bac2h

to expect before I pop the engine cover. BTW I have never taken the engine cover off so if there are any tricks to it NOW would be the time to let me know. I know I need about 15 ft of the hose after STFA. I am chasing an EVAP code and highly doubt ANY of the hosing has been changed. Surprised it lasted this long after reading all the articles. I did read the Kris Hansen article on the 2.8 and he had good pics but it's got to be different on a 4.2

As always..thanks in advance for any and all help.

Bill Bachhuber
New Hartford, CT

dave240Z

A razor blade works well for removing the old hose. You should cut a slit into the old hose so it slides off the barb. Trying to twist things will break stuff in a hurry. Take your time and replace one hose/set of hoses at a time. Just follow their route and you'll be OK. Don't rip all the hoses out at once, you'll be lost. There is a reference diagram on the underside of the hood, but it's vague as to the actual routing on the engine. For hoses, I used silicone which you can buy at multiple places. I bought mine at ECS Tuning prior to the credit card fiasco.

MP4.2+6.0

No pictures needed, just do it one piece at a time. If you want the factory look, get the 3mm black cloth covered stuff from ecstuning, blau parts or others. Or get some high quality U.S. stuff from a NAPA store off a hose reel. And no, don't go the clear aquarium air hose route from the hardware store--it will end up stiff as a stick and discolored in short order.

If you've seen my posts, the most suspect ones are under the center engine cover around the solenoid valve next to the driver's side cylinder head. The other prime candidates are back in the back to the rear of the motor that drop down to the vacuum valves that tie into the air injection. But, do them all. The front ones are a little tricky with the Y shaped couplings that split the lines and you may find if you turn the Y around as far as which hose plugs into which part of the Y, it may be easier to route. For the ones with the Y connectors up front, just be sure to do one "Y" at a time even if you pull off all three hoses connecting to it. Then you can't go wrong.

You don't have to be slavish on exact routing around and through every component and other hose or cable as long as you make the same end to end connections. Use common sense as far as heat sources, chafing, etc. Also get some black plastic tie straps to bundle things together here and there where it may make sense for aesthetics, minimizing chafing, etc.

Cover just comes off by turning the 4 screws 90 degrees. As soon as you do, they will pop up a good fraction of an inch. Dont try to unscrew them fully like a normal screw or you will break the screws or more likely what they fit into. You don't need to take off any other engine trim, though you may end up concluding it makes sense to take out the removable part of the air box, the MAF and the rubber ducts to get to the rear passenger side of the engine area. If so, buy an air filter unless yours is fresh, since you will now have it all opened up to change anyway.

bac2h

ahthankyavedymuchly!! Sounds like a good weekend project as I wait for my new VAG COM!!!