DIY Cleaning MAP sensor on your Volkswagen Eos to Fix Bad Fuel Economy, Rough Acceleration and Stalling.

In this series of servicing all the sensors that may hurt your Eos 2.0T driving performance, we now have come to the last one of them : the Manifold Absolute Pressure sensor, aka MAP. This sensor also exists in other VW that uses 2.0T engine such as Golf GTI, CC, Passat, GLI.

There is a longer and more detailed article explaining what the MAP sensor does, however all you need to know is it monitors engine load and helps determine whether the engine should run lean or rich. Some of the OBDII error codes are P0108, P0106… for instance.

When the engine runs lean, it starves for fuel due to bad reading from the sensor; causing bad fuel/air mixture. And when the engine runs rich, it’s exact the opposite: too much fuel in the combustion chamber and black smoke comes out of the rear exhaust. When the MAP sensor becomes clogged, you’ll notice a decrease in fuel economy, hard acceleration, stalling, rough start in cold weather and it just feels heavy on the pedal.

For our TSI engine, it also affects how the turbo charger provides boost. When the sensor fails, the ECU can’t properly measure boost so it intentionally cuts engine RPMs to avoid any unexpected internal damage. In some case, your Eos may go into Limp Mode which limits the maximum speed to 30~45mph and only stays in first gear.

Speaking of boost. You must also learn that when it comes to boost pressure there are many factors that affects it; such as a boost leak, dirty MAF sensor (which we covered), etc…It may or may not solve that issue, but it’s a good preventive step to run routine maintaince on these sensors to avoid those problems down the line.

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Tools You’ll Need

Just like previous DIYs, I’ll be using the Ratcheting 101-Piece Bit Driver Set by Performance Tool to do the disassembly of the sensor. I really love this set because it has pretty much all the odd bits to use on our car. However, all you need are a Torx T20 and drive extension to remove two screws that attach the MAP to the Throttle Body Pipe (also called Air Charge Pipe).

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Then, you will need some rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) to clean the sensor.

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Optional–because sometimes we drop our screws and tools into the abyss :

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Remove & Clean The MAP Sensor on Volkswagen 2.0 TSI

For most first timer, it’s a major headache to be able to remove the MAP screws. They are hidden well below and in a narrow access between the engine and the radiator fans. So, set up your tool now :

That consists of … T20 bit

..and

Now locate the MAP sensor.

State of the art CSI-level enhanced image.

Note that the pipe my MAP sensor attached to is not stock and it looks different to yours. But that is a topic for another day. Right now just proceed as usual.

Disconnect the sensor cable by gentle press down the lock and wiggle the connect base out of its housing. Do not pull the wires.

Here’s a better look of the MAP sensor attached to the original Throttle body pipe.

2. Now that you have seen those screws, go ahead and remove yours.

The other one may require more effort, but simply have your screw driver goes undernearth the fuel line.

3. Once the screws are off, gentle pull the sensor straight out. The green o-ring may make you think the sensor got stuck but give it a little more pull and you’ll be done.

4. Drop your sensor in a Ziploc bag filled with rubbing alcohol. And for the third time of me trying to advertise for ziploc, click here to buy 347 ziploc bags if you don’t have one.

5. Gentle shake the bag to agitate all the dust and debris.

All done. Reinstall the sensor to the Throttle body pipe, reconnect the wiring cable and you’re ready to go! If your MAP sensor has gone bad and it can’t be serviced, look up for a replacement on Ebay or Amazon. The cost is usually pretty reasonable.

Drop us a comment to let everyone knows if this has helped your car. If you are an Eos owner, be sure to join our Facebook group for community help and more DIY articles in the future.