So I'll be giving the Superb a service tomorrow or Sunday - oil and filter, air filter, pollen filter and fuel filter.

Just wondered if there were any particular things anyone might have questions about that I might be able to take photos of or describe the process for when I'm done?

Probably all been done before, but worth asking I thought just in case.

Guess that was a no then!

Some observations however.

• I bet a lot of Superbs (and Passats for that matter) miss out on the scheduled air filter changes simply because it's such a pain to get the damn thing in and out without dismantling lots of bits of car. Worth checking that it's really done if you pay someone else to service your car, as it's one of those things that might just be 'forgotten'.
  
• Vacuum oil removal is an excellent way of getting the oil cooler under the filter cleared before refill. I was able to remove another 300ml of oil using a thin suction tube into.
  
• It took exactly 3.9L of oil when refilled, just as the handbook says. Fill the oil cooler and filter housing before refitting.
  
• Don't even bother trying to remove the filter cap without the 14-flute tool, it's not worth the effort. It's only £6.99 for a Laser tool from Halfords (£5.39 on my trade card) and it'll save loads of faff.
  
• Changing the fuel filter is so easy to do, you might as well just do it at every service. They're cheap and easy to do. Make sure you remember to change the O rings on the thermal valve ('T' piece) and use a vacuum extractor to pull fuel from the tank into the filter before restarting.
  
• It's easy to underestimate how much of a difference changing the pollen filter makes (especially on a car with a solar sunroof where the fan's running a lot of the time and pulling air through. After changing mine, the climate control is much more effective at managing the temperature and fan speed in the car. It's another of those things that I suspect gets 'forgotten' a lot when servicing is done.
  
• It took me (outside, but using professional tools and a vacuum extractor) a fraction over 1.5 hours to do the lot. I wasn't working particularly fast, so I suspect that if I did it again it would take about an hour. This time included me checking many other items including fault codes, all other fluid levels, lubrication of hinges, locks and catches, lights and controls, spare wheel condition, toolkit, tyre pressures and wheel bolt torque all round (mostly while waiting for vacuum extractor to do its work).Total cost (including oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter) was £42.
  

Easy, quick and cheap to do. If you haven't done your own servicing before, you can save a lot of money doing it (and it'll be done properly).

If anyone in the North East wants to learn how, let me know and I'll be happy to show and tell.

Nice write up.

Excellent, thank you. I did mine for the first time a couple of weeks back. I agree, all do-able.

The only thing i sort of struggled with. I used the oil extractor to try and prime the fuel filter, but it took ages and i gave up in the end. Emptied some of the old diesel from the old filter into the new one. Not ideal, bit did the trick.

Want to do it properly next time. Can you point me in the direction of one of those vaccuum things you refer to?

Cheers.

What you want is a Pela extractor. I'd recommend a cylindrical extractor rather than the spherical version. They're easy to find- you can start by googling Pela 6000, that'll get you started.

However, if you don't want to spend the money on a Pela, I started with a cheap Silverline 4.5L spherical extractor I bought for 18 quid on Amazon. It lasted long enough to do seven or eight oil changes, plus a couple of automatic transmission fluid changes and a few other jobs involving sacking stuff out of places.

Are they stronger than the mannesman? That supposedly sucks at 0.2l/min. i was on the filter for ages and had to stop as i thought i'd knacker the pump with it being dry.

But if the Silverline one is that cheap, I could just get that for the fuel filter and leave the Mannesman for the oil extraction.

Are they stronger than the mannesman? That supposedly sucks at 0.2l/min. i was on the filter for ages and had to stop as i thought i'd knacker the pump with it being dry.

But if the Silverline one is that cheap, I could just get that for the fuel filter and leave the Mannesman for the oil extraction.

To be honest I couldn't comment, as I don't know the Mannesman extractor - is that a 12V device? I'd wager that it didn't vacuum through the filter purely because it would need to be primed in order to create suction for a liquid as thin as diesel. I used a 12V extractor on a couple of occasions and found it messy if I'm honest by comparison with the Pela - I've changed oil on a colleague's car in the car park using the Pela wearing my suit and tie!

I favour the hand-pump vacuum extractor (or the air fed pneumatic ones if you want to really suck) because you can just pump and leave and it'll stop sucking when it's full (Pela - cheaper ones will just suck until they overflow into the pump). 0.2L a minute is slow - the Pela will empty a 5L sump in less than 5 minutes, and it took about 45 seconds to get diesel through the filter.