# Intake Flap Motor



## lana7 (Mar 15, 2010)

Hi,
I was wondering if I could get some advice on taking care of my Audi A4 2006 2.0T (I know very little about car maintenance, but need to save $). It recently came off warranty. 
The car's malfunction light came on recently. I brought it to the dealer. They performed the ignition coil recall and the light went off temporarily. I started the car to leave the dealer and the malfunction light came back on. Now they are telling me the "Intake Flap Motor" needs to be replaced and it will cost me $475. Does anyone know if that's a good price? Also, while the car was still on warranty in 2008 the dealer worked on "Variable Intake Manifold Flap Potentiometer Remove & Reinstall". I'm not sure if that's the same part, but am wondering if the "Intake Flap Motor" should have been replaced under warranty. 
Also wondering if anyone has thoughts on bringing the car to an independent mechanic for service. I hear that's a lot cheaper. Is that a bad idea?
And finally wondering how often synthetic oil needs to be changed. I was told every 3k miles by one audi dealer and told that was baloney by another audi dealer b/c of the synthetic oil.
Thanks so much!!


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## 2006vwgtipower (Jul 27, 2006)

*Re: Intake Flap Motor (lana7)*

The intake flap motor is a very common issue with this engine. I had mine done a while ago under warranty at the dealer. As long as an independent mechanic is certified then thats fine to take it 2 them as long as you trust their work. And I use Total 5W40 Full Synthetic oil in my car i change mine every 3,000 mile just bc im a bit anal about my car but a lot of people are changeing full synthetic at 3k that own these cars. To be honest normal interval for Sythetic oil is 5,000 miles that what we tell our customers at my work when we do sythetic oil changes on theur car to come back every 5k


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## jmj (Feb 6, 2001)

*Re: Intake Flap Motor (2006vwgtipower)*

How many miles does the car have on it? My intake flap motor went out at about 40K. I'm just shy of 100K now and haven't had any further trouble from it.


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## lana7 (Mar 15, 2010)

*Re: Intake Flap Motor (2006vwgtipower)*

Thanks for all the help! Looks like I need an oil change too! And it's good to hear that once replaced this part hopefully won't be a problem again (crossing fingers!)
My car has approximately 57k miles right now. I wish the intake flap motor failed earlier! To date this seems to be the most expensive thing to be replaced on the car other than tires. I think the dealer did do something to the same part a couple of years ago though according to my receipts -- "Variable Intake Manifold Flap Potentiometer Remove & Reinstall." Although, maybe that's a different part. I'm really not sure what any of these things are. Maybe they should have replaced this part at that time.
Thanks again!


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## lana7 (Mar 15, 2010)

*Re: Intake Flap Motor (lana7)*

Btw, I found out that the intake flap motor was replaced at 29k miles and now needs to be replaced again at 57k.


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## [email protected] (Jun 28, 2009)

*Re: Intake Flap Motor (lana7)*

If they aren't going to warranty it, feel free to shoot me a PM / E-mail if you would like an estimate !


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## dubbinASE (Jan 7, 2009)

*Re: Intake Flap Motor (lana7)*

also if your going to replace the flapper motor it needs to be re adapted to the ecm.


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## SDM (Aug 9, 2007)

Just started getting fault codes referencing the flapper motor, I'm at 38K.
What's the draw-back to disabling the whole system?


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## CoNGLoMeRaTeGTi (Apr 4, 2007)

*Re: (SDM)*

OP, im on my third flapper motor on my GTi.

_Quote, originally posted by *SDM* »_Just started getting fault codes referencing the flapper motor, I'm at 38K.
What's the draw-back to disabling the whole system?

the flapper helps with assisting air flow to create the proper AFR.


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## ts1445 (Oct 7, 2008)

To the best of my knowledge it's a recalled part. Back in 2008...read this thread.....
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3702992
this one too......
http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/...41373
I'll let you know cuz i just got the same CEL for the same flapper motor. I'll be going to the dealer soon.


_Modified by ts1445 at 11:04 PM 3-20-2010_


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## SDM (Aug 9, 2007)

Can anyone provide any feedback who may have experimented with disabling this system all together? Seems like the flaps are only used under 1000rpms and over 5000rpms according to a tutorial I've just read on the engine, most of the time they just sit there and do nothing.


