Larger Oil Filters for our 4-cyl Engines!!

[TechnoTrix'd]

Hey gang,

I thought that I would put this information out as a public service announcement to our general VW community.

Lot's of supporting information below, but the bottom line is a bigger oil filter for "ANY" small engine is a good thing.

VW makes a larger filter that will fit our 4-cyl engines (1.8t, 2.0, 2.5) and provides almost a full quart of more oil. This is the standard one-piece large capacity engine oil filter from VW which fits the 20mm thread and has the exact same ring seal diameter (most important fact) as our current filters. The OEM filter manufactures for VW are Mahle & Mann.

This is the oil filter that VW is now requiring all dealers to use when working on the B5 and B6 platform's (Passat/A4's plus TT's, certain GTI's, Golf's and Jetta's) based cars with the 1.8t engines. This information was released via VW Technical Bulletin #04-01 Group 17. If we have any VW tech's, and they have a copy of this, it would be cool to post it here (thxs).

Main reason for this tech bulletin was that these cars were designed with a smaller wetsump which contains less oil (4.5 quarts vs. 4.8 quarts). The lower volume of oil has lead to a high number of heat related engine failures.

So, we benefit, yeah!!

I personally have found these new filters via ECS Tunning's website (http://www.ecstuning.com/). They offer them individually or in a 5-pack or 10-pack group. I am sure you web-savvy folks can find numerous other suppliers, and if you do, please post those links here (thxs).

My personal experience with the larger filter has been good. Fits in the OEM area without problem, oil pressure run lower the before, and when I did my first oil change, the oil comming out of my 97,000 mile engine looked better than when it did at 20,000 miles.

Here is a very good write-up regarding the benefits of using a larger oil filter with smaller engine. This was written completly independent of any manufacture biased, so this is just basic good car maintenance/performance practices.

Also, the same upgrade can be accomplishe with non-VW filters, but you will need to go through the trial and error process of finding the right FRAM or DELCO filter that will fit the space provided.

If someone does this, or already has done it, post back the manufacture and part number info. Cool...

Originally Posted by The Engine Oil Bible website

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

Larger filters on standard cars?

There's a school of thought which says that enlarging the oil filter on your car is A Good Thing. Why is this?
The small oil filters fitted to engines these days run with quite a high back pressure, and the bypass valve trips at about 3500rpm. That means that your oil is not being filtered when the engine is spinning faster than 3500rpm. As the oil filter does its job and starts to clog up, that rpm value can be lower.

If you increase the size of the filter, this will raise the rpm at which the bypass valve will switch. With a bigger filter and lower back pressure, for the same rpm (prior to bypass valve operation) less engine power will be lost in the filter. Bigger filter means better filtering and more power at low to mid revs. Clever eh? But there's some things you need to be aware of if you're going to try this approach, all of which are relevant, and none of which I can confirm or deny

• Bigger filter = more "dead" space = more oil. Remember you'd need to add more oil to the engine to keep the oil level at the correct mark on the dipstick. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - more oil doing the same job theoretically means less stress on the oil.
• Oil may take a little longer to circulate around the engine after startup, as the pump may have to fill up the larger capacity oil filter. With modern filters this ought not to be a problem though because all but the cheapest filters have backflow preventers which keep oil in the filter when the engine is off.
• Availability of filters and fouling. If you put a larger filter on it might foul something else in the engine bay. That is if you can find a larger filter to start with. The rule of thumb is to go to a motor factors shop, and find the oil filter that was designed for your engine. Then look through the myriad of larger oil filter boxes for a bigger filter that has the same screw thread and sealing ring diameter. Nowadays most spin-on filters have a 20mm screw thread so that's not going to be the hard part. Finding the same sealing ring diameter is the thing to be careful of. And don't ask the people at the parts counter. Because of liability issues, they're unlikely to sell you anything other than exact filter for your make and model of vehicle.

.

Hope this is helpful to the community.

Take care of your pod and your pod will take care of you....TechnoTrix'd....

[bugasm99]

sounds good to me. I have a lot about the pros and cons of the TDi filters on the 2.0/ 1.8t, but this is good to see an actual high volume filter.

[Sukhoidave]

I don't need all the tech stuff. Just the idea of a larger filter and more oil in the engine sounds like a no brainer to me. Next oil change I'm doing it. ECS sells a nice oil change kit with 5 quarts of synthetic oil, the larger filter, and an ECS magnetic drainplug and an aluminum washer for just under $50.

[iScott]

I hope to hell no one lets their girlfriend change their oil. No offense, ladies.

[iScott]

Originally Posted by TechnoTrix'd

I personally have found these new filters via ECS Tunning's website...

Thanks for the info! I am actually changing my oil this weekend. Any chance that a store will sell the larger filters or am I better off ordering one online and waiting 'til next week?

[Shay]

Originally Posted by iScott

I hope to hell no one lets their girlfriend change their oil. No offense, ladies.

[TechnoTrix'd]

Originally Posted by iScott

Thanks for the info! I am actually changing my oil this weekend. Any chance that a store will sell the larger filters or am I better off ordering one online and waiting 'til next week?

I have not seen any of the Mahle or Mann filters for sale "over-the-counter", and I don't know what a comparable Fram or Delco filter would be.

