The Worst Oil Change Ive Ever Done

njiska · Nov 29, 2014

The Worst Oil Change I've Ever Done

Decided to do my first oil change today as I was within 100km of the interval. What an unbelievable pain it ended up being. Draining the oil was pretty straight forward and only required a 19mm socket, but removing the filter was ridiculous.

There are at least three different coolant hoses/electrical cables in the way, as well as the cable for the block heater. Two of them are mounted and have to be freed before they can be moved aside. Once that's done they still can't quite be completely removed from the path of the filter cap and physically removing the filter takes a lot of fighting.

All said and done this oil change took a good two hours to complete and in the end the underside of my car was a complete mess. Leaning towards having the dealer do the change next time as I really did not need this BS.

Anyone else tired changing the EA288 oil filter and had better luck or have better ideas on how to do it? It's a shame VW didn't maintain the tradition of topside filter mounts.

TurnOne · Nov 29, 2014

Thank you for the report. More reason that free oil changes are great. I am nearing my first oil change and will happily take it to the dealer.

bmwM5power · Nov 29, 2014

TurnOne said:
Thank you for the report. More reason that free oil changes are great. I am nearing my first oil change and will happily take it to the dealer.

It only looks great and enticing till you run into a nightmare. If you have a great deal of confidence in your dealer only then I would allow them to touch my car, I say this from experience.

meerschm · Nov 29, 2014

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER#productDetails

would something like this be of use?

need someone with access to VW maintenance info that calls out tools.

whitedog · Nov 29, 2014

meerschm said:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER#productDetails

would something like this be of use?

need someone with access to VW maintenance info that calls out tools.

How does that work? And does it work with a TDI?

TDIMeister · Nov 29, 2014

Just curious @njiska, how many km on your car?

BKmetz · Nov 29, 2014

whitedog said:
How does that work? And does it work with a TDI?

That tool is for the VR6, 2.0T, & 2.5L. I have one for the wife's car. It will only work on an oil filter housing that faces down and has the drain on it.

That oil drain widget screws into the filter housing drain and allows one to drain the oil out of the housing without making a huge mess. Then one removes the emptied filter housing.

The Assenmacher tool is expensive. MetalNerd has one that is quite a bit cheaper.
http://www.metalnerd.com/cat17.htm

ECS also carries that tool.
http://www.ecstuning.com/News/VW_25L_OilFilter_HousingDrainTool/

http://www.ecstuning.com/News/VW_25L_OilFilter_HousingDrainTool/ES8616/

ECS has video links that shows one how to use it.
http://www.ecstuning.com/News/VW_25L_OilFilter_HousingDrainTool/ES8616/Video324-HD/

http://www.ecstuning.com/News/VW_25L_OilFilter_HousingDrainTool/ES8616/Video318-HD/

njiska · Nov 29, 2014

TDIMeister said:
Just curious @njiska, how many km on your car?

14897 km when I did the change. Just over 15000km now.

meerschm · Nov 30, 2014

BKmetz said:
That tool is for the VR6, 2.0T, & 2.5L. I have one for the wife's car. It will only work on an oil filter housing that faces down and has the drain on it.

That oil drain widget screws into the filter housing drain and allows one to drain the oil out of the housing without making a huge mess. Then one removes the emptied filter housing.

The Assenmacher tool is expensive. MetalNerd has one that is quite a bit cheaper.
http://www.metalnerd.com/cat17.htm

ECS also carries that tool.
http://www.ecstuning.com/News/VW_25L_OilFilter_HousingDrainTool/

http://www.ecstuning.com/News/VW_25L_OilFilter_HousingDrainTool/ES8616/

ECS has video links that shows one how to use it.
http://www.ecstuning.com/News/VW_25L_OilFilter_HousingDrainTool/ES8616/Video324-HD/

http://www.ecstuning.com/News/VW_25L_OilFilter_HousingDrainTool/ES8616/Video318-HD/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1SwwbJ-f-8 see 16:00 on the video.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=422700 or this discussion

Is the filter cover on the new engine like the one on the VR6, or does it need a new tool?

