09 TDI Bypass Filter Installation
I installed the Amsoil Bypass filter in my 2001 Golf and was so impressed by the oil analysis results and the duration between oil changes that I decided to install one in my 09 Jetta Sportwagen. Regrettably the engine compartment of the Jetta was either designed for mechanics with miniature hands or on the assumption that the engine is so reliable it would not need any maintenance..ever!
It only took one look at the oil sender unit's location to realize that it would be a daunting task to replace it with the Amsoil T-fitting. Not to mention there is absolutely no space for a bypass filter cartridge inside the engine compartment..anywhere!
Nevertheless, with these caveats in mind, and driven by my primary goal of prolonging my engine life through the use of doubly filtered oil, I decided to forge ahead to see what I could accomplish. To my surprise I was successful but nowhere near as satisfied with the installation when compared to the Golf.
So, for those who are not faint-at-heart and mechanically inclined here is how I accomplished this difficult installation.
First you will need the following parts from Amsoil:
BMK-21 filter mounting kit
EaBP90 Bypass filter
5 ft. BP251 hose (the kit does not include enough hose)
BP-45 Oil sender adapter kit for European cars
BP-89 Return line swivel fitting, nut and sealing washer
There is a very large and empty space underneath the driver's side fender that is an almost perfect location for the filter. On the negative side it is not well protected from impact in the case of an accident but it is the only satisfactory location that I could find. The following link to a picture shows the space after the front wheel-well cowling is removed (note that the forum limits me to 10 pictures so I have created links to some):
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hzMMhTYa9TNA4UGGvtp00w?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
And here is another looking more directly into the engine compartment. You will notice the aluminum strut that connects to my skid plate. I mounted the filter kit to this although it could have been mounted on the frame above with self tapping screws.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-wagHWEQk-ni23a3keXc6Q?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
Here is my final mounting solution for the kit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tMN6KsYlWScfWXgTpijdvA?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
And with the filter connected. Note that the two hydraulic hoses feed nicely up into the engine compartment through a hole above this space:
Now to mount the return hose. This requires just about the entire piece of hydraulic hose included in the kit thus the need for the extra hose mentioned above. A dremel tool is required to cut a section out of the oil cap in order to fit the brass part of the swivel fitting:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4tm4jt0QL1IiHlU46Fh-tA?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
The underside of the oil cap needs a little flattening to fit the nut:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lorJV6B7J5EHOprsFWq-zA?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
The brass fitting should fit snuggly. A little silicon helps to ensure a seal:
The sealing washer and lock nut are on the underside of the oil cap. Because of the thickness of the cap the lock nut doesn't engage the nylon locker very well so I used lock-tite on the threads to ensure that the nut won't vibrate loose. (A small piece of rubber temporarily fills the drain hold to ensure that silicon doesn't get into it).
The return hose with the hydraulic fitting attaches to the swivel connector and leads back through the engine compartment, along the top of the radiator to the center connector on the mounting kit.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/KrR4uGQKvxAKXCXtDakrmw?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
Now for the very hard part; connecting the supply hose (Oil Pressure Line) to the Oil filter housing. To accomplish this you must move the upper air filter housing aside (I hung it to the hood with straps to get it out of the way) then remove the warm air intake hose, the intake air duct cover and finally the lower air filter housing. All of which are fairly easy. This diagram shows the single bolt that holds the lower air intake housing to the frame. You remove this bolt, as well as the warm air connecting hose shown at the top left. At this point you can gently lift the housing up; there are two friction connectors holding everything in place. Lifting up will loosen lower air intake from them. You can either gently move the intake up and in a counterclockwise direction which brings the air guide hose with it or remove the air guide hose first and lift straight up (see next item).
This is the warm air intake housing. It does not have to be removed but the air guide hose shown connecting to the left of it should in order to free the lower air intake housing for removal. You unlatch the top of the house and remove it exposing the top part of the hose. The bottom part of the hose connects to the lower air intake with two plastic latches. Push them both in, pull the lower part of the hose out and then lift the top part of the hose out of the housing.
This is a better picture of the air guide hose. The bottom has been swung around. You can see one of the latches that connects it to the lower air intake house. The other latch is on the opposite side.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ulK9z9SEvitdWXT-RW707g?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
Once the air intake apparatus is removed you can see from photo what is exposed (and it is not nice). In the center of the photo you will see the oil pressure sensor located at the bottom of the oil filter house. It looks like a large nut with a red cap coming out of one end. It is almost hidden by the two hot water hoses and rightmost to these what I believe to be the turbine intake.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/85ZoO1Oa4Nbq4KfPj-1e8g?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
At this point I almost bailed out but decided to perservere. Fortunately the pressure sensor is relatively easy to remove using a 25mm or 15/16 in. box end wrench. It is a tight fit but there is enough maneuverability to get the head of the wrench on the sensor head and ease it out.