Any VW dealership will carry them, but they won't be open on a Sunday.

I'd just order and do the change next weekend, my 2cents.

BTW, you might want to think about that comment above. I have three daughters and each one will be able to change a car's oil and replace a tire before they drive.

Trust me, being a "guy" does not provide you an exclusive genetic "mechanic" gene...

TechnoTrix'd.....

[SilverSportNOLA]

Not to down Jiffy Lube ... they may be the best ... and they are a local company, heck the guys that started it graduated from my high school a 2 years before me. But I don't let anyone else feed Silver.

As for the filter, some of us have known about this for a while, I use a K&N or Mobil1 filter, but some of my GTI buddies use one from I belive a VR6 engine, it is not a whole quart larger ... it is a whole quart that it holds ... so 1/2 quart more oil.

[dan]

I have a dealer do changes on the wifes beetle.

but, for the record, she has done oil changes and more on some of our other vehicles. she likes to get down and dirty and the knowledge she gains by actually turning a wrench and asking questions, keeps her from getting taken at any dealer or repair place that she inevitably needs to take a vehicle to. If they give her a line of BS, she's likely to realize it and call them out on it.

[wawalker]

The reason the Passat and Audi A4 1.8Ts are recommended to use this filter is because they were experiencing oil sludge problems due to higher temps in the engine oil because they (from what I've heard) carry .8 quart less oil--so adding this filter still doesn't even bring the capacity to what we have in our NB 1.8Ts. The Passat/A4 engine is mounted longitudinally (front to back) versus tranversely (side to side) as in the Jetta/Golf/Beetle and the oil pan has to clear a cross-member. I have seen the TSB specifying the filter for Passat/A4, but not for others--and my dealer says it isn't on all 1.8Ts. It's a good idea for sure anyway, especially if you are modded. I'm not going to rush out and switch over though--at least until my supply of filters are gone.

[dan]

UPDATE:

We took her beetle in for an oil change at the dealer today.

After a few minutes of "discussing" the installation of the Passat filter, they grudgingly agreed to install it. First, the service guy said they couldnt do it, and he had never heard of such a thing. I asked for "someone slightly smarter", and he fetched the service manager, who said it had a different size gasket. After informing him that the gaskets were indeed the same size, he said that he couldnt do it due to warranty issues. After agreeing with me that at 41K miles my car was indeed out of warranty, told me he would talk to the tech about putting one on.

End of story, they installed the big filter, and on the invoice it actually says "INSTALLED PASSAT OIL FILTER". So I guess this can be done at the dealer, just might require some "convincing".

If anyone is interested, the number on the filter is 068-115-561-B

[LadybugEwa]

Originally Posted by iScott

I hope to hell no one lets their girlfriend change their oil. No offense, ladies.

It doesn't quite work like that. If it did, I could say, "You suck! No offense, man." Hypothethically speaking of course...

[dan]

Originally Posted by LadybugEwa

It doesn't quite work like that. If it did, I could say, "You suck! No offense, man." Hypothethically speaking of course...

[TechnoTrix'd]

Originally Posted by dan

UPDATE:

We took her beetle in for an oil change at the dealer today.

After a few minutes of "discussing" the installation of the Passat filter, they grudgingly agreed to install it. First, the service guy said they couldnt do it, and he had never heard of such a thing. I asked for "someone slightly smarter", and he fetched the service manager, who said it had a different size gasket. After informing him that the gaskets were indeed the same size, he said that he couldnt do it due to warranty issues. After agreeing with me that at 41K miles my car was indeed out of warranty, told me he would talk to the tech about putting one on.

End of story, they installed the big filter, and on the invoice it actually says "INSTALLED PASSAT OIL FILTER". So I guess this can be done at the dealer, just might require some "convincing".

If anyone is interested, the number on the filter is 068-115-561-B

Alright, chalk one up for the informed consumer..

If any else experiences an equaly clueless service department, have then bring out both filters, and show them yourselves that the seals are in-fact, the same size.

Way to go Dan, nice work educating the dealership..

TechnoTrix'd....

[dan]

Originally Posted by TechnoTrix'd

Alright, chalk one up for the informed consumer..

If any else experiences an equaly clueless service department, have then bring out both filters, and show them yourselves that the seals are in-fact, the same size.

Way to go Dan, nice work educating the dealership..

TechnoTrix'd....

Hell, thanks for supplying the information in the first place!

[noR]

Anyone figure out what the Mobil 1 equiv filter part # is yet?

[noR]

Originally Posted by TechnoTrix'd

If you can, please post this info on the thread.

Information found on the Mobil 1 website: http://mobil1.com/USA-English/MotorO....aspx?option=1

OEM Matching Oil filer(s)

Year: 2001
Make: Volkswagen
Model: Beetle
Engine Type: 4cyl. 1.8Liter Turbocharged

Mobil 1 Model: M1-205

Fram Model: PH2870A

Purolator Model: L20252


Larger Oil Filter(S)

Year: 2001
Make: Volkswagen
Model: Passat
Engine Type: 4cyl. 1.8Liter Turbocharged

Mobil 1 Model: M1-301

Fram Model: PH3569

Purolator Model: L30257

Well how BOUT that.