Just heads up, I changed the oil in the wife's 2019 Atlas yesterday. All went well and pretty routine. Except for the filter. I generally use factory VW filters because I like the quality and endcaps. These are filter elements with a cap that unscrews from the bottom of the housing and the element snaps into the plastic cap. The cap has a drain in it so that you can drain the housing before pulling the filter, a nice feature for not covering yourself in oil.
So the first weird thing I noticed was the when the drain plug was removed, very little oil came out. Hmm.
When I removed the filter a gush of oil came from the housing.
Then once I drained and removed the filter, I grasped it to unsnap the filter from the cap, and the media pleats crumbled in my fingers. I grabbed it firmly, so no surprise it deflected, but it torn and crumbled. The pleats are stiff and easy to tear, similar to the feeling of tearing oil soaked cardboard. No noticeable debris caught in the filter. I've never seen any of this behavior before from these filters in the 10 or so changes I have done on this car. They always drain properly, and the pleats are pliable but resilient.
Oil used in previous and this change is Amsoil Euro 0w-30. A Microguard went back in (was my emergency back-up filter).
So the first weird thing I noticed was the when the drain plug was removed, very little oil came out. Hmm.
When I removed the filter a gush of oil came from the housing.
Then once I drained and removed the filter, I grasped it to unsnap the filter from the cap, and the media pleats crumbled in my fingers. I grabbed it firmly, so no surprise it deflected, but it torn and crumbled. The pleats are stiff and easy to tear, similar to the feeling of tearing oil soaked cardboard. No noticeable debris caught in the filter. I've never seen any of this behavior before from these filters in the 10 or so changes I have done on this car. They always drain properly, and the pleats are pliable but resilient.
Oil used in previous and this change is Amsoil Euro 0w-30. A Microguard went back in (was my emergency back-up filter).