Airbox rubber grommets

[spartacus68]

The technical boffins at Volkswagen must have had a boozy night out the day before they signed off on this.

I serviced my 2015 Polo 1.4TDI (66Kw) yesterday. It's still under DasWelt Auto warranty, so all genuine parts. Came to replacing the air filter which is normally a 5-minute job. The torx screws are reversed, so they are hidden under the airbox cover. So now the saga of dismantling it begins. There's even two screws through the centre of the box. A good 20-30 minutes later and a few choice words and it was out.

The airbox is mounted on 3-4 rubber anti-vibration grommets, two of which were torn. Anyone got a part number for this please? Had a quick search online, but seems they vary from model to model.

Underneath there's sound deadening material around the sump. Call me old school, but I removed temporarily to drain the oil. I know I could just leave in situ, but always worth seeing the sump to ensure there's no leaks.

What's with oil filter in a daft position below with zero clearance? Needed a Laser 76mm oil filter socket to remove. I'm used to oil filter located in the engine bay. Clean, easy to access.

[RUM4MO]

Grommet 07C 133 588 P - 4off.

Aye, some sort of funny ideas must have been going around when someone came up with that design, though to be fair, the 2002>2006 Polos ect did have the screws on the underside, changing to the less complicated rectangular air box with exposed fixing screws did not last too long before these screws ended back on the underside.

I'm surprised a bit if these grommets change from model to model, yes the part number will change to reflect the first VW Group platform that the later iteration of these grommets was fitted to at initial assembly, but the part itself will normally stay the same unless there is a very good reason to change, typically it just seems that drawings are revised, material slightly altered or supplier changed.

Edit:- I've had many VW Group petrol cars with oil filters in nasty positions, mainly at the front of the engine and well down, getting them out and up takes a bit of effort as I'd think that the plan is for removal when the car is well up off the ground on a workshop hoist/ramp. My wife's 2015 6C Polo 1.2TSI has the oil filter at the engine front half way down and needs a alloy cup to remove it - which works a lot better than the oil filter on the older 1.4 16V petrol engines.

[veteran]

Spartacus68,

Yeh, I've done that job, plus some regular oil changes on my own 2017 1.2 TSI, but I don't consider the oil change as being any more difficult than on other cars I've had in the past. With the correct tools, it's all pretty straightforward.

With the air-filter box, I think once you've first changed its element, the next time round it'll seem less irksome and quicker to do.

I gave my filter-box grommets a slight smearing of silicone grease before putting the box back, on the basis that that might help keep the rubber from drying out over the years and cracking. After all, they're sitting right on top of the engine, exposed to maximum heat.

If you buy a replacement set of grommets, let us know from whom you got them and what they cost.

[RUM4MO]

I'd think that the easiest and cheapest place will be a VW dealership's parts department, from looking on line it seems that the mainland Europe price is roughly 1.68Euro so I'd guess about £2 each.

[spartacus68]

Thanks RUM4MO that's the ones. Wow, £5.14 each, £7.95 if ordered from an unscrupulous seller on EBay including postage.

I'll pick up a couple from the dealer (no doubt they will have order) as I still need to get my spare key programmed to the car while still under warranty

Veteran, a little red grease, and the airbox pops back on, but suspect they fail prematurely due to temperature as mentioned. Regards the oil filter location, just surprised as it seems a backward step, considering my wife had an Audi A2 1.4 TDI (75PS) (2002) and the oil filter was at the top in the engine bay, but a cartridge type. Same with my last daily runner, Skoda Fabia 1.6 TDI (2010), again accessible at the top.

It's easy enough to change, but dirty. Picked up a Laser 76mm oil filter tool, but without it it's nigh impossible.

[veteran]

A couple of things:

1. Whenever I go to my VW dealer's parts dept armed with a part no. for a component they ignore that no. and instead ask me for either my reg. no. or the VIN no. A bit annoying, but they're keen to ensure they give me the latest version of the component and/or that I've not made a mistake with the no. They don't like taking stuff back if it turns out to be wrong. Whilst it's always useful to have your own part no. that you can quote just in case they can't find the component on their drawings, you might find therefore that, as with me, they'll ignore it.

2. Sounds like the oil filter on your TDI is much the same type as on the TSI, and positioned in roughly the same spot. When designing these cars, I don't suppose VW has a lot of choice in where exactly to position the oil filter, as it'll be largely down to engine design. Yes, that Laser removal tool makes life a lot easier when removing the filter. Before I acquired one myself, I found I could get the filter off using a chain-wrench, though on my TSI there wasn't much room for that topside and sometimes I ended up with grazed hands. With the Laser tool, I have to approach the filter from underneath (so myself laying on the ground) and use my torque-wrench to reach it. Not a problem in the great realm of things, though.

[RUM4MO]

Maybe there has been a move away from these "top side" mounted oil filters that used a simple element and needed a few O-rings to get changed at the same time.

They were convenient and seemed a bit better in terms of reducing waste materials, but too often it seems people ignored or forgot or could not be bothered to change the O-rings and fit them correctly, I suppose that extra task was also adding in extra time - with these "slightly older and mainly current" used tin can filters, it is just unscrew > bin it > screw on new one.

I think that even the in between idea of having a vertically fitted tin can filter that was screwed down onto a filter head that had an "oil release valve", was while sounding like a good idea (you just unscrewed the vertical tin can oil filter one turn or so and waited a few minutes for the housing's "oil release valve" to open and drop the filter's retained charge of oil down into the engine), as it meant that the removed filter, which obviously then came off inverted, did not spill out any oil, was just to "involved" for too many workshops and DIYers as it seems the original tin can filter separated from the filter and remained in the filter housing head and when the next filter was screwed on everything seemed okay - until the owner found that they ended up with seriously reduced oil pressure when the engine warmed up (oil pressure warning light flashing on and off etc).

Sensible progress can be difficult at times it seems.

[RUM4MO]

Thanks RUM4MO that's the ones. Wow, £5.14 each, £7.95 if ordered from an unscrupulous seller on EBay including postage.

I'll pick up a couple from the dealer (no doubt they will have order) as I still need to get my spare key programmed to the car while still under warranty

Veteran, a little red grease, and the airbox pops back on, but suspect they fail prematurely due to temperature as mentioned. Regards the oil filter location, just surprised as it seems a backward step, considering my wife had an Audi A2 1.4 TDI (75PS) (2002) and the oil filter was at the top in the engine bay, but a cartridge type. Same with my last daily runner, Skoda Fabia 1.6 TDI (2010), again accessible at the top.

It's easy enough to change, but dirty. Picked up a Laser 76mm oil filter tool, but without it it's nigh impossible.

I think that I spotted some one on ebay charging a lot more than that, chancers!

Where did you get the £5.14 price from, I'd hoped that my roughly £2.00 would be close to the mark.

I looked after a 2002 Polo 1.4 16V from new until August 2015 and its similar rubber mounts survived all that time intact - I'd always removed the air cleaner assembly when the engine was hot/warm so maybe they were always a bit more compliant when I was "giving them grief".

Was it not you that ran an Audi A2 for a while so it would have similar air cleaner mountings?