No big oil filter needed for Jetta 1.8T?

I was just searching for an online source for an oil filter for my
daughter's 2003 Jetta 1.8T and was surprised to find that the new larger
oil filter is only recommended for the Passat 1.8T. I had assumed that
the big filter would be just as necessary for the Jetta/Golf/Beetle
1.8T. It never occurred to me that the Passat 1.8T is engine is that
different. What's the story?

Bill
78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02

Take out the CAT to reply by email

Passat only held about 3.7qts vs the golf/jetta about 4.5qts. If there's
room I see no reason why not to use the bigger filter. It should add .3 or
..4 more oil.


"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
>I was just searching for an online source for an oil filter for my
> daughter's 2003 Jetta 1.8T and was surprised to find that the new larger
> oil filter is only recommended for the Passat 1.8T. I had assumed that
> the big filter would be just as necessary for the Jetta/Golf/Beetle
> 1.8T. It never occurred to me that the Passat 1.8T is engine is that
> different. What's the story?
>
> Bill
> 78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
> 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
>
> Take out the CAT to reply by email

Hi Bill,

I've been looking into this. My understanding is that the larger filter
(part No. 068 115 561 B) is part of VW's response to engine sludge problems
in the Passat 1.8T (I think using synthetic oil is also part of the remedy.
My car came with the 5W40 Castrol Syntec in it.) I've been told that to fit
the 1.8T engine into the Passat, VW used a smaller than usual oil pan.

I want to use the larger filter on my 2006 GTI 1.8T (just to get a bit more
oil in the system) but the dealer and VW Customer Service both tell me
they'll only install it as a "customer supplied oil filter" and if I have an
engine warranty claim, the use of an oil filter other than the one specified
for my car (part No. 06A 115 561 B) might well cause my warranty to be
voided.

I want to find a way to get VW to tell me it's OK to use the larger filter
on my car but no luck so far. All the VW dealer service managers I've
checked with in my area think it's a good idea to increase oil volume, but
stand their ground on the warranty issue. They tell me the filters are
essentially the same except for volume. And it's a VW part. They did say
some of the after market filters that fit do not have the check valve (or
valves I'm not sure which) the VW filters have. I have no idea if this is
true or not or to which brands this may apply.

- Jim K

"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
>I was just searching for an online source for an oil filter for my
> daughter's 2003 Jetta 1.8T and was surprised to find that the new larger
> oil filter is only recommended for the Passat 1.8T. I had assumed that
> the big filter would be just as necessary for the Jetta/Golf/Beetle
> 1.8T. It never occurred to me that the Passat 1.8T is engine is that
> different. What's the story?
>
> Bill
> 78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
> 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
>
> Take out the CAT to reply by email

Passat is a longitudinally-mounted engine, pan was modified to fit and
reduced oil capacity to 3.7 qts.

Other VW models using this engine mount it transversely, oil capacity is
about 4.7 quarts.

The problem is not really ":sludge"-- the oil cokes because of high temps
of turbocharged engine and insufficient oil capacity. The result are "turbo
turds," small bits of coked oil that eventually clog oil pump inlet screen.




"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
>I was just searching for an online source for an oil filter for my
> daughter's 2003 Jetta 1.8T and was surprised to find that the new larger
> oil filter is only recommended for the Passat 1.8T. I had assumed that
> the big filter would be just as necessary for the Jetta/Golf/Beetle
> 1.8T. It never occurred to me that the Passat 1.8T is engine is that
> different. What's the story?
>
> Bill
> 78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
> 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
>
> Take out the CAT to reply by email

Passat is a longitudinally-mounted engine, pan was modified to fit and
reduced oil capacity to 3.7 qts.

Other VW models using this engine mount it transversely, oil capacity is
about 4.7 quarts.

The problem is not really ":sludge"-- the oil cokes because of high temps
of turbocharged engine and insufficient oil capacity. The result are "turbo
turds," small bits of coked oil that eventually clog oil pump inlet screen.




"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
>I was just searching for an online source for an oil filter for my
> daughter's 2003 Jetta 1.8T and was surprised to find that the new larger
> oil filter is only recommended for the Passat 1.8T. I had assumed that
> the big filter would be just as necessary for the Jetta/Golf/Beetle
> 1.8T. It never occurred to me that the Passat 1.8T is engine is that
> different. What's the story?
>
> Bill
> 78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93
> 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02
>
> Take out the CAT to reply by email

> I want to use the larger filter on my 2006 GTI 1.8T (just to get a bit more
> oil in the system) but the dealer and VW Customer Service both tell me
> they'll only install it as a "customer supplied oil filter" and if I have an
> engine warranty claim, the use of an oil filter other than the one specified
> for my car (part No. 06A 115 561 B) might well cause my warranty to be
> voided.

