| FOREWORD... |
STEP
1. |
The
following outlines the procedure for replacing
the dust pollen filter on a MKIV Jetta and
Golf/GTI. The procedure below was based on a
99.5 Jetta GLS VR6 - it may be slightly
different on later-models cars. Please do
these procedures at your own risk and be ready
to make small adjustments while doing them.
Also, please be observant while removing parts
so that they go back together correctly. If
you have a Bentley manual, this procedure is
covered on page 80-9.
VW TECH BY: Gary Thompson |
The dust pollen filter is located at the rear
passenger's side of the engine bay, just below
the plenum. It is accessed by a removable
cover on the plenum, indicated by the arrow in
the picture above. |
| STEP
2. |
STEP
3. |
Remove the four T25 Torx screws from pollen
filter plenum cover. These screws are
indicated by arrows in the picture above. |
Pull up on the rear hood seal (yellow arrow in
picture above) and move it out of the way.
Begin to remove the pollen filter plenum cover
by lifting the front edge slightly to clear
the lip at the front of the plenum (metal) and
then pulling toward the front of the car (red
arrows). |
| STEP
4. |
STEP
5. |
After pulling the cover part way out, you'll
need to lift it up slightly to allow two wide
tabs on the bottom of the cover (indicated by
the arrows in the picture above) to clear the
lip at the front of the plenum. |
With the pollen filter plenum cover completely
out, it is easy to see the pollen filter
(indicated by the arrow in the picture above)
seated at the top of the blower motor
assembly. |
| STEP
6. |
STEP
7. |
The pollen filter is secured to the top of the
blower motor assembly by the pollen filter
frame. There are two tabs at the front edge of
the frame that need to be unclipped (driver's
side clip shown in picture above) to remove
the filter frame and filter. Pull both
retaining clips toward the front of the car to
release the tabs (1) and then move the front
edge of the frame upward (2). After moving the
front edge up about 1.5", slide the
filter frame and filter together out from
under the plenum. |
The picture above gives a better view of how
much pollen and debris the filter actually
prevents from getting into the cabin of the
car. While the filter in the picture had not
been changed in about 50k miles, I routinely
scraped the pollen and debris out from between
the fins. The space between the fins was free
of pollen and debris only 4k miles before
these pictures were taken.
If you would like to spray some disinfectant
into the HVAC system, now is the time to do
so. With the filter frame and filter out from
under the plenum, you should now be able to
see the fan blades of the blower motor
assembly just below where the filter normally
sits. I've never done this, but I believe you
start the car, turn on the fans, turn on the
A/C and then spray the disinfectant into the
blower motor. |
| STEP
8. |
STEP
9. |
Remove the old pollen filter from the frame
and install the new one into the frame. Make
sure the air flow arrows on the long edge of
the filter are pointing in the correct
direction - they should be pointing toward the
ground and the frame should be on top of the
filter. When installing the new filter into
the frame, make sure that the long edge of the
frame covers the long side of the filter, as
shown in the above picture. |
Make sure the short edge of the frame slides
into the first (shortened) fin of the filter
element, as shown in the above picture. This
ensures that all airflow passes through the
filter element and not between it and the
frame. |
| STEP
10. |
STEP
11. |
On the rear edge of the filter frame, there
are three small tabs which must slide into
corresponding slots when the filter frame and
filter are reinstalled under the plenum. One
of these tabs is shown in the picture above. |
Slide the filter frame and filter into place
underneath the plenum together as a single
unit, as shown in the picture below. Make sure
not to let the frame and filter separate too
much while doing this. If the filter drops too
far out of the frame, the sides of the frame
will come out from in between the end fins of
the filter and the seal will not be correct
when installed. Make sure the 3 tabs on the
rear of the frame slide correctly into place
and then push the front edge of the frame
downward to get the two retaining tabs to
catch. This is somewhat difficult to do and
may take a few attempts. I needed two attempts
to do it while taking the pictures for the DIY
and I've done the procedure about a half dozen
times. |
| STEP
12. |
STEP
13. |
The picture above shows the filter frame and
filter correctly reinstalled. If the
reinstallation is done correctly, the two
retaining tabs on the front edge of the frame
should click into place easily and there
should be no gaps between the filter frame and
the top of the blower motor assembly on the
sides. It's hard to describe, but you'll be
able to tell when the frame and filter are
installed correctly. |
Next slide the pollen filter plenum cover back
into place. This will take some wiggling back
and forth due to the weird shape of the cover
and the extremely tight space. The hardest
part is getting the leftmost (passenger's
side) edge of the cover (yellow arrow in
picture below) to slide under part of the hood
hinge mount (red arrow in picture below). It
takes quite a bit of force to get this to
happen - don't be afraid to twist and push
hard on the cover piece. It's relatively tough
to break/harm.
Finally, once the cover is back in place (and
you put down the celebratory beer), put the
four T25 Torx screws back in, reinstall the
rear hood seal and you're done. |