JASONP · Nov 30, 2014

Glad you had the nerve to do this yourself.
I took advantage of the first free oil change at 8000 km and even the tech took 1.5 hours to do it so you're not that far off.
Very disappointed to se they couldn't keep the the filter housing where it has served us well in 3 generations.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

njiska · Nov 30, 2014

meerschm said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1SwwbJ-f-8 see 16:00 on the video.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=422700 or this discussion

Is the filter cover on the new engine like the one on the VR6, or does it need a new tool?

The filter housing has a moulded plastic 32mm hex head that can be easily removed with a standard socket. The centre of the hex does appear to look the same as the connection for the tool BKmetz linked to and might actually make the entire job a lot easier.

JASONP said:
Glad you had the nerve to do this yourself.
I took advantage of the first free oil change at 8000 km and even the tech took 1.5 hours to do it so you're not that far off.
Very disappointed to se they couldn't keep the the filter housing where it has served us well in 3 generations.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

It bugs me as well as I have a friend with an A4 Jetta who has an air powered extractor. I'm the only one of like 5 TDIs in our circle to have to go under the car. It also doesn't help that we couldn't find adequate space to fit a jack and stands, so i had to do it on ramps.

BKmetz · Nov 30, 2014

meerschm said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1SwwbJ-f-8 see 16:00 on the video.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=422700 or this discussion

Is the filter cover on the new engine like the one on the VR6, or does it need a new tool?

As I myself have not seen the underside of the new EA288 engine I cannot verify if the oil drain adapter will fit. However, since VW already uses the same oil filter housing design for the VR6, 2.0T, and the 2.5, logic SHOULD dictate that the oil drain adapter will fit the EA288 as the oil filter faces down instead of up. It sure looks like it would fit.

We will have to wait for someone who own an EA288 and the oil drain adapter to verify fitment for us.

kensic · Nov 30, 2014

this is so sad. so not looking forward to do this on my own.

might have to find a trust worthy independent shop and have them do the labor (bring my own oil and filter)

TurnOne · Dec 1, 2014

bmwM5power said:
It only looks great and enticing till you run into nightmare. If you have a great deal of confidence in your dealer only then I would allow them to touch my car, I say this from experience.

I wouldn't characterize it as a great deal of confidence, but I have enough confidence that they can change the oil properly. I have two other cars, so if they screw it up, they will have plenty of time to fix it. Mild concern that I will likely be the first 2015 for the dealer.

oilhammer · Dec 1, 2014

If you install the oil filter drain tool, it will at least minimize the mess, however you still need to let it drain a while.

WiszMaster · Dec 1, 2014

My dealer has seen several '15 GTI's and a few gas Golfs, but mine is still the first '15 TDI ... I'm always hoping that they find someone else's to learn and experiment on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

whitedog · Dec 1, 2014

oilhammer said:
If you install the oil filter drain tool, it will at least minimize the mess, however you still need to let it drain a while.

So, drain the filter and let it drip then pull the plug on the oil pan. Close them both up and change the filter. Go up top and fill the oil?

oilhammer · Dec 1, 2014

I drain the filter and the pan at the same time, but yeah. I do the rest of the service while the oil is draining.

kensic · Dec 10, 2014

njiska said:
Decided to do my first oil change today as I was within 100km of the interval. What an unbelievable pain it ended up being. Draining the oil was pretty straight forward and only required a 19mm socket, but removing the filter was ridiculous.

There are at least three different coolant hoses/electrical cables in the way, as well as the cable for the block heater. Two of them are mounted and have to be freed before they can be moved aside. Once that's done they still can't quite be completely removed from the path of the filter cap and physically removing the filter takes a lot of fighting.

All said and done this oil change took a good two hours to complete and in the end the underside of my car was a complete mess. Leaning towards having the dealer do the change next time as I really did not need this BS.

Anyone else tired changing the EA288 oil filter and had better luck or have better ideas on how to do it? It's a shame VW didn't maintain the tradition of topside filter mounts.

yea, the dealers will definitely cut corners on this. i wouldn't trust the dealer to put back everything.

man this is sad news!

tdi90hp · Dec 12, 2014

kensic said:
yea, the dealers will definitely cut corners on this. i wouldn't trust the dealer to put back everything.

man this is sad news!

