MY Polo 1.4 tdi pd is now out of warranty so I am going to do the oil changes for my car myself. As my engine is a 3 cylinder version of the 4cylinder tdi pd I presume the oil filter canister on the front of engine with the plastic top complete with the large hexagan nut (26mm) on top, is the same as the ones on the larger tdi pd engines. Apparently this nut has to be torqued up to 25 Nm. I will need a small torque wrench. but where can I get a 26mm socket and surely a socket of this size will have a 3/4 inch drive so I would need reducers for the small torque wrench to fit the socket. If you change the oil on your tdi pd engine I would be happy if you could tell me how you replace the oil filter element. Maybe you can buy a special spanner for this job. any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
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Funny you should ask Alan!
Just yesterday I ordered a 36mm oil filter socket to do the same job on my Saab (hex. head is 35mm on mine). Check out this link: snipurl.com/ma0k . I assume you would need the 27mm one.
I bought a cheap 12" adjustable spanner the other day, but I tried it yesterday and on my car there is not enough room between the radiator and the engine, so I've had to buy one of these sockets. I also ordered a torque wrench from the same website for about £3.50, but they are on 5-6 weeks delivery, so I'll do the job without it...
cheers,
Rich.
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£3.50 for a torque wrench???
This is an issue on Merc's, but apparently you can get away with marking the position of the cover and putting it back in more or less the same place. I've never tried this mind!
I believe you can buy the socket in Halfords.
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Actually I've just checked and the torque wrench is £3.07 inc. VAT!! I wish I'd not ordered one now, I dont think I'll be able to trust its accuracy for that price!
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Not for £3.50;I'd say they were expensive for torque wrenches!!
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Filter sockets are only used at very low torque, so they are usually 3/8" drive. Try a local motor factor or tool factor, they are widely available.
Sorry, but I don't believe you can get a torque wrench for £3.50 !! What on Earth have you bought at that price - maybe the box or the instruction book for one? LOL!
Cheapest 3/8" torque wrenches I've seen are about £12.
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as with most things there is a wide variation of price in torque wrenches and I wonder if the lower (price) end of the torque wrench market are accurate enough for use with a plastic cap (thread stripping ?).
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Okay I'll hold up my hands and admit I did a dumb thing! It was a Sunday night and I wasn't concentrating, and didnt read the description properly. The thing I ordered from toolsnstuff.co.uk for £3.07 was a replacement ratchet head for a torque wrench, not a whole torque wrench!! I've emailed them and they've taken it off my order.
I'll get me coat! :o)
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Alan,
I think you will find you will need a lot more than 25 Nm to undo the filter housing cap!
For my 4 cyl PD engine I use an oil filter removal strap. This has a 1/2" sq drive, and is like a solid socket about 75mm long, with a slot cut up from the opposite end to the socket. This retains a strap, approx 20mm wide, of a woven nylon material.
The socket is rotated anticlockwise, allowing the strap to tighten around the parallel part of the cap. Make sure the cap and strap are not oily, otherwise it might slip off.
The strap can subsequently be used to torque the cap to 25 Nm. This can be accurately achieved if, when viewed from above, the axis of the torque wrench handle is at 90 deg. to the radius drawn from centre of cap to socket, when the spec torque is reached.
Hope this is understandable!
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You don't need a torque wrench. Put a paint mark or scratch on the plastic filter top and a corresponding mark on the housing. Undo the filter top with a fabric strap wrench; don't even think about using the plastic hexagon.
When you replace the plastic top just tighten it so that paint marks eventually line up. Make sure that you oil the rubber O ring seal on the plastic top and that you replace the small O ring at the bottom of the filter cartridge. IIRC the oil filter cartridge for the pdi Polo is not the same as that for other pdi engines.
Before replacing the cartridge clean out the housing by soaking up the residual oil with rags.
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How lucky I am not to own a TDI PD. I've got the previous generation non PD engine (Polo TDI 90 Estate) and the conventional metal oil filter is mounted in an easy accesible point. I can undo it with my two hands and replace it using the same two hands - not tools necessary!! The whole job takes about 3 minutes max!!!
I make it a rule to look under the bonnet of each car, before I buy to check out accessibility of all parts I'm likely to service. In my opinion manufacturers are doing all the ycan to discourage home maintenance. Take my friend with a 2 year old Renault Clio. I changed a headlight bulb for him recently. The space to work in was so tight,it took me about 15 minutes and a couple of skinned knuckles but I did it. I WILL NOT CONSIDER BUYNG ANY CAR UNLESS I HAVE REASONABLE ACCESS UNDER THE BONNET.
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This is getting silly.....
The location of the filter makes it really easy to get to.
A strap wrench or 76mm filter socket will undo it.
There is an o-ring in the cap that is replaced with the filter and because of that just nipping up the caps works fine.
The torque spec is to stop gorillas stripping it.
The only difference it that you might want to pinch the wife's baster to suck out the oil in the housing.
and...you can refill the oil through the same housing which helps stop spills.
rgds
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