Messy oil filter problem

[Rat407]

Little tip, I didn't search the site so if this is a repeat sorry. To save on a mess while changing the oil filter, try using a heavy freezer zip lock bag over it before you loosen it enough to start it to leak. The bag keeps the oil in and off your hands and the mess from under the vehicle.

 

[DABEAR95]

Very good tip, I have always spilled some oil when I loosen the filter on my Chevy. I never thought about placing something over the filter when I loosened it until I visited this board. It seems everyone has their favorite container to help with this task. Everything from freezer bags to the bag that newspapers come in when its rainy.

Jason

 

[Soma07]

You can also take a nail, punch, etc and put a small hole in the bottom of the filter. This will let the oil drain out so there isnt as much of a mess when you unscrew it.

 

[higney85]

or you can just unsrew it slowly and let it leak into the pan, the rest on your hands- BE A MAN!...


- just giving yall a hard time... I dont mind getting messy but im sure the EPA doesnt like my jeep marking it's territory when the oil is changed

 

[Shannow]

Good on Toyota for placing the filter half upside down at a 45 odd degree angle on the RV6.

They then ran the coolant hose to the oil cooler underneath the filter.

So a filter change pours hot oil over a coolant hose. Not a problem if I do it, but the dealer who used to service it didn't bother too much, and the hose was like black chalk when I bought the car.

If anyone has a non-messy way of working these things, I'm all ears.

 

[Ken4]

I use to send my car to the mechanics when I felt lazy to do the oil change myself, and they always spilt oil on my engine when they removed the oil filter on my 2.2L camry. It's pointing upwards at an angle. No one bothered to put a rag below the filter before removal. So when I got home, the easiest way I found to do a clean-up was to park the car by the roadside, boil a kettle of water, then pour hot water over the oil filter area....presto, spanking clean & no oil drips.

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

Having a good relationship with the local toyota dealers, I have watched many oil changes take place and they drop the oil filter, which leaves a mess on the engine, then spray with brake clean or citrol(schaeffers degreaser), then hose off after replacing the filter. No way to eliminate the mess with that filter setup.

 

[Shannow]

Yep, I degrease after the filter change.

On my first oil change after buying the car with 80,000 miles, I noticed the oil cooler coolant hose had become brittle due to being saturated with oil for best part of a decade.

When I went to get new hoses, the mechanics confidently told me that there was no cooler on those motors.

Wonder what they thought they were looking at and pouring oil over.

 

[eldawg4100]

i just let it spill onto the ground on the rubber mat or drain pan, sometimes i put a towel under the filter..


the plcae where I work at uses a crapload of brake cleaner spraying all over the car where oil is so customers dont come back thingking they have an oil leak after the oil change...

 

[Ray H]

I've just always pulled my car up on my neighbor's front lawn very late at night when I change my oil and filter by flashlight. (He now has the worst looking yard on the block, but at least he doesn't have to worry about weeds, stray pets, or small children. He does miss barbecueing, though. The last time he tried, the resulting explosion rocketed his wife and Weber kettle 75' into the air. Fortunately, he found the Weber. Some gub'mint suits came by and told him he qualifies for a Super-Fund Cleanup grant. Exxon-Mobil wants the rights to an oil lease. He's trying to decide which one to take...)