One more reason to get to know your dealer and build a relationship with same person as much as possible and set the expectation as to the service. Ya think VW did this to force more people back to dealers? seems pretty weird that they could not find a simpler way to service car. I sometimes wonder in the factories complicate some things to deter the DIY'ers...
Most good dealer techs wont cut corners. They will just figure out quicker ways to do same job. Have a BIT of faith....Its an oil change...not that complicated.

TurnOne · Dec 12, 2014

Had my son take my car in for oil change. They told him about the software update but for some reason didn't do it.
Haven't looked under the car for any issues but I have faith they did an ok job.

WiszMaster · Dec 21, 2014

I've just scheduled for the first 10k mile service on Jan-5 ... My dealer has been good so far... But I am their first '15 Golf TDI.

The following weekend we're taking a 2k mile road trip, and service will fall right in the middle milage wise, scheduled it for monday just in case there are issues and parts need ordered.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

dubStrom · Dec 24, 2014

kensic said:
this is so sad. so not looking forward to do this on my own.

might have to find a trust worthy independent shop and have them do the labor (bring my own oil and filter)

Take some time to prepare ahead of time, and you'll be rewarded with a smooth process, along with the confidence that only comes with doing it yourself.

1. Get the socket you need to remove the oil filter cover. I use a universal AND a 6" extension as well, which really makes it easy.
2. Check what size socket (mine is 10mm on the JSW) needed to free the metal tube from the valve cover. Take two of them out to really make it easy to flex out of the way.
3. I use aluminum foil, doubled, to wrap the larger (EGR?) tube with the mesh sleeve. This prevents staining it with oil (chronic dealership snafu).
4. Get a star driver socket kit (Torx) if you don't have one. TWO sizes are needed to remove the splash guard under the engine to get to the drain plug. I am sorry I do not remember the sizes (25 is the smaller one needed, I think).

One more thing... These cars are low to the ground. I actually used a floor jack and set my car on blocks when I changed mine a couple of weeks ago so I had LOTS of room under there to move around. Seems like a lot of trouble until you find out how much easier it is this way! It took about 15 minutes. If you don't have some of these tools, this is a perfect excuse to get them. A nice 3 or 5 ton floor jack isn't that expensive.

btw-I change the oil myself mostly because I want to know that every bolt and screw (and the drain plug) is NOT overtightened or misthreaded, and that there is no oil spilled on the motor. ALSO, when you refill, take the time to remove the rubber flange from the oil fill port. It pulls off easily-CLEAN the dust away carefully so you don't wash it into your crankcase. Do you think a dealership oil change level personnel is going to take the time to do this right? Something to think about!

Oh, and yet one more thing. When I went in for my first oil change on my old 2010 JSW, the dealership left it 700mL low (arguably 500mL low), and the dipstick was barely showing oil at the tip of the stick! My new 2014 JSW takes nearly 4700mL to reach top of hash marks too. I know that mid-hashmark is sufficient, but it is not overfilled at top of hashmark. I like to start there in case it drops in the oil change interval. Here's the thread describing the biffed oil change:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=300065&highlight=oil+change
Look at post # 4 in that thread (PlaneJob)- eye popping. Yes, mine also said 4 liters used. Needless to say... I prefer to handle this "simple" task myself!

Matt927 · Dec 24, 2014

Your JSW has a filter in a much easier to reach location as well.

meerschm · Dec 24, 2014

dubStrom said:
Take some time to prepare ahead of time, and you'll be rewarded with a smooth process, along with the confidence that only comes with doing it yourself.

1. Get the socket you need to remove the oil filter cover. I use a universal AND a 6" extension as well, which really makes it easy.
2. Check what size socket (mine is 10mm on the JSW) needed to free the metal tube from the valve cover. Take two of them out to really make it easy to flex out of the way.
3. I use aluminum foil, doubled, to wrap the larger (EGR?) tube with the mesh sleeve. This prevents staining it with oil (chronic dealership snafu).
4. Get a star driver socket kit (Torx) if you don't have one. TWO sizes are needed to remove the splash guard under the engine to get to the drain plug. I am sorry I do not remember the sizes (25 is the smaller one needed, I think).