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## bificus99 (Aug 2, 2008)

*Re: (SDM)*

Yeah I am sure the ECU is tuned with the flaps and the plates in the intake ports. Seems kind of overkill.


_Modified by bificus99 at 6:49 PM 3-22-2010_


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## dubbinASE (Jan 7, 2009)

*Re: (SDM)*

helps with cold starts, and low end torque;


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## xfoo777 (Oct 14, 2008)

*Re: Intake Flap Motor (dubbinASE)*


_Quote, originally posted by *dubbinASE* »_also if your going to replace the flapper motor it needs to be re adapted to the ecm. 

Can someone explain how a replaced flapper motor is "re-adapted" with the ecm??


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## MP413Racer (Aug 24, 2006)

*Re: Intake Flap Motor (xfoo777)*


_Quote, originally posted by *xfoo777* »_
Can someone explain how a replaced flapper motor is "re-adapted" with the ecm??

i'm guessing it's some kind of ecm recalibration that is performed via software


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## lana7 (Mar 15, 2010)

Thanks for all the responses! My computer crashed, so I haven't been able to get online.
I had my flap motor replaced (for the second time). It was $241 for labor (@ 2 hours) and $185 for the part. It was originally replaced pursuant to some TSB and was under warranty. According to what I've seen in some forums online, a TSB is not a recall. In any event, I had to pay for the replacement, so it wasn't treated like a recall and I did ask about it and point out that they had previously replaced the part.
Of course, they found other things wrong with the car, so was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the following:
- they said i should have a 55k scheduled maintenance. it's about $600. they gave me a list of what it covers and other than changing the oil, they just check a bunch of things, add fluids, replace spark plugs and lubricate some things. $600 seems too expensive to me for that, so i was going to forego the maintenance.
- they told me i need new front brakes and rotors (another $600), but the warning light in my car has not come on. i was going to wait until it comes on to replace them. $600 also seems pretty expensive to me, but i don't know.
- audi told me i have a bubble in my tire. i have 6 month old tires and haven't been driving all that much. i have had problems with 3 out of 4 of the tires - i bought Continental conti-extreme tires from an independent dealer. i'm thinking they sold me bad tires. i'm not sure what to do, but i've never had so many problems with tires on any car and never had problems with the previous set of Continentals on my audi. does anyone have a recommendation for all weather tires for the audi A4 that aren't Continentals? i think i may replace the tires completely. 
thanks!


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## bificus99 (Aug 2, 2008)

*Re: (lana7)*


_Quote, originally posted by *lana7* »_Thanks for all the responses! My computer crashed, so I haven't been able to get online.
I had my flap motor replaced (for the second time). It was $241 for labor (@ 2 hours) and $185 for the part. It was originally replaced pursuant to some TSB and was under warranty. According to what I've seen in some forums online, a TSB is not a recall. In any event, I had to pay for the replacement, so it wasn't treated like a recall and I did ask about it and point out that they had previously replaced the part.
Bummer... 
Of course, they found other things wrong with the car, so was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the following:
- they said i should have a 55k scheduled maintenance. it's about $600. they gave me a list of what it covers and other than changing the oil, they just check a bunch of things, add fluids, replace spark plugs and lubricate some things. $600 seems too expensive to me for that, so i was going to forego the maintenance.
Its for a 40K service, did you have it done already?
- they told me i need new front brakes and rotors (another $600), but the warning light in my car has not come on. i was going to wait until it comes on to replace them. $600 also seems pretty expensive to me, but i don't know.
Yeah a bit high.
- audi told me i have a bubble in my tire. i have 6 month old tires and haven't been driving all that much. i have had problems with 3 out of 4 of the tires - i bought Continental conti-extreme tires from an independent dealer. i'm thinking they sold me bad tires. i'm not sure what to do, but i've never had so many problems with tires on any car and never had problems with the previous set of Continentals on my audi. does anyone have a recommendation for all weather tires for the audi A4 that aren't Continentals? i think i may replace the tires completely. 
Did they show the bubble to you? If you got the road hazard warranty that might take the sting out of the replacement.
thanks!
 :
Corrected mileage maintenance interval


_Modified by bificus99 at 8:10 PM 4-1-2010_


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