The Worst Oil Change Ive Ever Done

tdilifebegins said:

FYI I have just purchased a 2015 Jetta with the EA288. I pulled the belly pan off the other day to take a look at the oil filter / change. The belly pan is T25 and T45 to remove, and the oil filter cover was a 32MM. There is also a smaller hex head in the center of the oil filter cap that I didn't get the size of, but is going to be a standard metric socket. As for the difficulty of it, I didn't think it looked terrible. I feel like I will be able to undo one wire hanger and there was enough slack in that harness to move away to get the oil filter out.

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do you have to unhook anything, or do you think you could just move them aside to get to the filter housing?

tdilifebegins said:

FYI I have just purchased a 2015 Jetta with the EA288....The belly pan is T25 and T45 to remove, and the oil filter cover was a 32MM. There is also a smaller hex head in the center of the oil filter cap ...

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No change on the Torx T25 (metal screws), and T45 (machine bolts) on the belly pan and 32 mm oil filter cap. The drain nut in the filter cap is new! Thanks for the clarification. Still much more trouble than top facing filter.

drew1202,
I feel you'll be able to just undo the harness clamp and move it out of the way. Everything will have to be done from below but I didn't think it looked too bad. When mine gets to the 5,000 mile mark I'm going to do it's first change. I'll try and remember to take some pictures and post them.

of course you know there is no need to change before 10,000 miles, and reasoned arguments not to do so early.

The filter issue is quite disappointing..

njiska , maybe I missed this information in this worthwhile thread but can you tell me (again?) how much oil will the sump hold for the 2015 TDI engine? I cant find this information anywhere on-line.

5.5 L of VW 507.00

njiska said:

5.5 L of VW 507.00

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Thanks for that.

Did you see post #13 in this thread?

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=4761423&highlight=sump#post4761423

"...VW.com website lists the Golf TDI at 6.66 qts,..."

tdilifebegins said:

drew1202,
When mine gets to the 5,000 mile mark I'm going to do it's first change. I'll try and remember to take some pictures and post them.

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Looking forward to seeing this documentation 'TLB'.

(When do you expect to be at the 5k mile mark?)

Do you have a new tool that works yet?

cevans said:

I can confirm that this tool does NOT fit and does NOT work on the EA288.

There are two problems - the first is simply the physical size is wrong.

Second, the gasoline motor has a nipple that you can pull down and the valve snaps open, letting the oil drain out. The TDI has no such thing, only threaded plug with a 10mm head.

I designed a replacement for the plug that has a valve and a hose attachment to make this a painless mess free affair. Testing it now, hopefully soon.

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I am curious if you got your new plug to work and if so how can I get one/make one. I have a new ea288 Passat and regardless of what the factory says, I like to change the oil after about 1200 mi., so I am keen to learn whatever I can about this nasty oil change. Sounds like compared to my 2009 JSW TDI this will be fun. Any comments would be appreciated.

tomrobin said:

I am curious if you got your new plug to work and if so how can I get one/make one. I have a new ea288 Passat and regardless of what the factory says, I like to change the oil after about 1200 mi., so I am keen to learn whatever I can about this nasty oil change. Sounds like compared to my 2009 JSW TDI this will be fun. Any comments would be appreciated.

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Why are you changing the oil so soon?

The general recommendation is to change the oil every 10,000 miles (that may be a bit longer now on the newer engines). Check the owners manual to be sure on the maintenance schedule. If this car is brand new with only 1200 miles it's all the more reason to WAIT. Let the engine break in. You really don't want to change the oil too early.

tomrobin said:

I am curious if you got your new plug to work and if so how can I get one/make one. I have a new ea288 Passat and regardless of what the factory says, I like to change the oil after about 1200 mi., so I am keen to learn whatever I can about this nasty oil change. Sounds like compared to my 2009 JSW TDI this will be fun. Any comments would be appreciated.

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Really? 1200 miles on an oil change? How did you get that number?

tomrobin said:

I like to change the oil after about 1200 mi.

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OMG. Please do some reading here or anywhere about modern synthetic oils, engine manufacturing, and oil change intervals. Leave it in there for 10K miles.

Theres even an argument that 10K is too soon, and 15K is a more mechanically sound interval, and that 10K is just to increase service profits.

I dont know what is truth, and hyperbole. Id trust the word of a guy like oilhammer on said subject.


ETA - Im going to have a bunch of mainteance items left over from my 2011 if I get this 15 tomorrow. Stuff I got from IDParts.

I dont think any single filter crosses over from the 2011 to the 2015. I still have a half dozen oil filters alone.

Borsig said:

Theres even an argument that 10K is too soon, and 15K is a more mechanically sound interval, and that 10K is just to increase service profits.
I dont know what is truth, and hyperbole. Id trust the word of a guy like oilhammer on said subject.
ETA - Im going to have a bunch of mainteance items left over from my 2011 if I get this 15 tomorrow. Stuff I got from IDParts.
I dont think any single filter crosses over from the 2011 to the 2015. I still have a half dozen oil filters alone.

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Is there compatibility of filters between MK6 and MK7? I'm curious since I have two MK6s ('11 & '14 VW JSW TDIs) with an ample supply of filters, etc. (I might be IDParts new midwest regional warehouse!) and would hate to purchase new filters, etc.

