Hardest filter to Change????

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My442

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After 30+ years of cars, and always doing my own oil changes, the winner for most difficult filter change: Lexus RX300.

The engine is transverse, and the filter is directly under the exhaust manifold. And, there is literally no space to get the filter out or in.

It's a real PITA!!!!!!
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Any car with the GM 2.5L 4 cyl. "Iron Duke". Impossible to remove the internal filter without spraying oil everywhere.
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otherwise a good engine....
 
The three hardest I ran across, in order:

- Saturn. I had to take the LF wheel off to access the filter, which dumped oil on the half-shaft.
- 95 T-bird V8. You have to snake your hand through the suspension to get at it, and it's like one of those wire puzzles where you have to position it just right to snake it through.
- 98 Escort ZX2. I have to remove the washer fluid bottle each time to get at the filter. Not a real biggie though, it's become routine after 55 oil changes.

A lot of the problem (at least for me) is that cars are now designed for oil changes from underneath, whereas I find it a lot of trouble to put my body directly under the center of the car and do my oil changes from the top.
 
quote:
Worst filter I remember was my 71 Valiant with the 318 V-8. Horizontal over the torsion bar between the inner fender and block, below the exhaust. The torsion bar neatly divide the space below in into 2 halves neither wide, enough to swing a wrench.
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Had that vehicle. Lots of body lean by 2006 standards. Not bad for 1971. Had to add a front sway bar. Filter was not on my worst list. Was not hard to reach the filter if I used a short filter. If I used the Motorcraft FL1a or large size filter, it was hard to get a wrench on it. So I used rags and sandpaper or rubber bands to grip the filter better to remove or install with no wrench.
Not as bad as a CRV where I have a hard time seeing the filter which is near the exhaust. If the filter leaks, oil could get on the exhaust. Very smoky.
 
The worst car I ever had to do a filter on was a turbo charged Nissan 300zx. Gotta remove the cat converter to acess the filter.

The filter on my Peterbilt is a close 2nd. It uses a horozontly mounted canister filter and theres not enough room to get the canister out, only slide it back then try to get the old filter out and the new filter back in w/o getting the new one dirty.
 
I don't like the filter location on RX300s either.

3.0L Vulcan Tauruses are also tricky because the starter is right next to the filter on one side and the exhaust manifold is right next to it on the other side. You have to be very careful if you don't want to get burned by the exhaust and/or shocked by the starter solenoid.

3.4L Toyota trucks and 4Runners are no fun either. If you have long arms, they probably are not too bad, but I don't.

I also don't like pre-Ecotec Cavaliers and Sunfires.

New Beetles have awkward filter locations too, but I wouldn't say they are the worst.
 
I haven't changed the oil on all that many cars over the years. The hardest spin-on filter to reach & install/remove was on a Chevy Citation 2.5 L 4 cyl. Transverse mounted engine, filter mounted high on the rear passenger side of the engine block. Those were otherwise pretty good little engines, IMO, but the oil filter location was *bad*.
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I only change the oil on that car 3 times- and once, I'm ashamed to admit to not changing the oil filter.
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On the 94 Mercury Grand Marquis 4.6 L V-8 I looked at the oil filter location, tried to imagine getting it out of there without making one mell of a hess on the driveway/carport floor(at the time I didn't even have ramps that car could "climb"!), & decided it was best to let the local service station change the oil on that car. Discretion the better part of valor, etc.
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Easiest car to change oil on, in my experience, is the one I have now, the 97 Neon- but only *after* I found Rhino Ramps.
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On 95-99 Neons the oil filter hangs vertically, only inches away from the drain plug. Just don't use a filter that's too long, it'll peek out from under the oil pan & cause big problems when you knock a hole in it!
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I don't think it was the hardest to replace but the oil filter location in the Saturn SL1 and SL2 cars was pretty flat out lame. It is hard for me to imagine what an engineer was thinking putting a part that has to be replaced frequently in a location like that.

They should have engineers involved in designing car parts actually have to get under a car or truck and replace a few parts themselves. It would led to better design policy.
 
How about worst drain plug location?

Had a 1988 Dodge Dakota V6 4x4 that when you removed the drain plug, the fluid hit a crossmember and fan out in a 5' circle getting oil everywhere. Fliter was a ***** to get to also. Worth every penny to me when I had the oil and filter changed at the local Chevron service station down the road to me. My whole family went to that station for years but they gringed when they seen me drive up.
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Hootbro
 
Chevy Cavalier, 2.2L. Had to remove the passenger side wheel and access through the wheel well.

Easiest is my current Hyundai Sonata 2.7L.

I always check for ease of service now before I buy a car. The salesmen always look at me funny when I crawl under a new car in the middle of the lot!
 
Glad I went with the Ecotec in my Cavalier. Kestas would love it. Just beyond the end of the intake manifold. Standing up, a 5/4 socket, an extension, and a breaker bar. The cap unscrews pulling the filter element out. Hold a rag under it to catch the few drips, and you have one of the quickest, easiest, cleanest filter changes there is.

Worst filter I remember was my 71 Valiant with the 318 V-8. Horizontal over the torsion bar between the inner fender and block, below the exhaust. The torsion bar neatly divide the space below in into 2 halves neither wide, enough to swing a wrench.
 
Cavalier Automatic pre Ecotec. Gotta access it underneath on a lift by bending arm in 4 places.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Mystic:
They should have engineers involved in designing car parts actually have to get under a car or truck and replace a few parts themselves. It would led to better design policy.
Click to expand...
I'm sure the engineers were well aware of the ramifications of their design. It's usually the managers and accountants that okayed this design. Nobody nixes a deal on a car at the showroom because the oil filter is hard to get to, and the manufacturers know that. You can bet somebody got a pat on the back for saving the company some manufacturing costs with that design.
 
The worst? Easy, the ones "welded in place" at factory . .

. . . never heard of those? At 70,000 miles or about 6-years the original owner would sell it and yours truly or some other unlucky SOB would have to try and get it off: screwdrivers first, sawzall second, cutting torch finally.

(Just an ordinary oem full-flow that no one ever replaced).
 
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