I have a 94 VW Jetta III GL. I need to know what the aluminum aparatus is that is in place over the spark plugs. Any help would be much appreciated.


~Alex -High One- Snow~

are you referring to the Bosch design heat shields over the plug boots???

Sorry, that was a post after i accidently lost the original post. The item i'm refering to is about 1'-1.4' across and about the same in width. It actually sits on top of the motor, its secured by 5 screws, a bunch of sensors are attached to it. It comes down in an 'L' shape over where the plugs go in. (It makes changing wires a royal B-.) It has a bottom half as well as a top half. Obviously.....But what I'm concerned about is the seal inbetween the two halves, or what seems to be a seal. Its detereorating/gone in certain spots and wondering if thats having an effect on my perfomance.

the aluminim thingy you are talking about is the upper intake manifold..

Thank you very much. I thought so but wasn't sure. So is that a seal I'm seeing inbetween the manifold? If so, where do I get a new one?

Okay, I found a replacement but i don't think that is whats causing the issue i have. (The seal can be found here http://www2.autopartsauthority.com/parts/autopartsauthority/quote.jsp?year=1994&product=A8040-38235&application=000264809&part=Intake%20Manifold%20Gasket&category=All ) The gap I'm seeing is the little alcove in the seal itself. But the issue at hand is that when i punch the gas, the car just doesn't seem to go. It almost seems to "hang" in place. This occurs a lot on wet days. The wetter it is, the worse. I have discovered that the body is rusting away around where you pump the gas in, and the fuel filter is going to be changed here shortly when I get the cash. I already have new plugs (Performance! YAY ^_^* ) so I don't think thats the problem....... Any ideas?