Air filter replacement

[marc4099]

Hi all,

I recently bought an A4 B9 Avant 190 TDI 2017 and would like to replace the air filter as it has never been changed and will not be for another 40k miles if I follow Audi's service schedule. (The pic above is from the web but shows the same engine bay as my car)

I had a quick look at how to get at the filter the other day. I removed the housing lid torx screws easily enough but then couldn't remove the lid and filter easily due to the various hoses and pipes which attach to it / run accross it. 

Has anybody changed one of these and can advise on the proceedure before I get heavy handed with it and break something?! Is it a matter of disconnecting the sensor/intake/hoses or do I just need to pull the lid and filter harder?

I have an OEM filter ready to fit and the old one looked pretty filthy from what I could see when I had a poke about.

Thanks in advance.

Marc

 

[dalswinton]

Hi,

I have an A4 Allroad 2017 with the same engine, mine has only done 18,000 miles as yet,

but i  will be changing the air filter myself when the time comes, there seems to be more things to remove

when changing the filter on this engine, the best advice i can give, is to just take your time, and don't break

any clips etc. i have always maintained  all my Audi's myself,  after all, if an audi mechanic can change it i'm

sure you will be able to, best of luck.

Brian.

 

[A4ULTRA]

Hello sorry if this is too late

 

I had a mechanic friend do it for me as he said he needed to remove a part to be able to fit the new filter - I thought this was the case as I had similar problems to yourself and felt I couldn't do anything except break it!

Sorry it isn't much help but hopefully it saves some time and stress!

[dalswinton]

Hi,

Glad you managed to get it sorted.

 

[marc4099]

Thanks for the replies.

Had a proper go today and it was pretty straightforward:

Unclip MAF sensor

Loosen circlip on air inlet pipe and pull away from filter housing

Unclip 3 rubber hoses that are attached to housing

Unscrew Torx screws on housing 

Wrestle filter and housing lid out of the gap

Replace filter

Reverse the above to reassemble 

[Jaws]

Replaced mine this week after its Audi service. Surprise, surprise another thing not included in their 'service plan'. Anyway, they quoted £48 to supply and fit but I bought the filter myself from ECP for £25 and spent 10 mins to fit. I have very little mechanical knowledge and it's quite easy.

1. Unclip Maf
2. Loosen the pipes from holders on airbox
3. Undo Torx Screws
4. Remove filter
5. Filter twists off, although after 5 mins of fighting thinking it was stuck there's a small tab which you need to press to release it.
6. Hoover out airbox
7. Replace via reverse.

Pics of mine, not sure if ever replaced and the car was on 76k so well overdue by the look of it!

 

 

[jdragon]

I've pulled the filter from every car I've had to check, regardless of what the service history says. Finding a housing full of debris like that has not been unusual sadly.

Great share on the "how to" 😀

[Griffsters]

On 10/15/2022 at 8:45 PM, Jaws said:

Replaced mine this week after its Audi service. Surprise, surprise another thing not included in their 'service plan'. Anyway, they quoted £48 to supply and fit but I bought the filter myself from ECP for £25 and spent 10 mins to fit. I have very little mechanical knowledge and it's quite easy.

1. Unclip Maf
2. Loosen the pipes from holders on airbox
3. Undo Torx Screws
4. Remove filter
5. Filter twists off, although after 5 mins of fighting thinking it was stuck there's a small tab which you need to press to release it.
6. Hoover out airbox
7. Replace via reverse.

Pics of mine, not sure if ever replaced and the car was on 76k so well overdue by the look of it!

 

 

I had an Oil Change and inspection service today and they wanted to add £89 for an air filter...errr... no thanks. A visit to GSF Car parts, £21 lighter and 20 minutes later job done.

 

Thanks for the info, my filter and housing was very much like yours, never been done by the looks of it.

[Stevey Y]

50 minutes ago, Griffsters said:

I had an Oil Change and inspection service today and they wanted to add £89 for an air filter...errr... no thanks. A visit to GSF Car parts, £21 lighter and 20 minutes later job done.

 

Thanks for the info, my filter and housing was very much like yours, never been done by the looks of it.

Hi I love things like this as it denies the Audi Stealers their lives blood, overcharging they probably get the filters for about a fiver each, they never change the filter and if left it causes all sorts of other problems, by rights an air filter should be changed every year regardless of milage as no one has microscope eyeballs that can see how blocked the filter medium pores are, think about it, more cleaner air so the ECU is not constantly correcting the injector factors to allow for the lack of it.

Steve.