I needed to get an oil change today, so I ran over to Wally World to get 4 gallons of Rotella and a Mopar filter for my Dodge Cummins. They had 2 gallons on the shelf. The dude had to go dig around to find a couple more gallons, and when he got back I asked where they’d stashed the Mopar filters for the engine. They no longer carry Mopar any more, would I be interested in Fram he asked?
Brand doesn’t make a whole lot of difference, but Here’s the problem. The filter on my Cummins is kind of hard to get to with a regular filter wrench. You have to go through the fender well to reach it so after fighting with it the first time, I paid for a filter wrench that slips over the end of the filter and you turn it off with a ratchet and left it with my mechanic so we’d have it to use. The Fram filter has no splines on the end of the filter so you can’t use that type wrench. The ding dong Wal Mart mechanic says it’s no problem, just reach through the fender well. Sure, we fought that battle once, and once was enough, I want one like the Mopar that works with the wrench I bought because that’s the easiest way to get the filter off.
Went to an autoparts store and they sell Wix only. Wix has splines, but there’s a different number of them than there are on a Mopar filter, hence you have to purchase a completely different cap wrench. No good. 3rd stop, and I find a Mopar filter.
I’m sure Wal Mart got peed off at Mopar because they raised the filter price 50 cents or something like that and decided to carry alternate brands. Like I said, I’m not brand picky, but at the very least, it should have the same design so the wrench fits it.
It kind of reminds me of the fuel filter mess on the old 7.3L Fords. Some of the fuel filters came with tops, some didn’t, however, no 2 brands of fuel filters for that engine used the same top. So if you had a Wix filter in it and bought a Motorcraft and forgot where you put the Motorcraft top, you’d have to go back and buy a top because Motorcraft didn’t come with a top in the box. Baldwin came with a top and if you assumed all filters came like Baldwin did with a new top and tossed your old top and the next time bought a Wix, right back you’d be looking for a Wix top. By the time I sold that truck, I had a box under the seat with a Wix top, Motorcraft top, Baldwin Top, and a Fram top.
Skipper
I would go to a place where they sell Mopar filters, and buy 3 or 4.
when in doubt drive a screw driver through the offending filter and twist off.
yeah, i know, but hey, when desperation hits it’s amazing how resourceful one can get!
WalMart and one parts store are off the list. What other parts stores are there? What about Sears (Advance is owned by sears, I believe)? You could always go to a Dodge dealer.
The problem is where it’s at up there, if you could get to it to do that, you could use a regular filter wrench. Mine’s an 07 with a 5.9. Dodge only put the 5.9’s in those trucks for a couple months before switching over to the new 6.7 that has all the pollution gadgets on them. They made some changes to the 07 trucks ahead of that engine and from what I can tell weren’t too concerned about the few they planned to put 5.9’s in. I think they had 5.9’s in stock and wanted to deplete before using the new engine. Even the tranny in an 07 is different than an 06. It’s a little lower geared. From what I understand, it gets better mileage with the newer engine. That said, I’m glad mine doesn’t have all that pollution garb on it to cause problems.
Besides that, these filters have a quart and a half of oil in them.
Skip
I normally buy things like oil/air filters from an internet supplier that I like. Whenever I need to order something I add a couple of filters to the order (especially if it makes the total order price exceed their threshold for free shipping).
Have you seen the wrench that’s like a coil and fits over the filter. Then you use a ratchet to unscrew it. It works like the cap filter, but it fits different size filters. You don’t have to buy a new one when you change filters. I bought mine when I owned my 84 S-15. I had to reach through the fender well to change the filter on that vehicle. What a pain.
Have you got a link to one?
My mechanic had a universal deal but it was half plastic or mostly plastic one and we broke it the first time getting the filter off. Dodge’s Mexican labor force had put that thing on there tight. The filters on these things are tall and heavy with a lot of oil in it. That little cap outfit works pretty good cept for the 50 styles of splines on filters. I always fill it before putting a new one on, so they come off full and go on full. The filter on these engines holds about a quart and a half.
Skip
Do any of these look like they’ll work?
Do you think you might have spent more on fuel than it would have cost to get a new filter wrench? If I was in your position, I would order Mopar filters and oil by the case online. The fee you pay for shipping is about what it would cost you to drive all over the place looking for them.
Took me a minute…
They’d have to make a larger version. These filters are closer to 4" in diameter.
Skip
Not sure if they do…Thought it might help…sorry if it doesn’t.
I have quite a collection of various filter wrenches for exactly this reason. No standardization in design and WalMart automotive shelves look like a war zone. The bare bones filters are often as rare as hen’s teeth and I don’t want all that extraneous cr@p that jacks up the cost for no real benefit. Last time I went, they only had 2 quarts of conventional 5W30. WTH??? I’ve just about given up on them…
I loved it back in the 60’s and into the 70’s…
I think GM had 3 filters for all their vehicles…Ford had ONE…PH8A. Didn’t matter if it was a 302 F150 or a 2.3 Pinto…They all used a PH8A.
Items 4 and 10 in my previous post accommodate a 4" or larger diameter filter.
Yes, this was great when one filter fit all. I can remember the 1950’s when the two vehicles my parents owned,a 1954 Buick and a 1952 Dodge, along with the LawnBoy 2 cycle mower and the Lauson engine on the rototiller would all run on Champion J-8 sparkplugs. I had the same problem that the original post had when I bought the Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-4-2 with a 260 V-8 engine in 1978 which I still drive. I had to buy a special wrench to fit the end of the AC PF-45 filter. This wrench wouldn’t fit a cross-listed Fram or Purolator filter. I did find a wrench to remove the other brands of filters–it was on my pants. In desperation to remove a Purolator filter, I wrapped my belt around the end of the filter and pulled. The filter spun right off. This belt has become one of my oil filter wrenches.
what does dadgum mean?
It’s long hand for a verb that’s common with a noun that is a structure that holds back water creating a lake.
For the life of me I can’t see why there needs to be the number of different oil filters, fuel filters, air filters, and headlight bulbs there are. Anybody remember when you bought a headlight for 10 bucks? The options were round, square, 1 filament or 2. Now take a gravel to a headlight and it’s liable to cost $1000 bucks to fix it. Completely unnecessary IMO.
thanks now I’m a little smarter.
money and special tools is the only answer to your anger. I feel your pain,every year I spend hundreds of dollars to stay current,and more and more angry.
not to mention thousands of dollars to update my scan tools.just to fix someones vehicle,think I need to get out of this business,LMFAO!