Hardest time you've ever had changing a filter.

[JavaMan]

This was mine. We were in a hurry and had the oil changed at a quick lube place on my wife's car back in September, 2006. Started out trying to remove it by had, then tried a belt type oil filter wrench, went to one that fits on a socket, I tried the never fail method of driving a screwdriver through it. I've never owned a pair of oil filter pliers before, but, went and bought a pair. Finally after about 30 minutes with the pliers it budged.

http://tinypic.com/2qcmamc.jpg

 

[Rico567]

Quite a mess getting that one off. I've put a few dents in the can in my time, but nothing at all like that. It passes understanding why people think they have to tighten an oil filter like it was a head bolt.....

 

[Drew99GT]

I'm shocked the threads in the pan are still in tact!

 

[JavaMan]

"I'm shocked the threads in the pan are still in tact!"

Yep, I was concerned also. But, after I got the filter off (of course I did lubricate the gasket) the new "Pure One" screwed on quite nicely. I tightened it with my hand, my wife started the car up while I was looking underneath and not a leak.

 

[JavaMan]

Oh, yes, my wife is probably a little pi##ed about me ruining her Christmas door mat. But, that's OK.

 

[JavaMan]

The scatch on my arm is from my Heeler. She likes playing in the water and gets a little excited.

 

[mazduh30]

Once had my truck serviced at WM. The tech(s) had rounded and over torque the plug so bad, I had to weld nut to plug. Also had to use a chain type oil filter wrench to unscrew the filter.

 

[Reg# 43897]

Hardest time with a filter? Anytime that I changed the oil on my old '92 318 Dakota... That application fair screamed out for a remote filter now in hindsight! The filter mount on the LA block is PERFECTLY aligned to angle the filter right at the frame rail. VERY little room. Always had to take off the inside fender to get at it. Man I hated doing that. The new Hemi is a joke in comparison.

John.

 

[JustinH]

Had a 95 tbird with a 4.6L engine.

I only use motorcraft filters and put them on by hand. When i bought the car, i think they used a wrench to crank it on.

You can't get a wrench on that filter, no chance. First time it took quite a while to get it off there.

The swaybar sits right next to it, and there is no room.

 

[wander2039]

The factory installed filter on my Ranger. I normally don't use wrenches to loosen or tighten so I had to buy one... even then it didn't want to come loose.

 

[B00SS]

Ha! You all have stories of getting a filter off. I had trouble getting one on. I was under our 99 Dodge Ram. Shouldn't be a problem. Plenty of room. Got the old filter off with no problem. Went to put the new one on and it wouldn't screw on. I figured I must be trying to cross thread it. Lowered the filter. Looked where it would be going and tried again. It wouldn't screw on. I re-examined and retried ten times before I finally looked at the filter itself. Oops. It appeared one escaped the quality control guys as there were no threads on the filter. I hadn't noticed as I prefilled the filter and oiled the gasket. I laughed at myself and drew a small crowd at the parts counter when I returned it.

 

[ewetho]

New 06+ Suzuki Grand Vitara's can even hardly get my to the filter let alone try and turn it. Hardly any room for a tool like a cup and ratchet. Maddening. First one took 45 minutes to figure out how to get it off and some guys in the shop are physically unable to touch the filter based on arm size. Just can not even get there.....

 

[Hooch]

I broke 3 different wrenches removing a filter once. They were cheap ones and I kept taking them back and exchanging them until I got the filter off.

 

[gonesurfing]

'92 Honda Civic. Can't get to the filter from the top of the engine. Car is too low to the ground to get to it from below. Had to jack it up both sides and support it with jack stands. There is no real good way to support the unibody on that car so I was very nervous crawling under it. Took me almost 2 hours to get the oil changed.

 

[Gary Allan]

Remote hydraulic filter head that I bought off ebay. I figure that the guy must super glue the gasket on the filter and then apply some on the other side of the gasket before he put the filter on (as a joke). You can't budge it. It's a brand new Purolator filter on a never been used hydraulic mount. The in mount bypass valve is also seized ..but there's no oxidation or anything that would indicate that any corrosive element was in effect.

He sold quite a few of them.

 

[rokky]

I always break into a cold sweat when its time to change oil filters on my sport bikes. Right side of fairing has to be removed. There are two different types of plastic rivets, philips head screws, and allen head screws. Of course, one wrong move and you scratch the fairing. Not nice.

 

[chewbacca]

My '00 Nissan Frontier (4 cylinder), what a pain! I cannot get my arm in there, I have access the filter by going thru the wheel well.

 

[leaves and lawns]

i just got a duramax 2004.(sweet!) i just did my first oil change.man-o-man was the filter on tight! and to add,when the oil drained it ended up all over the oil pan-skid plate. man what a mess! but i love the max.right now it has pennzoil LL 15w40. next time R-T-5w40.

 

[cos]

My then new '97 Dodge Dakota 6 cyl. The factory oil filter was a BEAR to wrestle loose. I literally had the truck rocking side-to-side as I tried to break it loose. I finally got it loose after getting a wrench with a much longer handle.

 

[Auto-Union]

I've had a lot of tough ones. Some front-mounted VWs are tough due to the rad support. I just recently slapped some grip tape on a Mobil 1 filter from my Acura that was tight. The tape made it so very easy, and I did not want to put a tool on it becuase I wanted to re-use the filter. I have a chain vise-grip for really tough ones and my friend just gave me a channel-lock that has to 3 prongs on it, I think for oil filters.