Oil Filter Removal Tips?

[swami]

hi all,
the one thing i dread is changing the oil. the first time i used one of those craftsman strap filter wrenches but they break and this time i used one of those cheap fram wrenches from wallyworld and punched a hole in the filter. made a mess before i found out that you have to squarely place the wrench on the reinforced end of the oil filter before it would spin off. there's got to be a better way. any tips? TIA

 

[Mels]

Don't overtighten filter.

 

[swami]

i put a purolator pureone filter on by hand! maybe the butyl rubber gasket compresses easier?

 

[shobote]

Make sure to oil the gasket and no more than 3/4 of a turn after it is snugly on; I avoid the strap wrenches and use the cap style wrenches that fit over the end of the filter and use a ratchet to remove, and have never had a problem.

 

[ultimatesho]

ive honestly never used a wrench, always take em off by hand........mite need a shop towel to get a better grip sometimes but thats it

i no of a few people who punch a screw driver thru the filter and take em out that way

 

[SHOtime2511]

some of the K&N filters have a socket fitting on them.
if you don't overtighten and change your oil at normal intervals then this should never be an issue.

 

[hawkeye18]

Step one is to let the engine cool down a little... it is hard to take an oil filter off when it is 180something degrees. I've found that the sustained application of torque is more effective than a high initial torque when removing filters. The rubber gives and stretches at the initial application of torque, absorbing a lot of the force applied. If you keep applying it, however, the rubber will reach the limit of its travel and transmit the torque to the sealing surface, which should break. I've found that if I twist as hard as I can with my hands, and continue to apply that amount of force for ten seconds, 90% of the filters will spin loose. The other 10% are those which were applied with no oil on the gasket, or tightened way too hard with a wrench.

 

[1bad98SHO]

Don't overtighten filter.

Agreed, Do not overtighten the filter in the first place and it wont be so difficult to take it off the next time.

 

[boat]

If you HAND tighten the filter until it stops, you should be able, like Hawkeye said, untighten it with your hands with some applied force when it is time again to change the oil.

 

[38SHO]

If you HAND tighten the filter until it stops, you should be able, like Hawkeye said, untighten it with your hands with some applied force when it is time again to change the oil.

I dunno about that, maybe your idea of stopping and mine are two different things though

I do a lot of oil changes at work, and have lots of repeat customers, so I remeber if I did that certain car last time... I tighten all of them by hand, an vary rarely can I later get them off by hand... and I was the SOB who put it on! The other guys at work can tell when its a car I did the oil change on last cause its tight as **** and they complain lol........

hey better then loose like the quick change places and leaking..... I had one of those today... Firestone...... I've had a few cars in the past couple months that had a major leak from the oil filter with the name Firestone on it... hmmmmmm

the SHO filter on a MTX isn't that hard, I don't know if the ATX is any different..... or with the bigger Gen1 starters, I've never changed the oil filter on a SHO with that starter.... and I don't really remeber my ATX being any more difficult

I use oil filter pliers, mine are Mac Tools ones, I like them a lot compared to some of the other designs I have seen.....

it makes quick work of it if you know what you are doing.... and of course you need to clamp down on the end where it is slightly stronger on it to get it off... you have to do that with any kind of tool/setup besides your hand

some suggest the K&N filter with the nut on the end of it.... yes this is a "different" feature... but with the right tools I find any regular filter EASIER to take off then the K&N style with a socket and ratchet.... it can just be cumbersome trying to put like a 1" socket on it..... plus the price of those will tear up your wallet if you change your oil a lot...

they are around 13 bucks or so, a nice quality Pure One filter can be had for half of that... This nut setup could be more beneficial on other cars where it is harder to get the filter, ours are fairly easy in comparison to the rest of the vehicles on the road. The only problem I have is they are messy!

here is one on ebay,I don't know of the brand quality, but it is a spitting image of my MAC Tools one, from how it pivots and you can open the pliers up to 3 different sizes, to how the teeth are on the plier ends.... I've used my MAC one for over half a decade without any problems multiple times a day.......



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OIL-...Z360174453093QQptZMotorsQ5fAutomotiveQ5fTools


so heres the cliff notes:

-get proper tool
-learn how to use tool properly
-make your oil changes a breeze

and in case you don't know, do not use those pliers to put the oil filter on, just do that by hand as you can deform it, and don't put the filter pliers on the connections for the starter, pay attention to this when using the tool, or you will be paying attention to a nice spark

 

[K-Dawg]

Righty tighty, lefty loosy.

 

[Rockledge]

Like Jason noted, be sure to coat the entire new rubber filter gasket with oil.

 

[turbo79]

For a number of years I've been using Fram Tough Guard filters on my Fords. Currently on both my SHO and '93 3.0 SLO I've followed the rules I see repeated above (oil on gasket, hand tighten) and I can almost always break a filter loose by hand (19 times out of 20) - after it's cooled a bit. The Fram TGs do have a black wrinkle finish on the ends, and that makes iit a little easier.

 

[hawkeye18]

I use an M1-301 exclusively; aside from its more obvious advantages, its larger circumference gives me much more torque with my hands. It's a piece of cake to get them loose! ...getting them out of the engine bay, though, is another story...

 

[jthod]

Weld a nut on the end.

 

[itwonder]

The best oil filter wrench I've owned by far is the cam action end fit type, used with a 3/8" drive ratchet. It's sold by Lisle as PN 63600. I've never run into an OF I could not get loose with this wrench. It will last you a lifetime. OF's are easier to loosen if the engine is warm.