The air filter is inside a black plastic box to the right of the engine (your left as you face the front of the car). This box is clever hidden below a large flat black plastic cover and further obstructed by the intake air duct. Fortunately, both of these are very easy to remove. The top of the air box is secured by 4 small metal clips, but you also need to disconnect some of the associated plumbing to get the top off. You will also need to remove the metal heat shield (four screws) which protects the box from exhaust heat. When you get the thing apart, be sure to remove and wash out the metal slush screen and air dry it before reassembling.

I bought a Purolator paper replacement air filter element at AutoZone for about $15, but there are several other options available.

 

k AND N...nuff said...it will save you money in the long run...better throttle response...
just oil and clean after 40-50k...

 

The air filter is inside a black plastic box to the right of the engine (your left as you face the front of the car). This box is clever hidden below a large flat black plastic cover and further obstructed by the intake air duct. Fortunately, both of these are very easy to remove. The top of the air box is secured by 4 small metal clips, but you also need to disconnect some of the associated plumbing to get the top off. You will also need to remove the metal heat shield (four screws) which protects the box from exhaust heat. When you get the thing apart, be sure to remove and wash out the metal slush screen and air dry it before reassembling.

I bought a Purolator paper replacement air filter element at AutoZone for about $15, but there are several other options available.

is it located at the top right corner, there is a black box..
thanks for your help, i will do it after i buy a new filter

 

i just opened that black box, but it dosen't look like a filter inside(there is a small silver box inside with the vw and audi mark on it)
:/ help!

 

LOL, you opened the ECU box! That's ok, just close it up now and remeber where it is when you are ready to chip your car.

Now go as far away as you can get in the engine bay. You should be over the passenger side wheelwell or so. You will see a cover with a little gap in it, pull that off.

Then you will be able to move forward and trace a duct to the grille. Remove that duct. The duct connected to a black box - there is a silver plate on the engine side of the box. Remove the plate.

After that, release the clips on the box and lift the top off (kind of hard to do). Inside the top, you will find the air filter - it's rectangular and pleated.

Replace and put everything back together.

 

http://www.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~lqin/

) so glad i didnt remove that silver box!::
i wanna make sure, is it the one in the picture?
thanks for patience

 

Inside what you circled is the cabin air filter, not the engine air filter.

 

Inside what you circled is the cabin air filter, not the engine air filter.

Im confused!! what is the difference between cabin and engine air filter, which one do we need to change every 15,000?

 

The cabin filter cleans the air that your heat/AC system uses.
The engine air filter cleans the air that is mixed with fuel in the cylinders for combustion. Both are important.

My .02 would be to change both, and pay particular attention to the slush screen that sits on the inside of the engine air filter box. It is designed to catch leaves, snow, and other junk before the filter. It seems to clog up worse than anything, but is not mentioned in any service schedule. There is a single phillips screw holding it in place -- take it out and wash it with a soft brush -- be careful not to tear it.

 

so the engine air filter is on the left side of the engine in the picture, right?

 

Yes -- just as AtomicAlex said -- pull the strange shaped cover up and off, then you will see the airbox that contains the filter. Then pull the intake hose that connects to your front grill off also. I have a V6, which may mount to the front grill differently (mine has three screws that connect the intake hose to the front grill). It comes apart in press-fit sections.

 

red circle -- cabin air filter (filters air on its way to the air conditioner)
yellow circle -- engine air filter (filters air on its way to the engine)
green circle -- air intake (from grill to engine air filter box)

:thumbup:

 

k AND N...nuff said...it will save you money in the long run...better throttle response...
just oil and clean after 40-50k...

I use a K&N and am a true believer . However, recommending it to someone who can't even find the airbox is not a good idea IMO. Over-oil it and bye-bye MAF sensor.

 

...pay particular attention to the slush screen that sits on the inside of the engine air filter box. It is designed to catch leaves, snow, and other junk before the filter. It seems to clog up worse than anything, but is not mentioned in any service schedule. There is a single phillips screw holding it in place -- take it out and wash it with a soft brush -- be careful not to tear it.

Now, here's a great first mod for a supernewbie - just take the snowscreen out and leave it out. You'll get 75% of the throttle-response benefit of a K&N with none of the MAF sensor worries. :thumbup:

 

i was told that the K & N filter doesn't change anything on the passat, i was about to buy one for mine but still thinking about it. did one of you guys tried it already? if yes give me some answers please.

 

K & N filter is pretty much useless. It does next to nothing to gain HP, lets more dirt in than a standard paper element, and clogs faster. It can also foul the MAF with oil. If you know little about car maintenance, this is not for you.

