Cut open my oil filter

[Arthur Marks]

(If someone would like to do this with a filter used for 5000 - 10000 miles 
on a clean 1.8T I'd love to see it.)

Here's the innards of the Mahle filter I just took off my A4 1.8T with the 
sludge problem (for a refresher: the problem arose under Audi care --  
original filter spec and dino oil as Audi had not yet switched their 
specs -- at the second oil change which was 12471 miles after the first). 
Inside of the engine has been cleaned according to the Audi Sludge TSB.

Filter parts:
(I cut it open using several of those cheap rotary tool cut-off wheels that 
disintegrate.)

http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/Uploads/Images/5125002750000OilFilterPieces.JPG

http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/Uploads/Images/5125016812501OilFilterCore.JPG

Not much to it. A spring holds the core and gasket against the open end. The 
gasket seals the incoming oil from the flow out the center and keeps oil 
from draining back into the pan when the engine is stopped. There is a 
spring loaded gasket at the top that will allow oil to bypass clogged paper 
if the pressure differential within the filter gets too high.


The filter paper stretched out (used a hand saw to cut it out):
http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/Uploads/Images/5125024625002OilFilterPaperContaminants.JPG

This is 1400 miles since the cleanup. (I feel the TSB cuts corners, to do it 
right the head should probably be pulled and soaked in solvent instead of 
scraped by hand in place)

Hopefully, next time this won't be so bad. It actually doesn't seem that bad 
now considering the amount of crud I removed from the head.

--Art

(Unfortunately, it looks like yahoo took over thefreeimagehosting and set 
all kinds of limits. Pics should be viewable for a month or until bandwidth 
limit is exceeded)