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Guide: How to change the oil on the MKV FSI engine

This guide is for the 2.0t FSI engine on the MKV GTI, Jetta or GLI. If you have a TSI or TFSI engine the locations of things will be different but procedure the same.

Parts you will need:

1. Oil filter and rubber ring that it comes with. The part number is 06D 115 562.

2. 5 quarts of oil that should be VW approved 502.00

3. 36mm socket or something to safely take off the plastic oil filter.

4. Pan to catch oil

5. Metric socket set

6. Rags

Optional but helpful:

1. Schwaben oil filter drain tool – You can pick this up from ecstuning.com

2. Needle nose pliers

Procedure:

I would suggest letting your car sit with the hood up for about an hour if you have been driving it. That oil gets pretty hot and you will be working with it and the pan it sits in.

1. Jack up your car, passenger side preferred because where we are working is slightly closer to that side.

2. Take off the skid plate. This is a plastic cover on the under side of your engine. The screws are all long the under side of your bumper that you need to take off. Personally I took it off once and never put it back on.

3. Drain the oil pan, the bolt to take off is in the center rear of the oil pan. The oil will spews out about 5 inches and then goes down to a trickle so make sure you have your pan positioned correctly.  I don’t know the size since I have replaced the original with a magnetic one from ecstuning.com. Its good practice to replace the copper washer each time you do an oil change. Once the pan is drained put the plug back in with a new copper crush washer.

Tip: If you undo the oil cap in the engine bay the oil will flow out faster and more evenly.

The picture below shows the bolt location.

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4. The filter is located in front of the oil pan and is plastic. I use a tool from Schwaben that I got from ecstuning.com that drains the oil from the filter before you take it off. This is mostly so I don’t make a mess on the driveway but it makes for a clean job too. There is a cap on the bottom of and you can just unscrew it with your hands and attach the drain tool. A picture of this is shown below.

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Now its drained, I cant stress enough how important it is to have the proper tool for this job. Since the filter housing is plastic it breaks/cracks very easily when uneven pressure is applied. I highly suggest getting a 36mm socket or something to safely take off the plastic oil filter. You can try other wrenches but many have broken this monkey wrenches or typical wrap around oil filter tools. You can see my socket below taking it off.

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5. Now that the filter is off replace it will your new one. Mine is part number 06D 115 562. It will have both a filter and a rubber gasket seal. Using a pair of needle nose pliers helps with taking it out and putting it in as shown below in the picture.

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Once you have replaced the filter and gasket put it back on the car but be careful not to tighten too hard because its plastic but you do want it snug.

6. Now to add the oil. VW has a list of oils it recommends you use to honor their warranty. For the FSI engine you want the list of 502 motor oils, the other is for TDI engines. I have been using Mobile 1 0w40 and Castrol Syntech 5w40. Here is a link to the list: http://www.carworklog.com/stuff/Oilchart.pdf

Now add 4 quarts of oil to fill cap under the hood, put the cap back on and start the engine for about 30 seconds. This is to distribute the oil so you can get an accurate reading on the dip stick. Stop the engine and clean the dip stick and put it back in then pull it out. Check the level on the dipstick and add more oil as necessary. I have found on average its about another 1/2 to 3/4 a quart more.

You should be all set. Give it a test drive, something short like around the block and check the oil level again for good measure as well as the oil filter seal and pan bolt for leaks.