2011-2018 VW Jetta Oil & Filter Replacement

Written By: Benjamin Gee
  • Comments: 3
2011-2018 VW Jetta Oil & Filter Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

21

Time Required

1 hour

Introduction

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    • Ensure car jack is ready by rotating handle clockwise completely

    • Locate metal beam under car used for jacking

    • Position car jack platform under metal beam

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    • Pump car jack handle to raise up car

    • Raise up car stand 4 notches

    • Place car stand underneath wheel metal beam

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    • Lower car onto the stands by rotating the jack handle counter-clockwise (very gently)

    • Depending on your model of jack, the jack may lower rapidly or slowly. Do your best to lower the car gently

    • Repeat steps 1-3 on driver side of car

    • At this point, both sides should be raised off the ground

    • Place clean cardboard underneath the car

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    • Locate the oil container underneath the car (this will require crawling under the car and laying on your back

    • Locate the bolt used to drain the oil

    • Position the oil drip pan underneath the bolt

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    • Loosen the bolt by turning the 5/16 allen wrench counter-clockwise

    • It may take a significant amount of force to loosen the bolt

    • Once loose, remove the bolt by hand

    • Once the bolt is removed, oil will immediately flow out

    • Make sure the oil drip pan is positioned well

    • Once the bolt is removed, you will get a significant amount of oil on your hand

    • Don't drop the bolt into the oil pan. It will be slippery!

    • Wait ~10 minutes for all the oil to drain out

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    • Clean up the drainage hole with paper towel

    • You may need to use a paper towel to wipe up any beading oil

    • Insert the bolt, turning clockwise

    • Tighten the bolt with the 5/16 allen wrench until the wrench won't turn any further. This is plenty tight.

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    • Position drip pan underneath the plastic cover as shown in picture

    • Open the hood of the car

    • Locate the oil filter

    • The oil filter is near the front of the car

    • The oil filter looks like a cylinder

  8. Loosen the oil filter by hand

    • Loosen the oil filter by hand

    • It may take a significant amount of force to loosen the oil filer

    • A filter wrench can be used to help loosen the filter

    • Turn the filter clockwise to loosen (from the perspective of the user) - see video if you're confused

    • Remove oil filter

    • Once you remove the filter, some remaining oil will spill out, onto your hand, and into your well placed oil drip pan

    • The filter may be very slippery, don't drop it!

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    • Place old oil filter upside down on the knob in the oil drip pan

  10. Get new oil filter

    • Get new oil filter

    • Install oil filter

    • Turn the oil filter counter clockwise to install (as appears to the user)

    • Tighten by hand until both hands can't get it any tighter - This is plenty tight

  11. Wipe up the oil that spilled out when you replaced the filter

    • Wipe up the oil that spilled out when you replaced the filter

    • This spilled oil is normal

    • Use plenty of paper towel

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    • Wipe up any oil that spilled below the filter

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    • Locate the oil cap

    • Remove the oil cap

    • Place funnel into oil cavity

  14. Pour in new oil

    • Pour in new oil

    • Engine oil is sold in 5 litre containers. VW engines only require ~4 litres. Only pour in 4/5 of the oil!

    WRONG most require alot more than 4liters, the 5cyl requires 6. the rest require 4.5-5. do not put 4 or less. check oil requirements for your vehicle before letting a phone repair company destroy your engine

    mr.skittles5150 -

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    • Remove oil dipstick

    • Clean oil dipstick with paper towel

    • Insert oil dipstick all the way

    • Remove oil dipstick

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    • Check Oil Level

    • If oil is too low, add more

    • Oil is full when the level is just below the bend in the metal of the dipstick

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    • Empty any remaining oil in the filter into the oil drip pan

    • Turn the oil filter upside down and place into the box of the filter that was just installed into the car

    • Mark the filter box as "old"

    • Return the filter to a mechanic shop for recycling

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    • Prepare car jack by turning the handle clockwise all the way

    • Pump the car jack and position the jack underneath the metal beam

    • Continue pumping the jack, raising the car off the car stands

    • Remove the car stand

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    • Lower the individual car side onto the ground by turning the handle of the car jack counter-clockwise

    • Rotate clockwise as gently as possible

    • Repeat step 18 and 19 for the other side of the car

    • Turn on car

    • Leave car running for 5 minutes to let oil circulate

    • After 5 minutes, check oil level using the dipstick

    • If oil level has dropped, add more oil - this is normal,

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    • Place funnel into oil container

    • If there is left-over clean oil, you can pour the clean oil into a second container of clean oil - this avoids waste

    • If you don't care about the remaining 1/5 of clean oil, just mix the dirty oil with the clean oil

    • Pour the old oil into the recently-emptied oil container

    • Be careful not to spill any oil on the ground

    • Mark the oil container as "old" and return to a mechanic shop for recycling

Conclusion

Drive off into the sunset

Enjoy a cool beverage (but not while driving off into the sunset)

Author

Benjamin Gee

Member since: 01/04/15

953 Reputation

2 comments

Excellent guide, very well explained.

Just a comment; I have a 2017 VW Jetta, it is a 2.5 with 5 cylinders and it needs more motor oil than stated.

Cristian Giner -

Great guide, thanks so much! The oil pan bolt on my 2016 Jetta SE was 19mm but everything else was exactly as described

evergreen -