Am I alone in thinking that someone should have taken another look at the design of the air filter box on the EA211 engine before signing off on it?

 

I checked online on how to remove the air filter, which showed that you needed to remove the whole box from the engine, which I finally managed after having much fun with the hose clips!  As I was removing the two cross-head screws on the underside of the box, I found myself thinking - why, oh why didn't they just change the design so that these screws were in the top of the cover? Then you wouldn't have to remove the complete box just to change the filter. 

When you look at the box in situ, all that is obvious are the four plastic clips in the corners, I wonder how many people have attempted to remove the top not knowing that there are two screws hidden underneath!  The recommended air filter change schedule is another thing altogether, another case of VWs "Pixie dust"? 

Service and repair probably makes more money than original sale of vehicle; so design that discourages DIY is not necessarily unclever from Skoda/VW's standpoint.

Designs are not thought out. On my 1.2tsi (chain engine) the pipe which feeds the PCV valve is rigid and goes into the air intake. When the technician lifts the top off the air box to replace the air filter it puts leverage on the PCV valve where it goes into the rocker box and breaks.

Edited 2 July, 20205 yr by edbostan

^^^ and more service and repair for Simply Clever car manufacturers..........probably applies to all of them.

Fully agree with Warrior193.  The air filter housing could easily have the 2 screws which are presently on the underside accessible from the top.  Also why would you think to remove it from the car when there are the 4 clips?  Surely any right minded person would simply undo the clips thinking that was all that was needed.