[V6-12v] Resetting Valve Timing, etc.

[Tom Christiansen]

James,

>By the way, I can't recall whether it was you who suggested it, but I 
>renewed all the vaccum connectors on the intake manifold and it's near as 
>dammit cured that hesitation. While I was doing it, I noticed that that 
>the big moulded black plastic part that goes between the big intake hose 
>and the throttle body is loose on one side!

Excellent.

>I went into my local Audi dealership to see if they could at least get a 
>replacement rubber seal for inside there (and to get a sneaky look at the 
>ETKA diagram to see if I'd missed anything). Guess what? That whole 
>plastic part was discontinued and the replacement part has... guess 
>what... bolts instead of locating pins! I'm going to try and replace the 
>pins with some bolts of my own of an appropriate size when I do the seal, 
>but do you know how you get the pins out?

I noticed when I had the throttle body apart on mine that this plastic 
connection seemed a bit on the flimsy side. I'm not surprised that it leaks 
when the seal hardens. I bet the pins are pressed into the throttle body. 
Typically, those dowel pins are hardened steel so you can't drill them out 
(unless you have access to carbide drills). I forget if the holes the pins 
are pressed into are drilled all the way through the wall/flange of the 
throttle body. In that case you may be able to press the pin out and tap 
the hole.

Tom