One little tip. If you have a filter that seems hopelessly tight try warming the engine up thoroughly. This will soften the rubber gasket. The difference is dramatic.
I know most people will do this anyway to churn up the oil but if you don’t, give it a try.
Yes . . . I have had better luck
Years ago, I bought a boxed set of oil filter wrenches for work, various sizes, probably 12 or more sizes
They all work very nicely
I disagree that some of the responses were “cavalier”
The responses were all helpful, even if some of them were blunt
I’ve got 3-4 different sizes of the cap type in your first post. That’s all I’ll use now and threw the other ones away. Often you don’t have clearance anymore for other kinds and need to use an extension on the ratchet. If you want to get the right size, do as suggested above or just measure the filter with a caliper and go to the store. Don’t use the cheap plastic ones though. Yes, for Honda I just bought the OEM one. No one else seems to have the right size. It was about $20 but good quality and fits the AO1 and 2 standard filters. Don’t get oil in your eyes.
Most of the time I dont need a wrench if I can get my hands on it,its not that much trouble to turn a filter that required 3/4-1 turn after contact,what happens is some jerk will spin those things down with a wrench 1 and a half or more after contact,then it usually requires a wrench(cap style my favorite) especially if you cant apply the required torque by hand,The gaskets swell up in the presence of oil and make the filter tighter. I had a Nissan pickup that was almost impossible to reach the filter on,till I realized a hole in the fender liner and a couple of extensions made it childs play,so whatever works for you and please dont over torque the drain plug.
Toyota’s latest oil filter is an effort to force owners to return to the dealership for service. And the dealership shops jump on the idea and to overtighten the plastic housing making it near impossible to remove it without the model specific tool. Then they add insult to injury with the price of the filter element being double the price of a spin on filter. Marketing gurus and bean counters try to wring out every dime from their customers by hook or by crrok.
I use simple cap wrenches that fit the size filters I change (four vehicles but two of them use the exact same filter). Over the years my collection has grown so I now have a total of seven cap wrenches of various sizes. If you are starting from scratch you might want to check the mighty Amazon’s automotive section. I saw they have some cap wrench “kits” consisting of six or more different sizes. As a person who has changed oil on his own vehicles since 1987 I can tell you that investing in the tools that make the job easy pays off in spades. Each time I finally bought a really good tool, such as a high quality floor jack or impact wrench, I found myself asking why I waited so long. Buy the right tools now and use them for a lifetime!
Oil filters are supposed to be tightened by hand . To remove them I recently bought a filter wrench that resembles a pair of channel locks but with a different type of jaws . Will work on different size & brands of filters .
There are a couple on this page . One is channel lock brand , they are called oil filter pliers .
Clicked on my link & it just gave me amazon . Type in oil filter wrench at top of page .
Oh how I wish auto manufacturers would follow the idea of airplane engine parts manufacturers (like Champion) and put 1" hex heads on the top of oil filters. Then you can apply a torque wrench and eliminate guesswork.
I agree
Somebody needs to explain why the should charge more for a cartridge, versus a spin-on filter
I haven’t heard any satisfactory explanations yet, except “Because we can”
I think the Mobil 1 spin-on filters have a hex, but they’re EXTREMELY expensive
I don’t buy them
I have a strap wrench similar to this
http://www.homedepot.com/p/GearWrench-3-8-in-or-1-2-in-Drive-Heavy-Duty-Oil-Filter-Strap-Wrench-3529D/205585067?cm_mmc=shopping--shopzilla--D25-_-205585067&szredirectid=14760330992360613345210090301008005&gclid=CMH58eSbzs8CFUcGMgod3u0JGQ&gclsrc=ds
that will remove any spin on automotive filter that I have ever run across. The strap on mine is large enough that I have used it to turn and hold harmonic balancers.
Yeah I know I tend to tighten them too much but they always come off again. I just have this fear of the things coming loose so give them a little extra tightening. I’d be under there every day looking for leaks if I only hand tightened them. Only once did I have a problem using one of those band type tools and ended up punching a screwdriver through it to get it off. Never had a problem with the cap wrenches.
By the way, if you get the Rockauto newsletters, this month it was interesting that they quoted a survey by Money magazine on millionaires that change their own oil. 6% do which is maybe why they have money and 28% cut their own grass. Maybe more would if they had more time.
FWIW . . .
On a number of occasions, I’ve seen guys get into UGLY situations, when they stabbed the oil filer with a screwdriver and tried to remove it
What sometimes happened is that it was so darrn tight, that the screwdriver basically peeled the filter shell, like a sardine can, yet the remaining part was still screwed on tight
Now you’ve got even less to work with, and lots of sharp edges to cut yourself
Probably oil filters in the old days had more steel, used the screwdriver method in the past successfully when the metal strap wrench would slip. I have a couple of strap wrenches to fit various size filters, the smaller size filter in the newer cars vs the old gm v8’s new strap wrench needed. I got one with a handle that can swivel so it does not have to be 90 degrees to the filter, handy in tight spaces. It worked well enough, but I gave up changing my own oil maybe 20 years ago.
Yeah they’re pretty thin sheet metal. If you screw it up after the screwdriver, then you gotta tow it to a shop and let them laugh at you while they fix your problem.
Yeah, I remember the guys were using a hammer and punches to loosen the remainder of the filter
But they were really nervous and were wearing leather gloves, so that they wouldn’t get cut
One difference with the new cartridge oil filteron the Toyota engines - is you screw it on until it won’t go any more. Unlike the canister filters where you screw it on hand tight.
It uses a common oil filter cap wrench, nothing special about it.
It requires a torque wrench to install.