I'm in the middle of changing my coolant flange (again) and I found a cracked plastic something... I can't take a pic of it due to it's location, so I will describe it. Coming off the pancake valve on the turbo inlet tube is a metal pipe that goes around to the back of the engine, over the top of the coolant flange, around the back of the head and down to a plastic tube (the broken piece), which is bent 90 degrees and connected to something else. Not sure what, because it would require me tearing out the intake mani, which I don't feel like doing at this time.

What is it, and how important is it to fix immediately? It doesn't appear to have leaked anything, but it is dirty (like oily dirty).

TIA!

 

I suspected it to be the crank case breather hose, and after some looking around, I think that's it.
Home Page > ES#5940 Crankcase Breather Hose/Tube - 058103213

I saw in another thread something about it possibly causing a boost leak? Doesn't seem quite right though. Can anyone shed some more light on this for me?

 

sounds like you crankcase breather tube. on 2000+, there is another tube running parallel to that tube along the head on the exhuast side for the secondary air injection. since you have an aeb engine, you do not have sai. with that said, you crankcase breather tube is broke. if there is oil all over it, it is broke somewhere. not a huge deal, but it will get your engine bay messy and will allow unfiltered air into your engine in some cases. but no, it wont cause a boost leak. that pipe sees no boost, only blow by from the rings. the tube that runs to the pancake valve allows the blow by gasses back into the intake tract to recirculate it. the pancake valve is simply a check valve which will not allow air in the reverse direction.

 

^That's pretty much what I gathered. I suppose at some point I should get around to fixing that. Upon closer inspection, I could see that it was actually cracked in two places. I'm just really not looking forward to tearing out the whole intake mani to fix it. But, while I'm in there, I guess I could clean up and fix up a few things as well...

 

^What he said. Aside from getting oil everywhere and being a tad stinky, that shouldn't cause you any major issues. And it certainly wouldn't be a source of a boost leak. That vent is for positive crankcase pressure (a byproduct of combustion) and doesn't see any boost pressure.

 

it honestly isnt that big of a deal. just start taking bolts out. even if your terrible with fixings things, it should only take half a day. i havent looked lately but i believe silicone hose upgrades for the longitudinal 1.8's are available now, which would be a huge improvement over the plastic ****. and a nice silicone kit doesnt cost all that much more when comparing prices to the dealership's

 

I'm pretty decent at fixing things: done my own TB, CA's and TRE's, coolant flange (twice), both front half shafts, brakes all around, both rear calipers, installed a new intake mani gasket, 2.5 in cat back (Chris, take note, not that hard), 3 in TP, and turbo inlet, and fixed the central locking module. Replaced the ECU and reprogrammed it with VAG-COM. Thanks to Audi Forums, my car has yet to see the inside of a dealership or mechanic shop since I've owned it (3 and a half years now). It all started with a misfire due to a bad coil pack... that's what led me here.

A few more years, and I'll catch up with all the things Jeremy has done to keep his B5 on the road... Thanks for the heads up about the silicone replacement... I'll have to look into that.

 

my car will never see a mechanic besides me again. i broke down when my clutch went because i had lots of money and the diesel shop down the road didnt have an open car lift. after that, no more for me. fixing stuff isnt really that difficult, its just gotta get done. and a heads up on taking out the crankcase breather tube. the plastic part of the pipe that seats into the crankcase breather will crack and youll have to dig some pieces out of there.

 

Pretty sure it can be done just fine by moving the coolant tank out of the way. The manifold shouldn't need to come off.