Mr. Timewise

I was able to get the left combi valve off.

The left combi valve is attached with two 10 mm hex head bolts to the adapter pipe that leads to the back of the left cylinder head. This differs from the right combi valve which was held in place to its adapter pipe using two allen head socket bolts.

To unscrew the two socket head bolts securing the right side combi valve, a very short arm allen hex key (5 mm) was needed. And because the spacing below the combi valve is so limited, the insertion end for the allen head bolt also had to be shortened (cut off) a little so I could slip it into the allen head bolt. Once the bolts were loose, I could unscrew them the rest of the way working blindly by feel alone with just my fingers. (The allroad has 115K miles and is "average" in the amount of dirt you'd expect to find at the back of the engine.)

For the left side combi valve I used a "10mm box end x 9mm open end" ignition wrench that came in a kit from Sears. (10 piece Metric Combination "Ignition Wrench Set", Item #00942339000; Model #42339.) Even though the ignition wrenches are short, the spacing around the combi valve still did not allow movement of the wrench. So I had to heat the center of the wrench to red hot with a propane torch and bend it about 90 degrees. The bend is about 65% towards the open end (9mm) side. Then I tied a string around my wrist and around the wrench shaft. This was so that were I to drop the small wrench at the back of the engine it would not drop out of sight forever. I did have to work by feel alone.

Loosening the bolts wasn't too bad, but unscrewing them all the way was a real time consuming task. Each bolt has a captured freely spinning washer that prevented an easy grip as I reached with my fingers to turn the bolt head. For the left side combi valve, the bolt nearest the center of the car actually would not extract all the way from its flange. This is because the exhaust pipe heat shield prevented the bolt from moving all the way out. That was OK because I could not then lose the bolt!

The real problem now will be starting the bolt threads while installing the new combi valve (and a new gasket...the old one fell behind the engine into never-never-land).

Here's a photo of my custom made Secondary Air Injection Kombi Valve removal wrench for the left side of the 2.7T engine:

<a href="http://s839.photobucket.com/albums/zz320/MrTimewise/SAI%20Kombi%20Valve%20wrench/?action=view&current=DSCN0009.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz320/MrTimewise/SAI%20Kombi%20Valve%20wrench/DSCN0009.jpg" border="0" alt="Kombi Valve Hex Head Bolt removal wrench"></a>

TGK

I gave up a month ago! Got all the plumbing off...bought some long allen wrenches and could not get the friggin bolts off. I think these cars were made by the devil

Mr. Timewise

The SAI system is back together now and everything is functioning.

As I expected, re-installing the two bolts for the left side kombi valve was a real PITA. I spent nearly 2 hours trying to get the leftmost bolt (closest to left side of car) threaded just a partial turn so it would not fall out when I moved my fingers for the next partial turn. I tried everything...gluing the bolt into a 10 mm socket, gluing the bolt to my finger tip using construction adhesive, using a universal joint 10 mm crows foot, putting hair around the bolt hole, etc. In the end, it was simply a matter of inserting the bolt with the threads oriented just right so that even a 16th turn was enough to catch the mating thread in the flange of the kombi valve.

To be certain the bolt did not fall out of sight, I tied a length of sewing thread around the bolt just under the hex head and attached the other end of the thread to my wrist. Were it not for this thread, the bolt would have been lost over a dozen times. Even so, the bolt did fall once because the thread broke as I lifted the fallen bolt. So I had to remove the belly pan. That was OK because I was in need of removing the belly pan to retrieve a 5 mm socket and a hose clamp that had been dropped earlier.

Oddly, the bolt for the left side kombi which was trapped by the exhaust heat shield was really easy to start. I took only a minute to get that bolt threaded. I did this bolt first.

When the difficult to thread bolt was finally started I had two beers and started laughing at the effort I had to expend to get this done right.

My bent 10 mm box end ignition wrench was used to tighten the bolts as much as I could. I had very little leverage with such a short handle wrench, plus the odd angle at which I was working made tightening the bolts very difficult.

But it is done! My CEL light is now off!

Edit 10/18/2010: My CEL light is still off! And the replacement SAIP makes a wonderful deep sounding throaty howl as it pumps air to the Kombi valves.

TGK

I laughed out loud reading this! I am planning on attempting this again, as its the only thing I can think of messing with my boost...I have a feeling the left one is stuck open(SAI insufficient flow).

prehayem

what I did was take the appropriate size Allen key, and cut/file it down to spec. Cost me $0.00 got the job done. Take a little blind faith.

twistedankles

Awesome! Great advice about thread and beer. Wish me luck.j

dart arnaez

The real problem now will be starting the bolt threads while installing the new combi valve (and a new gasket...the old one fell behind the engine into never-never-land).Cut up a piece of cardboard that covers both bolt holes. (like cutting up a gasket) I punched the bolt holes with a pencil.

Put that piece of cardboard where you will attach the combi valve.

If the bolt holes are just right, the bolts should hold in place when you screw them into the cardboard.

You can now attach your combi valve without worrying of losing your bolts.

Remember to yank out that cardboard before you tighten your bolts !!!!