OEM vw filter for my 84 scirocco..a look inside

[Peter D]

i cut open my filter that i just removed today. its got about 3000 miles on it. I wanted to see what kinda filter it really was so i spent 9 bucks at the dealer for a true OEM vw filter. here are some pictures of what I found.

#1 sorry i dobn't have a pic of the intact filter but any way. this is the anti drainback valve, made of a soft white rubber stuff. still in great shape not hard.

#2 the pleats in the filter were very nice. evenly spaced and not riped, a metal piece held the paper together.

#3 the center tube was very stout with a good amount of holes in it. held together by what seemed to be rivits.

#4 the bypass valve was sweet, it was well made and the valve had a ruber pice to seal not metal on metal.

#5 the pleats in the filter were very strong, there were about 114 pleats all together.

it was an impresive filter and made all aftermarket filters seem real pathetic. even wix and puolator for all i care. Is it worth 9 bucks?..probably not but heck every 4k miles spending 9 bucks isn't that bad. right now i have a Mahle filter in there and will see what other euro aftermarket filters look like.

 

[baomo]

looks good. the OEM filters are made by Mann.

 

[TallPaul]

Is it a threaded end bypass or dome end?

 

[Peter D]

dome end

 

[TallPaul]

Well, some think it does not matter, but it seems to me a threaded end bypass is better. With a dome end bypass, the bypassing oil has to go along the outside of the dirty filter media before passing through to the center tube. It would be nice to avoid that. True, the dirt is usually down inside the pleats, but the idea of it bypassing the long way around still bugs me.

 

[Peter D]

i guess if you analyze it alot or way way to much then it would be bad..or your just finding a way to rip on a very very well built filter. the Mahle filter im using now has a threaded end bypass..if that makes you feel better

 

[wavinwayne]

Typical German engineering over-kill. Me likey!