installing air filter

installing air filter on 97 jetta gls....nothing like the camry or pathfinnder. how do you do it?

Jetta GLS, you say? If it's a GLS, then the procedure below is what you want - if you mis-typed and it's actually a GLX (6 cylinder) then it will likely be a little different. :)

Whenever I talk to someone who is looking to get into doing work on their own cars, I always try to talk them into getting a shop manual for it. When it comes to VWs, the manual to have is the Bentley book. You should be able to find one for $50-$60, and it's worth every penny if you're planning on doing anything more than oil changes and air filter replacement.

Now that I have that off my chest, here's what you do: Locate the airbox in the engine compartment. As you look into the engine bay from the front of the car, it will be in the front corner of the engine bay, on your left. Just a plastic box-looking-thing with a large, rubber intake pipe coming into it. That intake pipe needs to be disconnected - it should be a normal hose clamp connecting it. That part of the airbox that the intake pipe connects to is actually the Mass Airflow Sensor (MAF), so make sure to be very careful around it. Don't poke into it with anything, and be careful not to knock any grime or debris into it. Those critters are sensitive. Loosen the clamp a bunch, then disconnect the pipe from the airbox. On the side of the airbox there are two small vacuum lines attached. Make a note of which one is attached where, and remove them (they should pull off). If you take a close look at the airbox, you'll see it's made up of 2 pieces. The upper and lower halves are held together with metal clips around the edges (there are 3 clips, if I recall correctly). Locate the clips and undo them. Lift the top of the airbox up and to your right and the top section will come off. Again, be careful with this top half of the airbox, because it has the mass airflow sensor attached to it! If you don't see the air filter at this point, then you're in big trouble. :) Remove the old filter, and install the new one. Make sure that the "fins" of the filter are pointing down into the bottom half of the airbox when you're installing it. With the filter seated firmly into the bottom half of the airbox, you can install the top half. This is sometimes tricky - you have to make sure that the little tabs on the edge of the top half of the airbox slide back into the little slots in the lower half of the airbox. Those tabs and slots are on the side of the box that you can really see because it's kind of tucked into the inner part of the fender. You will know it when you have it right, because everything will sit nice and flat, and the metal clips will fasten up without any problems. With the clips fastened, make sure to re-attach the 2 small vacuum lines (in the correct spots!) and the intake pipe.

Unless I've really overlooked something, you're done!

thank you very much. whn i removed the vacume hoses, i didnt unplug them from the air boc with the l shaped plugm, but it has 2 sections, when u follow the cord and i unplugged it from there thats what you ment right?

Yeah, that's fine - it doesn't matter where you disconnect them from, just as long as you remember which is which so that you can reconnect them without getting them swapped. :)

thank you mars.