We show you how to change the fuel filter on a 2010 Sportwagen and prime it using VCDS.

Related Products:

LATE Model Fuel Filter for CJAA engines

Transcript:

In this video I’ll show you how to change your fuel filter in your Jetta, Passat, Golf or Sportwagen TDI and how to properly prime it using VCDS.

Tools required:

• Flathead Screwdriver
• T30 Torx Screwdriver
• VCDS by Ross-Tech (or other diagnostic tool)

This is a closeup of the fuel filter canister. We’re going to start off by removing all the screw that are holding the top of the fuel filter canister on. They’re all T30 screws and there’s fie of them. I like to unscrew all five in a star pattern—it’s really more important for assembly but I do it for disassembly out of habit.

Now on the front edge you’ll see a bit of a lip, and you use that lip to insert a flathead screwdriver and pry the cover off. Pry on the lip and work your way around.

When you open it there should be a little fuel. Now lift the cover off, pulling straight up so you don’t spill fuel everwhere. Now we’ll unattach the top of the canister from the fuel filter. Once we’ve done that we can grab the filter and let it drain a bit.

What we always like to do is inspect the inside of the canister to see if there’s any metal shavings. If there are metal shavings or debris, that’s an indication that your fuel pump is on its way out. This car looks pretty clean, so we’re going to go ahead and take remaining fuel out the canister with an oil. We like to do this just in case any water or dirt got in there during the change. Should be pretty quick.

Now that that’s done, it’s important to check for any orings that need to be changed. We’re going to replace the large one at the top here with a new one that comes with the Mann filter we sell at idparts. This oring requires lubrication in order to keep the oring from binding up when we put it back in.

Now take the fuel filter and press it onto the top of the canister. Slide the filter back into the canister and tighten the screws, without tightening one down more than the others, sort of in a star pattern, because we don’t want to strip it.

After we get the screws in, the most important part of changing your fuel filter is to prime the filter. Right now, because the filter is dry, the car wouldn’t run. VW has a procedure where you can electronically tell the car to prime the filter. We’ll show you how to do that.

Here we are in VCDS and we’ve got it connected to the OBD port. We have the ignition on but not the motor—you have to have the ignition on the run this procedure. Click Engine-01 and let it load. Then, click Basic Settings and click Documented Basic setting dropdown menu. Select Fuel Supply Pump Activation. This will change the screen, and you should see a button that says On/Off. When you click that, you can hear the fuel pump running. Once that’s done, and you’ve heard some gurgling noises and change in pitch to a high pitch, after about 60 seconds, click off and close the windows and then disconnect your cable. Your fuel filter is now primed.

In this video we took the fuel filter out, drained the canister, checked for debris, put the new filter in, tightened it, and used VCDS to prime it. Now we should be good for the next 20,000 miles.