Just replaced the air filter....
 

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Is this normal accumulation of dirt? Looks excessive to me, given the FASH...

Jesus....that looks very excessive to me, but I'm a bit an@l.
What have you replaced with, same oem stuff??

Think there was a Wasp's nest in there too. Excessive to me. Even given my recent jaunt around France and back. I replaced it with a Mann filter. Looked like nice quality to me. Visibly very similar to the VAG one I took out.

It's a bit more dirty than mine, and your filter is a lot blacker. I've done 9k since last service. Yours I think is not excessive.

It's worth checking the rubber drain tube (last photo bottom centre) in the air filter housing as it may be blocked.

Cheers Matty. I gave it a good hoover and clean.

Was there not a date stamped into the filter?

I'd say it looks like it hasn't been changed in a while but it all depends on where your driving, I have noticed the d3 is quite good at scooping crap into the air filter housing, iv also noted what a crap design it is, my opinion is it hasn't been changed in quite a while, wouldn't be the first time any main dealer hasn't bothered changing all the filters.

Well my experience of main dealers and filters was less than ideal, they replaced the filters but what I can only assume is laziness was to pull the filter boxes out of there mountings to make access easier for one screw and didn't put it back, so the intake pipes didn't line up, and i also found the hose clip that holds the air intake pipe to the throttle body was left slack.

Anyway back on topic yes I would say they were manky, treat the ol girl to a fresh set

That must be so frustrating Del especially if the dealer is the one place where this simple job should be done with no issues whatsoever.

I went with Green Filters http://www.greenfilters.co.uk/ and since then, 3 years ago at least I'm just keep cleaning it every few months and its not far from as good as new, but in all fairness I'm not doing ridiculous miles or drive outside city streets and main roads.

From what iv seen posted about main dealers then they'd be the last place I'd go, I'd pick a specialised independent any day of the week, but unfortunately people not in the know think FASH is the best thing since sliced bread so people will pay extra for bad servicing :ROFL: my mate worked for Audi as a tech and he/they don't get treated very well and that'll reflect in the work being done.

I don't know if I posted it on here but there was an interesting test done on types of air filters, and unless the filter is a known weak spot or restriction then they didn't give enough benefit to outweighs the cons of the fact they let more dirt into the engine, I'll see if I can dig it up for you too have a read.

Here you go: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

Just did my air and diesel filter yesterday. Air filter looked as bad as yours. Car has 170k miles and no mention of diesel filter in the service history. Got both filters from audi with trade discount for €110. The diesel filter i cut open afterwards and out spewed some very dirty gunge. The paper filter inside was covered in a slimy gloopy sludge aswell.

I had a slight shudder throughout the car at low revs, most noticable at 70-80mph even on glass like roads, I was convinced there was a gearbox issue and was lining up a fluid change. The shudder is gone after the filter changes so i guess it was partailly blocked and starved of fuel at low revs.

A lesson to start simple!

Hey that's interesting. I have a very slight shudder between 50-60 mph. I've had the wheels balanced/checked and a 4 wheel alignment (checked, and it was fine) and replaced all four tyres, still there, very slightly, and bugs the s@*t out of me.

How easy was the diesel filter to replace?

Didn't see a date on it. I still have it (in the wheely bin) if anyone knows where to look for a date exactly.

Good read

It seriously bugged me too. I only had the car a few weeks and put the shudder down to mixed brands and thread depth on the tyres. I got 4 new dunlops and alignment and balanced twice. Still had the shudder. I felt it most in the accelerator pedal and a little in the gearstick and the passanger seat back would vibrate. Basically ruined the comfort for me anyway.

The diesel filter is easy. Fill the new one with diesel, slap it in, few cranks and it will start again. You could even fill the new filter with a fuel system cleaner like dipethane or stanadyne to give the injectors a good blast.

My shudder is gone, much more responsive too. Im thinking it was the original filter in the car after 170k miles:rolleyes:

Take a picture of the top with the black writing and post it on here, not all have a date but a lot do, if you look on the top of the man filter it's on there :) since the design is the same I'd be surprised they aren't the same manufacturer.

Ta da:


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It's not there, sorry for making you drag it out the bin, if you look on this photo next to made in Germany is the date stamp, funny why they don't put it on the Audi part :\

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No worries. Didn't think it was there. Ta

Just checked the car's service history. Audi says the air filter was last changed at 86k miles, about 2 years/20k miles ago.

My service history was like that, variable servicing iirc, 20k miles is a bit excessive in my eyes regardless if the oil has gotten a lot better over the years, iv now changed the dash to 10k fix servicing intervals, might explain the state of the filter though.

Yup. I'd already done the same. Cheers.

I had the air box out last night whilst working on offside headlights.
Used the opportunity to look inside and found one piece of dried grass (straw) and just a little dust.
Do A8s start life as combine harvesters? :D

Ha. I did do some 'spirited driving' off road in France before I changed this one. That explains some of the muck in mine, at least.