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One of my maf seal has recently failed and needs replacement. I have a spare one (new) but I'm looking for guidance to do the job properly (I know its going to be a pain as it can easily break).
I intend to try with the engine hot so that the intake horns would be (slightly) dilated, which should ease the installation; but I'm also tempted NOT to use grease or lubricants as we want those seals stay tightly in place, right?
Any suggestions, tools that I should use ?
Thanks!

Isn’t there a special VW tool for pressing in?

You can use water to lube. It’ll evaporate.

Thank you Shoppinit! Is there really a specialised tool *just* for this? Wow... I'll check what Elsa has to say about it..

Yes there is a tool. And it’s a load of <beep>. I got one for about £30 and the sodding seals wouldn’t go in straight not matter what I tried. Honestly I would read the thread on here recently about sorting them. Then buy the apikol ones from America and fit them. So much easier and loads better. I destroyed two oem seals trying to fit them with the tool

Bad news about the tool.. Regarding the Apikol ones, been there already and they lasted less than a year before the glue started to fail. Of course the seals couldn't be reused after that so I went back to the oems, at least they're much cheaper when bought in bulk (https://shops.audi.com/en_GB/web/tradit ... 133428a-10).

It’s such a <beep> design.

Well, actually job done in 5 minutes, engine cold.
The trick was tapping vertically and VERY gently with the wooden side of a small hammer whilst keeping the seal in place with the other hand. To push the seal to the bottom of the rim I then used a screwdriver with soft edges (to avoid cutting the rubber) tapped by the small hammer, and confirmed it's properly in place with a borescope.
Sorry for poor English, I hope the above makes sense and could be of some help.

Classik wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:56 pm

Bad news about the tool.. Regarding the Apikol ones, been there already and they lasted less than a year before the glue started to fail. Of course the seals couldn't be reused after that so I went back to the oems, at least they're much cheaper when bought in bulk (https://shops.audi.com/en_GB/web/tradit ... 133428a-10).

You don't need the glue for the Apikol seal if the maf is seated fully, the seal has nowhere to go. When I first fitted the seals I found that one adhered perfectly and one didn't. Probably some silicon or something contaminated the manifold surface for me.

As an aside, I've been looking at the old V8 Touareg engine and the maf design on those looks a far better solution.

Classik wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:56 pm

Bad news about the tool.. Regarding the Apikol ones, been there already and they lasted less than a year before the glue started to fail. Of course the seals couldn't be reused after that so I went back to the oems, at least they're much cheaper when bought in bulk (https://shops.audi.com/en_GB/web/tradit ... 133428a-10).

Thanks for this link, just what I needed, BUT then when i tried to place the order for two seals, there was a big message in read print, saying that due to BREXIT, (they RECKED IT!) they cannot deliver to the UK as their systems cannot cope with different tax rates or bull of similar !!!

Any suggestions welcome

Live in the EU?