new RX350 - First oil change and wow tight filter

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Jan 21, 2009
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Location
RI
Rx350 used high quality ratchet clap filter wrench, started collapsing filter before finally broke free! Drain plug was also far tighter than I ever do.
I do filters hand tighten as tight as a hand can do nd reasonable wrench on drain. Why the heck does the factory put them so tight?
 
One time I found a picture of the Honda Assembly line where the installed the factory filters, maybe Lexus got on board as well....

1783478114176.webp
 
Back in the 1990's I discovered the gorillas who installed our Corolla filters and decided it was best for the dealer to do the first oil change. On our Subarus, they were no issue for me with a 'claw" type oil filter wrench. Sounds like the gorillas are still employed.
 
What you need is a S W I V O I L filter wrench. It's an oil filter wrench with a handle that swivels for giving you clearance.

I always thought the band type filter wrenches were the best for removal.

Swivoil Wrench.webp
 
This is becoming commonplace in today's modern automotive assembly procedures. Factories don't like, or want to tolerate leaks of any kind. So they basically over tighten everything that can. I remember having a difficult time with first oil changes on every new car I ever had.

But far more so now than in the past. Also, as far as filters go, many are installed dry. They don't take the time to prelube the gasket, which doesn't help in the least when it comes to removal later. And it's not just the factories.

Places like dealerships, and joints like "Jiffy Lube" are also guilty of over torquing filters and drain plugs. Many to the point of damaging threads. This is especially true with Aluminum oil pans. Or worse plastic, where you can damage the threaded, molded in metal insert, that can require replacing the entire oil pan to fix.

This is the main reason I never have my oil changed anywhere, except in my own driveway by me. I HATE doing it. And the older I get the worse I hate it. But I would rather bite the bullet and suffer through it, than deal with the consequences, or the ineptness of having it done improperly.

Not to mention the fact that unless you actually observe them opening a sealed bottle, and pour it directly into your vehicle, you have no way of knowing what they are actually giving you, or charging you for. Let alone how much. And as simple as it sounds and is, they manage to screw it up on countless vehicles on a daily basis from coast to coast.
 
What I have found, if a filter is not good and hot , it is more difficult to remove. Some times if space allows , a cap type wrench using an extension and ratchet works much better than a strap type wrench.
 
Why the heck does the factory put them so tight?
Do as I say, not as I do.

Somewhere there's a thread having the discussion on how to correctly tighten/torque oil filters with a P-style gasket, but I couldn't find it. Wonder if this may be related, but doubt it. Certainly not the oil drain bolt.
 
I'm lucky. With the hundreds of oil changes I've done in my life, I've never encountered an oil filter that wouldn't come off conventionally.
 
The few oe filters I have removed appear to have been put on with no lube on the oring. Dry block and dry seal.
I have a case, (12), of Toyota OEM filters I bought online, that are plastic film sealed on the face, and pre greased. The problem is they, (Toyota / Denso), use a O-Ring to seal their oil filters. It takes very little torque to compress the O-Ring against the mating surface of the engine.

Then you are torquing metal against metal. This can make the filter very hard to remove. And the O-Ring doesn't have anywhere near the sealing surface or pressure the thick, flat, wide rubber seal does that is used on most every other oil filter made.

I still have them, and eventually may use them. But now I'm using Fram Ultra Synthetic, (or whatever they're called). They seal nice and tight.
 
I have a case, (12), of Toyota OEM filters I bought online, that are plastic film sealed on the face, and pre greased.
Similarly, I buy the OEM Tokio-Roki filters for my WRX. Plastic film sealed, and greased rubber. I don't add any additional lube.

I'll have to take a closer look at one next time. I'm not sure how much I compress the seal, but fortunately they seem to seal well.
 
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