Original 2016 VW Passat air filter

[Vaca]

Recently replaced the original air filter in my son's 2016 VW Passat 1.8t. The car has ~49,000 miles. I'm sure the filter could have gone another 50k all the way to 100,000, but I changed it anyway.

As you can see (hopefully pics uploaded properly) the original filter was a Wix, made in Mexico. Replacement was a Mahle, made in Romania.

Mostly unremarkable, and that's a good thing in this case. Car is mostly suburban driven in Pennsylvania and a bit in New Jersey and Maryland with a couple thousand-ish mile road trips.

 

[JOD]

what I find interesting is that VW has come around to the logical side of things and started specifying long intervals on air filters (60K I think for the 1.8T?). Having used a restriction gauge in the past, I realize that for my driving conditions, the gasket is probably the limiting factor for filter life. I imagine you're in the same boat.

It also appears that the snow grate in the air box does a good job of distributing airflow throughout the whole filter. The dirt look pretty evenly distributed.

 

[sohccammer427]

Some will argue that every time you breach the seal on the air box you introduce contaminants into the intake. No need to check it unless you intend to replace it. I believe 40k miles is the interval for VW now, but if you're not in an exceptionally dusty area, 50k miles would be fine.

 

[Vaca]

Yes, the owner's manual maintenance schedule is to replace air filter at 60,000 miles. I just did it when I opened it up at 49,000 miles. I remember back in the early 90's my friend's brand new BMW 3 series didn't have an air filter. After that long ago experience, I'm surprised I waited so long to make sure the Passat had a filter installed at the factory.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by Vaca
I remember back in the early 90's my friend's brand new BMW 3 series didn't have an air filter.


That's seems crazy for a car maker to do - why would BMW do that? Was there some other kind of "dirt removing" system?

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by Vaca
Yes, the owner's manual maintenance schedule is to replace air filter at 60,000 miles. I just did it when I opened it up at 49,000 miles. I remember back in the early 90's my friend's brand new BMW 3 series didn't have an air filter. After that long ago experience, I'm surprised I waited so long to make sure the Passat had a filter installed at the factory.

What model exactly and what year? I know a lot about "90s" BMWs and I don't know of any that didn't have an air filter.

 

[splinter]

It's done its job well.

Good timing.

 

[Vaca]

Originally Posted by kschachn

Yes, the owner's manual maintenance schedule is to replace air filter at 60,000 miles. I just did it when I opened it up at 49,000 miles. I remember back in the early 90's my friend's brand new BMW 3 series didn't have an air filter. After that long ago experience, I'm surprised I waited so long to make sure the Passat had a filter installed at the factory.

What model exactly and what year? I know a lot about "90s" BMWs and I don't know of any that didn't have an air filter.[/quote

It was an early e36. I'm sorry I wasn't clear, it was SUPPOSED to have an air filter (and we put one in immediately), but the fact that someone in the factory forgot to install it was crazy to me. Good thing for my buddy that I was pretty careful about car maintenance even back then. Had I not witnessed that myself, I never would have believed it.

I was pleased to see that the 2016 Passat had an air filter installed when I opened it up.

 

[circuitsmith]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
That's seems crazy for a car maker to do - why would BMW do that?

Because a factory worker simply forgot to put one in?

 

[Vaca]

Originally Posted by circuitsmith
Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
That's seems crazy for a car maker to do - why would BMW do that?

Because a factory worker simply forgot to put one in?


When I discovered it missing, that's what my friend and I assumed. He bought it new from a dealer in NJ in I think 1991 or 1992. We discovered it missing when it had maybe 1000 miles on it. I can't imagine the dealer removing it - why would they even look at it?