The Volkswagen Jetta was introduced in the late 1970s as a step up from their base car, the Rabbit. Unlike the Rabbit, the Jetta came standard with better-quality interior appointments and a real trunk instead of a hatch back. In 2005, the Jetta was redesigned into a larger and more powerful car, making it a mid-sized car as opposed to an economy car. The oil filter on your Jetta is a replaceable paper cartridge, unlike some vehicles that use a metal spin-on oil filter. Removing the cover on your oil filter housing is the first step in removing your filter for replacement.
Drive your Jetta onto a set of car ramps. Set the parking brake and place wheel chocks under the rear wheels to prevent unwanted movement.
Crawl under the front of the car and locate the black, rubber cover under the engine. Remove the screws in the cover with a torx screwdriver turned in a counterclockwise direction. Pull the cover straight down from the bottom of the car and place it aside.
Place a drain pan under the engine. Remove the engine oil drain plug (on the rear of the engine oil pan) with an adjustable wrench turned in a counterclockwise direction. Allow the oil to drain fully from the engine and into the drain pan. Replace the drain plug and tighten it in a clockwise direction.
Pull off the small protective cap from the bottom of the oil-filter housing cover, which is mounted to the engine block beside the oil pan. Place the drain pan under the filter housing. Push in the small button revealed after removing the cover to drain the remaining oil from the filter housing.
Push a 74/76mm oil-filter wrench onto a 3/8” drive-ratchet wrench. Push the oil filter wrench over the end of the oil filter cover. Turn the wrench in a counterclockwise direction to remove the cover.