Here's my procedure for changing an air filter. It's for the V6, but the 1.8T is similar- might have some more hoses in the way is all.

http://www.tobio.info/passat/howtos/passat_air_filter.html

 

In your writeup you say to remove the air duct. Is the air duct clipped or bolted in any way or does it just pull out.

 

Hello,

I gotta post a rant here. I lothe working on my wife's B5.5 Passat GLS! Clips and doodads galore. Oil changes are a tad painful, but manageable after sufficient profanity. But the air filter is NUTS! I simply cannot believe all of the crap that's in the way of what should be a simple job! Tonight's air filter job included the clips falling off and into unreachable places. I was so pissed I couldn't see straight. I can't think of too many times I didn't want to drive that car into the ocean after working on it. :banghead:

I won't claim to be a competent mechanic. But I've done my own routine maintenance on my cars for over 20 years, including turbo swaps and other bolt-ons on my TDI (visit www.StealthTDI.com to see my TDI). But the Passat has me convinced that engineers sit around and design ways to frustrate owners into taking their cars to dealers or other mechanics (who, by the way, boogered up my Passat's belly pan hardware when I had the axles replaced).

I'm told the transverse 1.8Ts are not this painful. I sure hope the newer cars aren't, either. I have my eyes on the MKVI GTI. I don't think I can stand owning another Passat, even if it IS a great riding car.

Thanks for allowing me to vent... :angel:

Scott

 

Let me also TOTALLY agree with this statement. I've loved my B5.5, but I've got to say, that the AIR FILTER replacement is absolutely ridiculous. I spent an excess of an hour just getting clips lined up, and wires out of the way, etc etc etc.:banghead::thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

I've got to say, I've loved my B5.5 and it's been great to drive for the last few years, but as I'm not beginning to look around for a new car, I won't exactly cry a river of tears to see it go.

 

' was told that the K & N filter doesn't change anything on the passat, i was about to buy one for mine but still thinking about it. did one of you guys tried it already? if yes give me some answers please.'


K&N comes under the heading of snake oil , like Amsoil etc !
If it's expensive and hard to get it's GOTTA be better .

Any improvement in performance with K&N comes under the heading of ' overactive imagination ' !

 

to alleviate that mess, i took out my stock airbox and put a cone filter on the end of the turbo inlet hose. Fabbed up a bracket to hold it all in place.

Runs great, sounds great, love hearing the D.V. And now a filter change/re oil only takes 2 minutes.

 

There is some amazing misinformation here. Snake oil? You want to talk about snake oil, let's talk about Auto-RX. That stuff did nothing for me, so it's obviously worthless. oke:

1. When I used Mobil 1, my valvetrain started to make rattling noises after 3000 miles. When I switched to using AMSoil, I could go over 5000 miles and still not hear the same noises. I even switched back to Mobil 1 for an oil change to see if the rattling came back, and it did. That means the AMSoil was retaining its original viscosity longer than the Mobil 1 was.

2. I have two K&N air filters that I swap out when they get dirty, so the dirty one has plenty of time for the new oil to cure into the filter material after I wash it. My intake duct is perfectly clean except for the one spot where the PCV system blows oil fumes into it. My turbo compressor housing is also perfectly clean. These would not be perfectly clean if a measurable amount of dirt were getting through.

Allow me to post a picture of what my K&N air filter looked like after 40,000 miles:

Clean sides, new vs. old:

Dirty sides, new vs. old:

Closeup, old dirty filter:

That right there is a filter that was doing its job. And I didn't have to f#$% with the air filter box every oil change like the poor saps using paper filters do.

 

That right there is a filter that was doing its job. And I didn't have to f#$% with the air filter box every oil change like the poor saps using paper filters do.

Heh. Just to be clear, are you talking about a 5,000 mile filter change interval, or a two-year OCI? Neither seems particularly useful (or likely).

 

So...who'll resurrect this thread in mid-2011?

 

I nominate you, Troy. You found the problem, you fix the problem.

 

this threads pretty funny

 

Cabin air filter cover?

I'm replacing the cabin air filter and saw on one website that there's a cover for it?

My car doesn't have this cover, and it also has the bigger more square filter. Is there something missing? I called a dealer and he said he didn't show a cover for it either.

Here's the website with the picture: http://www.taligentx.com/passat/images/photo.php?photo=375&exhibition=10&pass=public&lang=eng

Thanks.
Also, can someone point me in a good direction for replacing the oxygen sensor? Engine light keeps coming on, goes off on the interstate, on more often in the city.

 

I believe B5's had a cover for the cabin air filter, but the B5.5's do not.

 

Cabin air filter cover?



Cool! Thanks for the reply.

 

http://passatb5.wikidot.com/v6-air-filter-replacement