Digifant Air Intake weakness

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Briano1234
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Digifant Air Intake weakness

Post by Briano1234 »

I had a issue with the Air Intake Tube on my Green Cabby.

There was a deterioration on the rubber from the Valve Cover PCV to the intake hose.
It had developed a 1/2 inch hole near the main hose connection.

Image



I made a work around, but ordered one off of EBAY as the new hose from 1stVwparts.com
was about 300.00 with shipping.

The New Hose came in and looked great, but I noticed that the rubber felt mushy at that spot too.

To check for weakness, when the car is up to temp squeeze the area of the pvc hose to the intake hose, it will feel softer than the rest of the hose. This is a vacuum leak getting ready to spring itself on you.

When the hose is hot, squeeze it here to feel if you have a weak spot.

Image

So I applied my work around, which you may want to check yours out and do also.

Remove the Air Intake tube.

Clean the inside of the PVC hose with brake cleaner, and get all the oil out.

Image

Take a 1 and 1/2 inch piece of Radiator or Fuel hose that is no more than 3/4 OD I used standard heater hose 1/2" id, the od was 3/4".

Image

On the intake, smear a good portion of ULTRA BLACK RTV in that hose so that a little comes out of the inner throttle body.

Image

Shove that Radiator hose in from the outside so that it is butt even with the in side of Air intake and that
it is past the connection for the hose to the PVC valve. I had to use the handle end of a screwdriver to push the hose
to fully get it in the connection (warmed rubber stretches better).

Image

Let sit for 24 hours,. reattach and enjoy.
Last edited by Briano1234 on Sun Sep 26, 2010 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Briano

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bbrown
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Re: Digifant Air Intake weakness

Post by bbrown »

Briano1234 wrote: I made a work around, but ordered one off of EBAY as the new hose from 1stVwparts.com was about 300.00 with shipping.
Nice write up, but Holly Freaking Crap! That is one expensive hose. Sorry to hear about the camera, but now you can rationalize an upgrade.
~Buster

1986 VW Cabriolet 1.8 5 spd.


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kamzcab86
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Re: Digifant Air Intake weakness

Post by kamzcab86 »

bbrown wrote: Nice write up, but Holly Freaking Crap! That is one expensive hose.
Damn, no kidding! And I thought $230 for a coolant hose was bad!
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Calimus
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Re: Digifant Air Intake weakness

Post by Calimus »

Yea, those intake hoses are no joke pricey. Have to admit, that it's worse then the upper coolent hose on a 16v. Last time I bought one of those it was $190. I haven't had to replace one in 5-6 years though so I have no idea what they go for now.
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