Mayo in the breather hose, how do I take air box apart

[Ant]

Mk2 GTi 16v 1992

I found some mayo in the top of the breather hose where is connects to the airbox,
I want to take the air box and inlet pipe apart and clean it out, unfortunately (for me) neither Haynes or the Bentley manual lists this step and there's all sorts of stuff & pipes connected to the top of the box (fuels pipes, etc) Can I just dismantle the thing is there anything I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance.

[Conker]

The big air intake pipe into the throttle body is easy, just unscrew the jubilee clips and pull them off gently (theres three separate sections).

The airbox is trickier due to the [very heavy] metering head on top of it. Its only clipped on but will need supporting once its off. The airbox is then held down with four or so rubbers to the top of the wing. I wouldn't bother taking it off though as I doubt it'll be dirty underneath the air filter.

As for mayo in the breather... This is a common issue and quite normal especially if your doing short journeys only. Undo the jubile clips on the breather hose and carefully remove it completely. I soaked mine in warm soapy water for a few hours to give it a good clean. If you want to be thorough, remove the crankcase breather unit (4 allen nuts) as these can also get mayo blockages too.


EDIT:  Don't split the breather hose pipe as they cost about £50 to replace!

[Ant]

Guess I'm really mechanically dense :$

Cannot work this out, there's far too many pipes on the top and I don't want to disconnect any of them if I can help it.

But I also reckon I've got to at least split the metering head? (big metal thing on the top of the lid) so I can get the lid and filter out.

There's about six bolts around the head so I think tomorrow I'll undo them and see where that gets me.

[Conker]

Don't worry - I thought that when I first got my 16v. To change the air filter etc. you don't need to take the metering head off, just lift it up while still attached to the airbox lid while you slip the new filter in (prob best with another pair of hands helping you).

If you need to completely remove the airbox for some reason, undo the bolts holding the metering head onto the airbox lid and then once the airbox is removed, support the head on something using a strip of wood/cable ties etc.

Be careful not to bend the injector pipes too much!