This is ridiculous. MY BS meter is pegged. They can't void your
warranty if you used a part comparable to the original spec, and how
could they possibly claim that their own filter is not comparable to
their original spec? If push came to shove, they lose on that --
they're just being overly cautious, to the point of absurdity.

Furthermore, the warranty could only be affected if the substituted
filter were the cause of the failure. I can't imagine a situation in
which having a greater oil capacity could be anything but good. If the
filter itself were to fail, then that's a filter-warranty issue, and no
matter which filter you use, there's still a possibility of failure of
the filter.

I dunno -- I've been substituting larger oil filters for a long, long
time on my cars (when a larger substitute is available --
cross-reference charts in catalogs are a very useful thing). More oil
capacity is an unmitigated Good Thing.

Hi Brian,

I agree completely.

However I did independently check with 3 different VW dealers in my area and
VW of America's customer service line. They all stated nearly identical
warnings. Additionally, one service manager said any dealer who installed
the larger filter as correct equipment without noting "customer supplied
filter" on the service record was "putting themselves at risk." Of what I'm
not sure, paying for denied warrantee work perhaps?

A family member was a warrantee manager for a company I won't mention. She
said they wouldn't have considered such a question because there was no
cost-benefit to it. Only if there were enough complaints/claims over an
issue would a question be considered... like in the case of the 1.8T in the
Passat. And that warrantee claims were denied sometimes on flimsy basis to
save the company $. Seems like a policy or political situation rather than
technical. I bet if I could somehow get the question in front of VW
technical management, it would be resolved.

I agree the chance of using the larger filter causing problems is very low,
assuming I am right that the filters have no significant differences between
them other than size, but I also believe that as a policy matter, one of
VW's roving warrantee people could decide to void a warrantee claim based on
parts used on the a car that are not the VW specified part for that
model/engine.

BS? certainly IMHO, but I'm retired, on a fixed income as they say, and
can't afford to take chances with the warrantee on my car. Too bad as I
believe this would be, as you say, a good thing.

I have a couple of avenues left to explore and will do so. I could just
swap the thing out and top the oil up after the warranty oil change is done
and swap the specified one back on before taking the car in for service, but
what a hassle. Shouldn't be necessary.

- Jim K

"Brian Running" > wrote in message
. com...
>> I want to use the larger filter on my 2006 GTI 1.8T (just to get a bit
>> more oil in the system) but the dealer and VW Customer Service both tell
>> me they'll only install it as a "customer supplied oil filter" and if I
>> have an engine warranty claim, the use of an oil filter other than the
>> one specified for my car (part No. 06A 115 561 B) might well cause my
>> warranty to be voided.
>
> This is ridiculous. MY BS meter is pegged. They can't void your warranty
> if you used a part comparable to the original spec, and how could they
> possibly claim that their own filter is not comparable to their original
> spec? If push came to shove, they lose on that --
> they're just being overly cautious, to the point of absurdity.
>
> Furthermore, the warranty could only be affected if the substituted filter
> were the cause of the failure. I can't imagine a situation in which
> having a greater oil capacity could be anything but good. If the filter
> itself were to fail, then that's a filter-warranty issue, and no matter
> which filter you use, there's still a possibility of failure of the
> filter.
>
> I dunno -- I've been substituting larger oil filters for a long, long time
> on my cars (when a larger substitute is available --
> cross-reference charts in catalogs are a very useful thing). More oil
> capacity is an unmitigated Good Thing.

In article <cmWBf.11036$iD.168@trnddc08>,
"JAMES KLOTZ" > wrote:

> Hi Bill,
>
> I've been looking into this. My understanding is that the larger filter
> (part No. 068 115 561 B) is part of VW's response to engine sludge problems
> in the Passat 1.8T (I think using synthetic oil is also part of the remedy.
> My car came with the 5W40 Castrol Syntec in it.) I've been told that to fit
> the 1.8T engine into the Passat, VW used a smaller than usual oil pan.
>
> I want to use the larger filter on my 2006 GTI 1.8T (just to get a bit more
> oil in the system) but the dealer and VW Customer Service both tell me
> they'll only install it as a "customer supplied oil filter" and if I have an
> engine warranty claim, the use of an oil filter other than the one specified
> for my car (part No. 06A 115 561 B) might well cause my warranty to be
> voided.

