2.5L I5 Engine Audi/VW Oil Change DIY

With my new Audi TT-RS I wanted to start with some preventative maintenance, namely making sure I had my favorite brand of oil in the car and knew exactly how much life was left in the oil. After searching the web and reading the owners manual, I couldn’t find a lot of great DIYs, so I’ve made my own here. Start with ordering everything you need – this car is a little unique in that the oil filter is on the bottom of the car, so you need a few special tools to drain the filter and then unscrew it, unlike my S4 where the oil filter was super easy to reach and on the top of the engine where it could pretty much be replaced with only your hands, but I digress. All in all, this isn’t a hard job and with all of the right tools can be done in under and hour from start-to-finish.

Here are links to everything what you’ll need to get the job done (not pictured but you should already have assuming you have some basic tools – 18/19mm socket wrench, T25, T27, T40 torx bits):

Note: you can skip the bleeder tool and just use a flat-head screwdriver instead, but if you’re going to do this a few times it’s probably wise to invest in the tool and not risk damaging the rubber nipple by puncturing it accidentally. I linked to the generic version above, but you can check out other options on sites like Autodoc. The 74mm socket to remove the oil filter is definitely necessary though as it is very hard to twist and tighten it by hand otherwise.

First put your car on jack stands or rhino ramps so you can remove the plastic front belly pan and then the rear metal cover to access everything you’ll need.

These pans remove with a T25 bit in the front, and T27 in the rear pan, with a final T40 at the very back edge of the rear pan to remove both. They should be easy to remove, just tedious.

Once removed, set both aside and get ready for the fun part…

Next, you can locate the oil drain plug. Using a 18mm socket you can remove the plug, and the oil will take about 10 minutes to fully drain out. It will drain quicker if the oil is slightly warm, so go for a drive before starting this if your engine is cold to help speed up this process.

Once the oil is fully drained, insert the new drain plug and crush washer and tighten as far as you can take it.

Next, you’ll then move on to replace the oil filter, which unlike my last car is on the bottom of the engine and kind of a pain in the butt. Unscrew the cap and you’ll see the bleed valve – some people drain it by pressing in the plastic nipple with a flathead screwdriver, although you risk breaking the nipple so I bought a special tool to drain it for me, which seems well worth the $25 since I’ll do this again and again.

Once all of the oil is drained out of the filter, you can remove the tool and then unscrew the housing and remove from the bottom of the car.

Place it on your work bench (or washer/dryer, whatever) and replace the old filter with the new one. There is a rubber gasket that goes inside the filter housing as well.

Re-install the oil filter and make sure it is on tight. Because of this unique design where the oil filter is upside down on the bottom of the car, you have two places you could potentially leak oil so you need to make sure both are buttoned down.

At this point go ahead and put 5 quarts of oil in the car (the big jug) and then turn the car on and let it run for a minute or two. Make sure there are no leaks from either the main oil drain plug or the oil filter.

Shut off the car, and put back on the belly pans, then roll the car off the rhino ramps. You can then check the oil dipstick to see the oil level, then add another half quart to full quart more of oil to get it between the min and max lines. After each time you add oil, turn the car on and let the oil cycle before re-reading the dipstick.

The final step is to reset the service light in the dash, which can be done by turning the key to the accessory on position (don’t start), and pull out the right knob on the instrumental cluster. When the service light appears, release the button then pull it out again for 5 seconds, then turn off the car and it should go away.

All done!