Thread: What happened to your D3/D4 today?

Originally Posted by Discodicky

....which begs the question. Has anyone had the opportunity to compare non genuine to genuine inlet manifolds to see if the non genuine ones are upgraded and similar (thicker) in all respects to the upgraded genuine ones?

Please contradict me if you so desire, but my (weird) thinking/reasoning is that whereas every man and his dog manufactures oil/fuel/air filters etc, perhaps there is only one manufacturer of plastic inlet manifolds due to comparative low sales so to speak as being only for the V6 engine. If my thinking is logical, maybe then the non genuine manifold is identical to the genuine?

There is a significant price difference and as I am about to change both mine (and replace the oil filter assy while in that area) as a preventative m/ance measure (164,000 klms) as I don't want a failure whilst caravanning on mainland later this year.

I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts on this.

As a rule:

Pattern parts are made from whichever revision was OE at the time.

If the OE then modified or improved the part it’s very rare that the pattern part gets updated.

There has been numerous iterations of the manifolds - so which one was used is the question.

Latest iteration has stronger moulding in that area.

I had one replaced at 160k km. I’m at 307k km. Let’s see if it goes again soon.

The large easy to access top turbo hose had sprung a leak and needed to be replaced so I turned it into an 8/10 difficulty job by replacing all turbo hoses with a new silicone set.

I also had the block coolant outlet sitting in my spares so decided I’d do that as well as the access is never better. This lifted it to about 9.9/10 difficulty. It’s definitely the two nightmare jobs to combine together.

Following LR Time for the turbo hose technique it’s extremely tight to get the access and movement you need. Refitting the new small hoses on the pipes was pretty difficult. Slow and steady it all went back together and the Terrafirma hose set is an excellent replacement fit. The metal pipe between the two small hoses barely moves only just enough once three incredibly difficult bolts are released to gain some movement.

With everything out the way the block coolant fitting is still a significant access challenge. I could not get the lower mounting bolt out without removing the upper control arm to get a straight enough shot at it with about 40cm of extensions on a 1/4” drive and swivel.

Very glad I did it as like Shane’s Shed @shanegtr great video the 14 year old plastic fitting crumbled as it came out leaving the old neck and seal in the block. Definitely stopped the source of an unpleasant coolant leak just in time. Refitting is not too bad.

Removing and replacing the spring hose clamp is significantly easy if you have the extension clamp tool which you can feed up from underneath into the space. Best thing you can ever have.




Old and new - this is another plastic fitting that need changing.



View of new coolant fitting upper bolt and hose fitted with upper control arm removed. You have to push the hose out the way to get access to the lower bolt before refitting the hose. When the turbo pipe is loose you can lift it a bit extra out the way.



Two smaller turbo hoses fitted.

Originally Posted by PerthDisco

The large easy to access top turbo hose had sprung a leak and needed to be replaced so I turned it into an 8/10 difficulty job by replacing all turbo hoses with a new silicone set.

I also had the block coolant outlet sitting in my spares so decided I’d do that as well as the access is never better. This lifted it to about 10/10 difficulty.

Following LR Time for the turbo hose technique it’s extremely tight to get the access and movement you need. Refitting the new small hoses was pretty difficult. Slow and steady it all went back together and the Terrafirma hose set is an excellent replacement fit. The metal pipe between the two small hoses barely moves only just enough once three incredibly difficult bolts are released to gain some movement.

With everything out the way the block coolant fitting is still a significant access challenge. I could not get the lower mounting bolt out without removing the upper control arm to get a straight enough shot at it with about 40cm of extensions on a 1/4” drive and swivel.

Very glad I did it as like Shane’s Shed great video the 14 year old fitting crumbled as it came out leaving the old neck and seal in the block. Definitely stopped the source of an unpleasant coolant leak just in time. Refitting is not too bad.

Removing and replacing the spring hose clamp is significantly easy if you have the extension clamp tool. Best thing you can ever have.




Old and new



View of new coolant fitting upper bolt and hose fitted with upper control arm removed. You have to push the hose out the way to get access to the lower bolt.



Two smaller turbo hoses fitted.

How cool it would be to be able to remove the body to do all this (and all hoses) at the same time.

Originally Posted by DiscoDB

How cool it would be to be able to remove the body to do all this (and all hoses) at the same time.

It took a complete days work 9-4 to disassemble and change all the parts without prior practice so probably quicker still than body on / off. Another hour for the reassembly and add coolant.

About 4 litres is lost when you pop the coolant fitting out.

Best bit about removing the wheel arch liner is removing half a tree of leaves stuck behind it.

Originally Posted by PerthDisco

It took a complete days work 9-4 to disassemble and change all the parts without prior practice so probably quicker still than body on / off. Another hour for the reassembly and add coolant.

About 4 litres is lost when you pop the coolant fitting out.

Best bit about removing the wheel arch liner is removing half a tree of leaves stuck behind it.

Out of interest - have you tackled all the cooling hoses yet?

Also on my must do list….one day.

Originally Posted by DiscoDB

Out of interest - have you tackled all the cooling hoses yet?

Also on my must do list….one day.

I don’t feel it’s necessary yet but I don’t know why other than they look in perfect condition and are very expensive.

The turbo hoses have a harsher life.

In saying that there was nothing obviously wrong with the two small turbo hoses to justify the effort only that I had them in a set of 3.

Originally Posted by PerthDisco

It took a complete days work 9-4 to disassemble and change all the parts without prior practice so probably quicker still than body on / off. Another hour for the reassembly and add coolant.

About 4 litres is lost when you pop the coolant fitting out.

Best bit about removing the wheel arch liner is removing half a tree of leaves stuck behind it.

Compared to 2 hours off, 2 hours on…?

5 hours and you could have done the entire engine