I wasn't planning on changing oil today...

...I tend to overthink things and after reading several posts I knew that it was going to be difficult to take off the first oil filter but I never planned on what happened today. I bought a case of JP 90915-20004, a Fumoto Valve, and a pair of rubber strapped ratchet wrenches (from Lowes) in preparation for my first oil change. I was going to wait until 2,000 miles but I bought the truck in June and just hit 1,700 so I planned on doing it soon due to the amount of time that had passed.


This morning I thought that I would loosen the filter thinking that there would be no pressure holding the filter down, tighten it back down a little, then change the oil tomorrow after running errands. I put the strap wrench on the oil filter and ended up crushing one corner of it. I then proceeded to try every filter cap I had, filter caps with sandpaper wedged into them, and finally brute force with a pair of rubber gloves. No dice.


At this point I was afraid to drive the truck in case the internals of the oil filter were damaged. On top of that, even if I did get the filter off I knew that I would never get all of the oil out of the truck when it was cold. I took the wife's Jeep to Auto Zone and grabbed a different size filter cap (wishful thinking) and a $3.00 Purolator filter. I then stopped at Home Depot and grabbed a set of oil filter pliers.


Long story short: New filter cap did not fit, oil filter pliers did, put on cheap Purolator filter, ran the engine for 15 minutes, drained the oil, installed the Fumoto valve, took off the Purolator filter, installed the JP 90915-20004, dumped in 5.5 quarts of Mobil 1.


Murphy's law wins.

 

I have had oil filters become very hard to remove if they are left on for extended periods. Also could have been put on too tight. I have had my 2010 for 30 days and hit 1600 miles this morning, I was surprized how many miles I have put on, and I'm retired. All pleasure driving........

Mike

 

The filter that came from the factory on mine took some serious force to break loose. I dinted the crap out of it in the process. I've done a few since and they are normal so I think it is a "feature" from the factory.

 

Most filters on a brand new car are that way. On mine I ended up stabbing the filter with a screwdriver and twisted it off.

 

The factory filters are put on by Thor. You need 4 fat women and a team of Clydesdales to break them loose.

After that though, it's one of the easiest vehicles I've ever changed the oil on.

Which reminds me, I gotta do my Matrix soon...

 

With my 4X4, the biggest problem is getting a catch pan that will fit under the truck and keep the oil from splashing EVERYWHERE when it hits the bottom of the pan.

 

great story! those oil filter pliers are cool. i will never buy one tho. i just use a monster pair of channel locks. i have to many cars with different sized filters, and channel locks are a multi-tasker.

why stress out on dumping oil from a cold truck? sure the viscosity may hang up a few spoonfuls, but in a waste water engineering class, we learned; the best solution to pollution is dilution. it applys to an oil change too.

again, great story!!

 

I took a storage tote and cut it to fit under the front end. Works great. No splash or spillage. From there, I transfer to 5 gal tank.

 

I was planning on doing my oil this morning...In my scion....and thank god it didn't suck any where near as much as your did.

Sorry it was such an event for you....Better luck next time!!

 

Original filters are put on via machine, hence them being so hard to get off.

 

Any chance of the Fumoto Valve getting hit by a rock while wheeling and draining your oil?

 

I think I will go ahead and ask a question on this one and I'm not trying to be an @ss or anything jcayce, just curious.

Why did you loosen the filter up, then tighten it up again? Then change the oil the next day and take off the filter?
Were you trying to see how tight the oil filter was, couldn't you find that out the day you were going to change the oil?

 

git some monster daddy channel locks,they work good.

 

Did my first oil change today, 700 miles. Went to Penzoil Platinum 5W-30. 12" pipe wrench is what it took to get my filter off!!!

 

Same here. I'm pretty strong but holy crap, they must've had a Sumo wrestler putting that shit on. I tore the crap out of the filter getting it off. Since then, no problem since I don't tighten it that damn tight.

 

I found these filter wrenches at PepBoys. They're more expensive than most but they are the best wrench I've used. I've tried just about all of them while working on bikes. They come in 3 sizes. The middle one fits the most common applications. The teeth bite into the filter and put more pressure on the case since there aren't many contact points.. The head is also offset (like the box end of a combo wrench).




IMO the strap wrenches and the metal band wrenches are pretty useless, especially if the filter has any oil on it. This jaw type wrench is the most worthless of all. There are too many dull contact points and the thing just slides around.


The best thing is a monkey wrench but you'll probably never have the space luxury to use one.

Driving a screwdriver through the filter and twisting it off with the handle works well but its messy. Remember to pierce through the filter high enough that you don't damage the spigot that the filter screws onto. If you have trouble with it, try driving a thin screwdriver in first, then tap in a thick screwdriver into the same hole. The thicker driver will help keep you from shearing the filter case.

Finally, for the most stubborn of filters, taking a wide flat chisel and tapping gently tangent to the base of the filter will work. You'll pierce the case first and then tap with the chisel held at an angle towards the base. A dull chisel works better.

Cap wrenches are okay but they don't work well on filters that are on too tight.

I haven't tried a spider wrench yet but I'm curious about it. I don't think it will work but its too neat a concept to leave alone.


For the first change on my Taco I had to drive a screwdriver through the filter. I still couldn't get enough leverage on it from the ground so I crawled up into the engine compartment and put my weight on the driver. The filter finally broke loose. I had one foot on the fender in front of the intake. I think my other kneewas on the metal brace above the radiator.

 

Really, out of all the different kinds of car and truck filters I have changed after running to temp., I have not once ran into that problem? What kind of tool are you using to get it off?

 

I think he was trying to warm up the engine before he drained the oil. This is actually recommended so you get more of the used oil out--As opposed to draining it cold.

 

...I know about that, about warming the oil up!
This is what he typed: "This morning I thought that I would loosen the filter thinking that there would be no pressure holding the filter down, tighten it back down a little, then change the oil tomorrow after running errands"

EDIT: Maybe I read it wrong. But it sounds like he tried to loosen the filter, then wanted to tighten it back on. Then drive around and change it the next day? I'm just curious.

 

Two reasons, one, like heshup said, heat expansion and two, I thought there might be some intial vaccuum from the engine that would be working against me. I knew it was going to be a bitch no matter what, I was just trying to make it a little easier.

I did want to loosen it (when cold)then snug it back down. Knowing that I 'could' loosen it was alleviating any worries of problems later and later the oil would be hot.