Giving the car a service, need a few pointers.

[Tim_GTi]

Giving the car a service on next week: Oil, oil filter, fuel filter, pollen filter, brake fluid.

The Pollen filter - How do you access that bad boy? I know the general direction of it, but never had to remove it before.

Brake fluid - Anyone know a good sized piping diameter to fit on the nipple of the calipers?

Also; passenger rear, drivers rear, passenger front, drivers front. is that a good rotation for doing the brakes?

Cheers.

[nigelelliott394]

I'm not great with 'guides'. In fact, I don't think I've ever written one... I know how to do the pollen filter anyway so i'll try my best to explain

For the pollen filter, below the wipers there's a sort of rubbery protective thing you lift up... then there's a plastic protective thing that has 2 clips on it. Those 2 clips will probably almost definitely break... After you've unclipped/broken them. You can lift out the pollen filter which has a sort of square cut out holding it in place. Remove the old filter, place the new one in the cutout and slide it back in to it's little drawer.

That's a terrible guide but hopefully it gives you an idea... I need to replace my own soon so perhaps i'll take some pictures and make a DIY guide

[tegwin]

I wrote this in answer to someones questions a while ago.... not sure if its of any help?

There is no manual for the GTI... there is a manual for the 6N2 1.4 16V though... very similar, but subtely different....


If you still have it, the service guide and log in the polo handbook that came with the car is very useful to give you an indication of whats needed when

I do a service every 10,000 miles this would include....

• Oil: Castrol Magnated 10W40
  Oil filter
  4 new plugs
  Engine air filter
  Cabin pollen filter
  Gearbox oil change

However, I do sometimes just clean and inspect the plugs and vacum out the filters... but dont use them for more than 20,000 miles.

Every other service, IE every 20,000 miles, I replace the fuel filter and renew the brake fluid.... not really necesserry.. but I do them anyway...

Servicing the car is a really good excuse to get underneath the car, pull the wheels of and inspect everything.... I will spend around half an hour with a torch underneath looking for leaks, worn bushes, worn pads etc etc... if you do that regularly enough you soon get a feel for what is likely to fail next....


But... as for a basic engine service...

You need to jack up the car so its level.... I find using a pair of ramps on a sloping driveway is perfect...

Drop the engine under tray from under the car... (there are 4 star clips ... 2 either side, a long flat bladed screwdriver can be used to turn them off the studs... there may also be a couple of bolts at the back of the tray...I cant remember exactly.... But once its free, drop it down and towards the rear of the car to free it from the car...

Once thats done, undo the engine cover (4 screws on top) and unclip it... put it to one side...

Get a bowl (at least 5 litres)... Put it under the sump nut on the bottom of the engine, open the nut (17mm spanner I believe) and allow the oil to drain... dont loose the nut or washer!! Undo the oil filler cap to let air into the engine whilst it drains....

While the oil is draining out, replace the plugs one at a time... be VERY careful when pulling out the HT leads... they are easy to damage and can cause misfires if you do... I would know... tiny split in one of them caused all sorts of problems!

DO NOT over tighten the plugs... they should be just slightly more than hand tight....

Doing the oil filter on the GTI is a bit of a fiddle.... once you figure out the right angle to do things at its gets easier... It might help if you unclip the wire for the aircon compressor just above the filter... If there is a "nut" on the end of the filter you can get a socket on it and give it a twist to loosten it... or.. hammer a screwdriver through the filter and loosten if like that... you need to unscrew it and then carefully lift it out the top of the engine bay past the radiators... its tricky, but doable... refit the new one in the same way... take your time and think about how it will fit into the space....

By this time the oil should have stopped draining out of the sump... do up the nut... again dont do it to tight! Fill the engine with oil... (its about 4 litres!)

Air filter is done by unscrewing I think about 8 cross head screws on the top of the airbox... the lid just lifts off to reveal the filter...

Pollen filter.... looking into the engine bay from the front.... pull off the rubber strip that runs across the very back edge of the engine bay at the top... you can then carefully lift off the plastic windccreen moulding at the bottom... under there is the ECU and pollen filter... replace the filter and clean out the leaves and **** thats in there.. Getting the plastic thing back inplace is a fiddle... I find if you close the bonnet a bit you can squeeze it back in under the windscreen seal...

Once thats done.. re-check the oil level... check you have no tools in the engine bay and start the engine.... let it run for 30 seconds.... shut it off and check the oil again...



Doing a basic service is not difficult once you know where to look for things... just take your time and think before you do anything....

Its all down to how confident you feel to spot things which dont look right etc... I know for a fact that VW simply dont spend half the time I take to carefully check everything, clean everything when it goes in etc..... BUt then I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my cars.... I recently replaced the entire front suspension system on the GTI... wishbones, antirollbar, balljoints, bushes, top mounts .....

[Tim_GTi]

Thanks Dunc,

What about Brake rotations and pipe size?

[tegwin]

Cant remeber off the top of my head, but a nice flexible piece of 4mm bore would probs do it... its a BIG help if its clear!

Get an eziblead kit if you have not got one already.. halfords sell them.. comes with the little hose for the nipple.... Bleeding the brakes by pumping the pedal is not a good idea on the polo.. IMHO..

And yes, you should always start furthest from the master cylinder... so rear offside, rear nearside, front nearside, front offside.... once you are happy its all flushed through, go round again and let a bit more fluid out to double check there are no bubbles!

And DO NOT force or overtighten the nipples, they WILL snap if you are not careful!

[emma_88]

That is very useful info.

Should this topic not be a sticky?

[Tim_GTi]

I was going to buy an eazibleed a while back, heard mixed reviews about it though.And figured if I can get a friend to help then what's the point in getting one?

Why don't you recommend using the two people and brake pumping on the Polo?

So front nearside before offside? I thought the master cylinder was on the nearside?

[Tim_GTi]

That is very useful info.

Should this topic not be a sticky?

The Polo GTi thread is packed with stickies.

When this thread dies down and I gather more information, I'll move it to the DIY section and 'sticky it'.

[tegwin]

Brake master cylinder is offside on a RHD polo... Offside being Drivers side... Nearside being nearest the pavement...

With the eziblead kit it pushes the fluid/crap/air out of the pipes from the top of the system....

Pumping the pedal simply doesnt move enough fluid... plus it has a tedancy to draw back up the pipe a little every time you lift off... add to that the servo which will make pumping the pedal very hard....

The gunson eziblead kit is fine if you follow the instructions and take care of it! Having tried the "pedal pump" method on a 6N polo in the past.. I would not try it again on any car!