Thanks James and others for the reply. It all makes sense now. By the
way James, in my opinion, if you use synthetic oil I suspect your GTI
will do just fine with the regular oil filter. Apparently the issue is
not filtration but volume. My 95 Golf 2.0 had dino oil in it with 7500
change intervals by the previous owner until 68000 miles and I've used
synthetic to the present miles (109,000). As far as I can tell, the
engine doesn't burn any oil at all.

And VW started off using dino oil in the 1.8T..at least they did when we
bought our new Passat in 2002. However, starting at 10K I always took
my own synthetic oil to the dealership for the routine oil changes until
VW switched to synthetic themselves. Lucky I did, I guess. I suspect
the sludging problem has more to do with their original dino oil spec
and owners who didn't change it often enough than with oil volume or
with filtration.

FWIW, I'm 99% sure that Audi recommends 10,000 mile change interval (or
did last summer when I found it on Google) for the 1.8T in the A4
following the switch to synthetic oil.

And I've heard that oil change intervals are considerably longer in
Europe than they are in the US. I believe I have a Mann or other German
oil filter at home that says: "30000 km or 2 jahr" on it.

Bill

Hello Bill,

Yes I believe my car will be fine with the standard filter. This is my
first car with a turbo and I'm a bit nervous about the increased
temperatures and pressures so I was looking for ways to ensure long
engine/turbo life. Proper oil changes and synthetic oil are at the top of
my list. My owner's manual calls for oil changes every 5000 miles with oil
meeting VW 502 00 spec. Here that is the Castrol Syntec 5W40 as provided by
the dealer. With my previous car (1998 GTI VR6) I changed the engine oil
twice as often as the warranty requirement and I never had an engine
problem. The first H2O cooled VW I've owned (of several) of which that was
true. But changing the synthetic oil every 2500 miles seems a bit much.
But I know some people do so.

Regards,
- Jim K

"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
> In article <cmWBf.11036$iD.168@trnddc08>,
> "JAMES KLOTZ" > wrote:
>
>> Hi Bill,
>>
>> I've been looking into this. My understanding is that the larger filter
>> (part No. 068 115 561 B) is part of VW's response to engine sludge
>> problems
>> in the Passat 1.8T (I think using synthetic oil is also part of the
>> remedy.
>> My car came with the 5W40 Castrol Syntec in it.) I've been told that to
>> fit
>> the 1.8T engine into the Passat, VW used a smaller than usual oil pan.
>>
>> I want to use the larger filter on my 2006 GTI 1.8T (just to get a bit
>> more
>> oil in the system) but the dealer and VW Customer Service both tell me
>> they'll only install it as a "customer supplied oil filter" and if I have
>> an
>> engine warranty claim, the use of an oil filter other than the one
>> specified
>> for my car (part No. 06A 115 561 B) might well cause my warranty to be
>> voided.
>
> Thanks James and others for the reply. It all makes sense now. By the
> way James, in my opinion, if you use synthetic oil I suspect your GTI
> will do just fine with the regular oil filter. Apparently the issue is
> not filtration but volume. My 95 Golf 2.0 had dino oil in it with 7500
> change intervals by the previous owner until 68000 miles and I've used
> synthetic to the present miles (109,000). As far as I can tell, the
> engine doesn't burn any oil at all.
>
> And VW started off using dino oil in the 1.8T..at least they did when we
> bought our new Passat in 2002. However, starting at 10K I always took
> my own synthetic oil to the dealership for the routine oil changes until
> VW switched to synthetic themselves. Lucky I did, I guess. I suspect
> the sludging problem has more to do with their original dino oil spec
> and owners who didn't change it often enough than with oil volume or
> with filtration.
>
> FWIW, I'm 99% sure that Audi recommends 10,000 mile change interval (or
> did last summer when I found it on Google) for the 1.8T in the A4
> following the switch to synthetic oil.
>
> And I've heard that oil change intervals are considerably longer in
> Europe than they are in the US. I believe I have a Mann or other German
> oil filter at home that says: "30000 km or 2 jahr" on it.
>
> Bill

I agree 100%, but I also see the dealers side of the issue. If VW states an
oil filter with a certain part number is what should be used then that's
what they put on. This even goes for the outside oil change shops who look
in a book and install the filter stated in their book. That keeps all the
lawyers happy!