Did this over the weekend, **** easy. Maybe its due to my car being a FWD instead of 4x4 but the write up on the diy sites is very different to my car.

It is shaped like a coke can and located in front of the rear wheel. Jack stands will give you a bit of space to work in. Depressurise system, cut off old clamps, pull off hoses, unbolt metal holder and replace filter, replace hoses, replace clamps (I used jubilee clips this time not the crimped ones that were on there so they could be reused), replace metal holder and drive.

All in took about 40 mins first time, next time i could have it done in 10. And the difference is huge, car definitely seems to respond more smoothly. I blew through the new filter and the old filter to see how blocked it had become, the difference was night and day. My old filter was almost completely blocked, must have been putting the whole fuel / injecting sytem through way more stress than was necessary.

There is no real way to know how long that filter had been in place, but i look forward to checking it in 30k to see how blocked it becomes. I will update this thread in a couple of weeks with my new MPG figures to see if it has made any difference, but I would definitely recommend everyone to do this simple procedure.

 

Thanks for the little tip. Where did you get your filter, and how much was it?

If you haven't done the SeaFoam treatment yet, I would suggest that. I did that over the weekend, and was very pleased with the results...

 

bought a VAG filter from my local VW dealership. cost €17, about $15.

I have read a bit about seafoaming on this site, but im worried about doing it to be honest. Im not sure how good it would be for the engine. what do people think about the negative impacts of seafoaming?

 

I did this last night. It didn't take me 40 minutes but was simple. The hang up for me was getting to the little 12pt bolt strapping the filter to the tank. Doh!!

BTW: 17 euro's is about $25 US. I wish is was $15. I paid $27 for the filter at the local dealership.

 

that area of the car is entirely different from AWD cars, which is the reason for that.

 

Is sounds like my Quattro is much different that the FWD in that respect. There just isn't much room in there. I even had it up on a lift and it still took 2 hours.

 

Ya ****, i got the conversion backwards, mouse is correct. How bad was your old filter, any noticeable difference in performance since the swap? Mine is definitely smoother.

 

Yea the quattro versions are tougher I think. It took me and a buddy about an hour or so to get the OEM one out. Still had 97 stamped on there with a production date. Replaced with an oem off of ecs tuning. Make sure to get the washers for the lines. We also had to wedge a block of wood in the upper part of the tank to get the filter out. The tank was not coming out or really budging. The original filter was pretty constricted after blowing through it and after the new filter the car was performing better.

 

Why go to the dealership for a filter? Get a Bosch or Wix or Purolator filter.

 

Would a bosch be cheaper? For the sake of a few euros i dont mind going for a VAG filter, especially as the dealership is right by work.

I must have a look at the date on the one i pulled out of there.