We bought a used 2013 Jetta from a dealer in September 2017. It had about 50k on it at that time, running well and very clean.
Of course, the dealer (Dodge) assured us that the oil had been changed and indeed it looked clean.I never know or trust what oil has been put in so I always change it myself when I get the car. My son, who drives this one, didn't want to re-change the oil. We did the plugs, air filter and other maintenance. At any rate, he decided to change the oil yesterday, about 7k later. We had a new Mann filter and Penzoil Euro 0-40 approved for that VW spec. Oil drained fine from oil pan BUT the plastic filter canister was on so tightly that it wouldn't come off with the plier type filter tool. Not wanting to squeeze too hard with that tool, a quick. trip to Advance auto yielded the 74mm 14 flat cap wrench for that canister. It took LOTS of torque and a long handled ratchet to get that canister off. The condition of the filter element was clean (no visible particulates) but brittle as could be. As soon as we spread the pleats they split both vertically and horizontally. I'm surprised it didn't start to flake apart in use.
We have the special VW tool to drain the filter and that worked well.
I suspect that the dealer didn't have the drain tool and /or proper canister wrench, never changed that filter and just dumped and refilled the oil with who knows what. The old filter looked like a Mann but I can't be sure. I wonder how old that had to be to degrade like that? 10,000 miles, 20,000 or way more than that? For him , a lesson learned. for other readers, beware of freshly "serviced" cars.
Of course, the dealer (Dodge) assured us that the oil had been changed and indeed it looked clean.I never know or trust what oil has been put in so I always change it myself when I get the car. My son, who drives this one, didn't want to re-change the oil. We did the plugs, air filter and other maintenance. At any rate, he decided to change the oil yesterday, about 7k later. We had a new Mann filter and Penzoil Euro 0-40 approved for that VW spec. Oil drained fine from oil pan BUT the plastic filter canister was on so tightly that it wouldn't come off with the plier type filter tool. Not wanting to squeeze too hard with that tool, a quick. trip to Advance auto yielded the 74mm 14 flat cap wrench for that canister. It took LOTS of torque and a long handled ratchet to get that canister off. The condition of the filter element was clean (no visible particulates) but brittle as could be. As soon as we spread the pleats they split both vertically and horizontally. I'm surprised it didn't start to flake apart in use.
We have the special VW tool to drain the filter and that worked well.
I suspect that the dealer didn't have the drain tool and /or proper canister wrench, never changed that filter and just dumped and refilled the oil with who knows what. The old filter looked like a Mann but I can't be sure. I wonder how old that had to be to degrade like that? 10,000 miles, 20,000 or way more than that? For him , a lesson learned. for other readers, beware of freshly "serviced" cars.