OK, I give in! Now my GTI is run in, the fun begins - a jetex panel fiter awaits... I assume the entire plastic engine cover has to come off - but how do you get it off? Please help... pics and instructions would be very much appreciated. I note that a few people have already asked this question on this forum, but no one has answered yet... oh, hello everyone! My first post... just got my new GTI (3 door, tornado red, manual, xenons, leather, sat nav, elec folding mirrors, surround lighting, upgraded speakers, park sensor, winter pack, colour coded skirts & rear valance).  Loving it..! Will post pics soon...

 

Cheers & thanks - Mark.

Hi Mark, I'm not sure if the GTi is the same as the diesel but the air box is a the front of the engine bay. You beed to undo a couple of screws and lift the lid off. Then just remove the old filter and drop the new one in. Attached are a couple of pictures of my diesel. It shouldn't take no longer than 5-10 mins.

 

 

Thank you very much for taking the trouble to post those pictures, very kind of you - but, the GTI FSI engine bay is nothing like that - sadly! If it was - I'd not need any help! Quite why VW have designed things the way they have on the new GTI I don't know. Why they couldn't just have it like any other VW or Audi I don't know. Swaping over filter elements on my previous cars (V64Motion Golf, R32 Golf, TT225, TT3.2) was a piece of piss. But this car?!!!!! There's no visable screws to undo and it's obvious the whole engine cover has to come off... the air filter is located right underneath all that lot and toward the back of the engine bay. Come on guys - sureley one of you knows about this?!!!!!

Hi. Haven't got any pics handy. Undo the 2 clips to the throttle housing and pull the plug off. Thats up near the firewall, Then undo the large intake hose at the front. From memory you are advised to remove the 2 screws though I haven't in the past. I just pull the hose off.Then carefully but firmly pull up on the whole assembly. one corner at a time. When refitting it I apply some silicone lube or Inox to the rubbers to aid removal next time. Mind you sometime the rubbers stay on the brackets on the motor. Remove them and fit to the cover before assembly. I have a carbonio intake on mine. Pics elsewhere on the forum. Cheers, Andrew

This 2 links might be useful for future reference.

Remove GTI Engine Cover.
http://www.swankmonkey.com/vw/jetta/2006/remove_engine_cover/

Removal of filtre from cover

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2547554\

 

 

 

But please be careful when removing the engine cover ........

Mine went in recently for a new alternator and battery and the dealer broke the cover when accessing the alternator!

Luckily the car was still under warranty.

Ludwig 

 

Just to confirm. Getting the engine cover off is an absolute bitch. It's engineered so you think you're going to break something. Obviously VAG thought torx screws weren't doing enough of a job putting people off fiddling with their cars. They came up with a whole new idea. The 'shoot, that can't be right, it'll snap if I pull any harder' concept. Persevere, the filter is in there somewhere.

End of rant. Carry on...