Just be happy your triple square sockets still work.

sell the filters with the car.

or post em here. http://forums.tdiclub.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

I serviced our mk7 2.0 tdi last weekend. A few things came to mind, apart from those already mentioned by some. The major issue is the coolant hose and electrical loom routing under and around the fliter housing. What I did was release the coolant pump electrical connector and then to get a bit more slack on the loom, release it from the plastic retainer towards the lhs side of the car. No need to release from alternator. Then using reusable tie wraps, pull the coolant pipe and electrical cable aside by using the fan housing structure..I used 4 tie wraps. Just be careful not to try to pull the electrcal loom to far. On my car there was enough slack so that a clear path could be made for the filter housing to come out.This means your hands are free to undo the 13mm plug to drain the oil from the housing and get a bowl in place to catch the oil. I also used kitchen foil to wrap over the pump electrical connector so that no oil can get at it and put some absorbant towel between the side of the filter and the block as oil will spill there a little. Another tip is to screw the drain plug back in loosely before you undo and remove the filter housing. This stops any oil going all over the place when you lift out the filter housing. I had hardly any oil spill when I unscrewed the housing using this method. I've worked on much worse, but I agree that compared to the top mounted filters its more fiddly. Hope this helps someone.

drkwcrusher said:

I serviced our mk7 2.0 tdi last weekend. A few things came to mind, apart from those already mentioned by some. The major issue is the coolant hose and electrical loom routing under and around the fliter housing. What I did was release the coolant pump electrical connector and then to get a bit more slack on the loom, release it from the plastic retainer towards the lhs side of the car. No need to release from alternator. Then using reusable tie wraps, pull the coolant pipe and electrical cable aside by using the fan housing structure..I used 4 tie wraps. Just be careful not to try to pull the electrcal loom to far. On my car there was enough slack so that a clear path could be made for the filter housing to come out.This means your hands are free to undo the 13mm plug to drain the oil from the housing and get a bowl in place to catch the oil. I also used kitchen foil to wrap over the pump electrical connector so that no oil can get at it and put some absorbant towel between the side of the filter and the block as oil will spill there a little. Another tip is to screw the drain plug back in loosely before you undo and remove the filter housing. This stops any oil going all over the place when you lift out the filter housing. I had hardly any oil spill when I unscrewed the housing using this method. I've worked on much worse, but I agree that compared to the top mounted filters its more fiddly. Hope this helps someone.

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Which drain plug are you talking about, the oil pan drain plug or the plug on the filter cap?

The drain in the filter housing.

drkwcrusher said:

The drain in the filter housing.

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what did you use to open the drain plug? I couldnt figure that part out when I changed my oil at 20k.

If its the same design as my car its a 13 mm plastic nut thats part of the drain plug so I just used a 13mm socket with a long extension bar and ratchet. Once its undone a small amount it can be moved by hand quite easily.

tdi90hp said:

You know that dealers will charge MORE eventually for such a long silly process.

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So I'm due for another oil change and now am being told be a local dealer they want $200 to change the oil!!!!! Manager complained of the filter access.

Shopping around

I just did my first oil change (on my first VW!) and found @drkwcrusher's description to be spot on.

I drained the pan, used some velcro to hold the cables out of the way, drained the filter by pulling the plug in it's housing, let it sit a bit, and then pulled the filter housing. Didn't have a lot of oil in the housing, but putting the plug back in the houseing before taking it off would have been brilliant. Having two pans to drain into was perfect, since a little more drained from the pan when I pulled the plug on the filter.

Else it was a tidy job. The 8 million screws in the plastic engine bay line were more of a hassle than the oil change!

Two issues I have left: 1) anybody got a part number for the bolt with a replaceable washer? I don't want to replace the whole damned bolt every time. It's cheap enough, but just on principle, I'd rather replace a washer (like every other car I've owned!)

2) I'm pretty certain the dealer DIDN'T DRAIN THE FILTER BEFORE PULLING IT! The filter housing was filthy, like it was covered in oil and road dust got stuck to it. I may have bought the first 2015 TDI in all of Portland, so I'm certain I'm the first one my dealer performed an oil change on (four months later). Still, the procedure is in the service manual I downloaded from VW, and it says to pull the freakin oil filter plug.

Is this typical of VW dealer repair shops? Shoddy, careless work when a model is new to them? Any recommendations for the best in Portland, Oregon? (I expect to do basic maintenance myself.)

Fix-um-Haus in St. Johns.

bodhisattvah said:

Any recommendations for the best in Portland, Oregon? (I expect to do basic maintenance myself.)

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German Automotive Service & Repair in Milwaukie or Hillside Imports on Beaverton-Hillsdale highway

Quick question, is their a right place to put a floor jack to lift the car/ put the jack stands? I never worried much about it on my mk4 cuz it was rusty anyways but I don't want to scratch or dent anything on my new car.

kranzandrew said:

Quick question, is their a right place to put a floor jack to lift the car/ put the jack stands? I never worried much about it on my mk4 cuz it was rusty anyways but I don't want to scratch or dent anything on my new car.

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IDParts hasa great video on that:
https://youtu.be/_7JRORIRJxA

Isn't that only good for the spare tire scissor jack? I'm using a 3 ton hydraulic floor jack from harbor freight.

kranzandrew said:

Isn't that only good for the spare tire scissor jack? I'm using a 3 ton hydraulic floor jack from harbor freight.

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No. Those are the only jack points you should be using. As noted in the video by IDParts if you try other points you risk the jack going through the floor of the car.

There's also this brilliant kit from ECS that uses the factory lift points for hydraulic jack points (don't use these lift points without these adapters):
https://www.ecstuning.com/ES251835/...C_i1P8mttTeA7h_CpZtkwJsK1smPc8blXCBoCSd_w_wcB

You tube video on how it works:
https://youtu.be/MMS2fUDiWhU

That's what I was looking for! But jeez a hundred bucks? I'd pay 50 no problem but a hundred?