Now, there is an electrical wire connecting to the sensor and it is best to unlatch it before removal. In my case I didn't thus each turn of the sensor twisted the wire. However it is a very strong wire and survived the ordeal and I was able to unlatch the connector after I had removed the sensor. I think the safer route would have been to unlatch it prior to sensor removal. At the rightmost end of the sensor, where the wire enters the connector, there is a latch that when lifted disconnects the connecter allowing it to be pulled straight off (by pulling right).
The wire is protected by a flexible plastic insulator tube. You must be careful when moving this as other wires go through it. If you gently remove the connector from the sensor and then carefully pull the wire harness up there is enough harness to reconnect the sensor when it is later connected to the Amsoil fitting.
This is the Amsoil 'Street T' (BP-33) without any additional connections except for the European car adapter (NPT to metric) fitting at the left. This is what must be inserted back into the oil filter housing (where the pressure sensor was removed) before any other connectors are added. I added lock-tite to the back half of the threads (opposite the tip) to ensure a solid fit but exposing enough brass to ensure a good electrical ground for the pressure sensor.
As an aside there are two parts to the European adapter, make sure that the metric and not the NPT thread are inserted into the oil filter housing. The pressure sensor screws easily into the metric to NPT fitting thus it is the other one (NPT to metric) that must be on the leftmost side of this T and screws into the oil filter housing. Because the two thread types are very close it would be easy to force the NPT thread into the Oil filter house but the result could be painful.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/C_kdrYy0RM1Vxz9ggeW05A?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
This is where you need good manual dexterity. Grab the right tip of the fitting with your right hand and work it down and under the hot water hoses while watching until the thread engages the opening in the oil filter housing. Eventually they will line up and begin to (easily) thread one into the other. Manually tighten the fitting until it won't turn any more. At this point fit a box-end wrench (13mm I believe) and screw the whole mechanism into the oil filter housing until the threaded part is entirely encased and the wrench part is tight against the housing. The other threaded holes (for the oil sensor and bypass fitting) must be pointed to face up and slightly forward. If this is not the case then use one wrench to hold the metric adapter from turning while using another wrench to twist the other two outside parts to the right orientation. You will have to work around the hot water hoses but they are very flexible and can be moved one way or the other to expose the rest of the part. It is a fair bit of work but patience pays off.
Once inserted you must now add the oil pressure sensor and a hydraulic fitting the the Amsoil Street T. This picture shows what it will look like with the two additional fittings.
Add a little bit of lock-tite to half the threads of the the oil pressure sensor (as described above) and tighten it into the Street T. Do the same with hydraulic fitting adapter and screw in tight. This picture shows a box-end wrench tightening the oil pressure sensor.
This picture shows the hydraulic hose from the bypass filter mount's output connecting to the hydraulic fitting adapter on the Street T. This is the additional piece of hose that you purchase extra from Amsoil. You will notice how uncomfortably close the oil sensor and hose are to the hot water hoses.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JF1l3MARGHn-Cd4XovGhEg?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
Carefully reattach the oil pressure sensor wire to the sensor (it is U shaped and fits in only one orientation).
To avoid abrasion between the fittings and the hot water hoses I cut some roofing aluminum into oblong shaped tabs and wrapped the pieces around the hoses and between the fittings (they are the brown pieces below)and then siliconed them in place. This is a
must otherwise the fittings will abraid and eventually wear through the hoses. The aluminum pieces must wrap around at least half of the hose and separate the hose from the fittings. When you're sure they are in the right place pump in (or use your fingers) the silicon. Here is a picture of the results:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hoL7O495Mx-v37o_96OXRw?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
The hydraulic hoses should be tied together with plastic cable ties and also fastened to the cowling above the radiator.
The cowling in the wheel well has a vent for cooling the disk brakes which butts up against the bypass filter. If I had mounted the filter higher by bolting it onto the car frame this could have been prevented. Instead I used a dremel cutter to partially cut out a circle in the cowling about the same size as the bypass filter and directly below it. I kept the plastic cutout connected to the main cowling to provide some protection to the filter element. With this hole the cowling fit properly. I then cut and bent a small piece of heavy guage aluminum and screwed it onto the lower plastic bar of the cowling in order to force the round plastic cutout against the bottom of the filter to allow more air to move by and into the wheel well (to cool the brakes when necessary). Here is the result:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/r4z5dmJxmR0TBpwNrEPsPQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfktP_di5PSLA&feat=directlink
Compared to my original, relatively easy bypass installation on the Golf this was a much more difficult job taking about 10 hours to complete. A couple of things leave me less than satisfied; the need for abrasion protection between the hot water hoses and the oil sensor and the requirement to mount the bypass filter outside of the engine compartment in a location where it could more easily be compromised.
Nevertheless it is filtering quite nicely with no leaks and, who knows, it may still be doing so when the odometer passes the half million mile mark. If and when that happens without any undue side effects due to the installation I will look back and be quite satisfied.
Regards,
John Sloan