Reviews of OEM Audi intake manifold

I went through this as well. I bought a used 2016 Q3 with 80,000 miles on it. Ran great for a couple months then I started getting an intermittent engine light. Had it checked by a dealer and was told it was the intake manifold, not just the gasket. The repair was $3500, no turbo issues, so I bit the bullet. It’s my wife’s daily driver now, runs as good as it should.

My 2012 A3 SLine just hit 120k miles. Only issue I've had with it are ongoing intake manifold runner control errors. I replaced the intake manifold 1-1/2 years ago and walnut blasted the intake valves.

On my 2007 A8L, I had a bad vacuum leak. Smoke test showed leaking all over the intake manifold where all the plastic stuff mates to the zinc casting. Cost for a new manifold? $3700.

Carbon build up is definitely still an issue on diesel engines. In the case of the 3.0tdi being discussed here replacing the intake manifold is essentially the fix depending on how severe it is and that will run about 1k between parts and labor. Here's just the intake snout and swirl flaps from one with moderate carbon build up. These can obviously both be cleaned, but the manifold is extremely difficult to get fully clean and replacing it is for sure the easier method.

There are a few almost guarantees. 1) intake manifold change over flaps. they will disintegrate. Only fix at the moment is new manifold for 1800.