One more thing... These cars are low to the ground. I actually used a floor jack and set my car on 4 cinder blocks when I changed mine a couple of weeks ago so I had LOTS of room under there to move around. Seems like a lot of trouble until you find out how much easier it is this way! It took about 15 minutes. If you don't have some of these tools, this is a perfect excuse to get them. A nice 3 ton floor jack isn't that expensive. Cinder blocks are cheap!

btw-I change the oil myself mostly because I want to know that every bolt and screw (and the drain plug) is NOT overtightened or misthreaded, and that there is no oil spilled on the motor. ALSO, when you refill, take the time to remove the rubber flange from the oil fill port. It pulls off easily-CLEAN the dust away carefully so you don't wash it into your crankcase. Do you think a dealership oil change level personnel is going to take the time to do this right? Something to think about!

Oh, and yet one more thing. When I went in for my first oil change on my old 2010 JSW, the dealership left it 700mL low (arguably 500mL low), and the dipstick was barely showing oil at the tip of the stick! My new 2014 JSW takes nearly 4700mL to reach top of hash marks too. I know that mid-hashmark is sufficient, but it is not overfilled at top of hashmark. I like to start there in case it drops in the oil change interval. Here's the thread describing the biffed oil change:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=300065&highlight=oil+change
Look at post # 4 in that thread (PlaneJob)- eye popping. Yes, mine also said 4 liters used. Needless to say... I prefer to handle this "simple" task myself!

to clarify, 2014 has the older engine, with air-exchange intercooler to cool compressed air from turbo prior to combustion.

the 2015 has a coolant-air intercooler, which does not allow room for the oil filter which is removed from the top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1SwwbJ-f-8 shows several details, including a view of the oil filter hiding and only visible from under the car.

cevans · Dec 27, 2014

BKmetz said:
As I myself have not seen the underside of the new EA288 engine I cannot verify if the oil drain adapter will fit. However, since VW already uses the same oil filter housing design for the VR6, 2.0T, and the 2.5, logic SHOULD dictate that the oil drain adapter will fit the EA288 as the oil filter faces down instead of up. It sure looks like it would fit.

We will have to wait for someone who own an EA288 and the oil drain adapter to verify fitment for us.

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.

no-blue-screen · Dec 28, 2014

I am not intimidated... But then again I just picked up my silk blue 15 golf last night off the showroom floor....ribbons and all.

Salesman said not to worry about it.....bring it to the dealer. I will be sure I detail every part of the process when the time comes.

Matt927 · Dec 28, 2014

no-blue-screen said:
Salesman said not to worry about it.....bring it to the dealer.

Right-O

no-blue-screen · Dec 28, 2014

Matt927 said:
Right-O

He was a nice guy.....I think he knew I would not bring it to the dealer. That was just his natural response when I told him about difficulty ...lol

dubStrom · Dec 28, 2014

dubStrom said:
Take some time to prepare ahead of time, and you'll be rewarded with a smooth process, along with the confidence that only comes with doing it yourself.

1. Get the socket... uh, wait a minute! This is way more work than MKVI....

Well... obviously the new EA288 engine will take a little more planning! I did not know how bad it is Meerschm!

Imagine how many things a poorly trained or moderately impatient oil change tech can flex too hard, overtighten upon reinstallation or mix up bolts or forget them entirely! I've never seen an oil filter buried like that. Unfortunately, even MORE reason to take care of it yourself or hand it to a GOOD mechanic.

Nice car (great review Corey!, THANKS!), but with oil change nightmare for the do-it-yourselfer!

My new garage will have (has, though not covered yet!) a pit for access to undercarriage. You'll really need it with EA288 if you haven't got a lift! You can at least set it on blocks or jack stands before you start. Wow.

My first oil change on my 2014 was uneventful. I had NO idea how lucky I was to have overhead oil filter access, however slightly obscured!

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