed a small item or two but, if you can do the above, the small item or two won't be an issue.

If anyone does this, take pictures so we can turn this into a proper DIY post!

Thanks,

Bob