I’ve been driving the same Honda Civic for more than 20 years. Every oil change performed at a Honda dealership came with a new aluminum crush washer. That alone seems to solve the over-tightening and stripping problems.
When I started doing my own oil changes, I replaced the drain plug with a valve, and I’m very happy with that decision. I’ve done the same upgrade on every motorcycle I’ve owned.
Thanks I am planning on doing same. The valve will make it easier
Not too many years ago the service manager at a Ford dealer here in OK stated to me that in 15 years a transmission pan had NEVER (that word again…) been removed during a transmission service.
He had no answer when I asked how they determined if a filter was partially clogged or whether there was an excessive amount of debris in the bottom of the pan. I also told him his service dept. had been doing things wrong for 15 years; which is why I was sitting in his office over my son’s botched transmission service. Failure to do any service at all was the actual reason rather than a botched one.
Same goes for the fuel filter that was never changed and the spark plugs which were claimed to have been changed but in actuality had not even been touched. And the filthy “new” air filter which had been in there since the day the car rolled off of the assembly line.
I am sorry to hear about your experience.
Hi,
The Dodge dealer I bought my Caravan from years ago did it to me one time. I did most of the oil changes myself but I would have them do it when they ran a special. It was so bad I rounded it trying to get it off. A local independent mechanic friend of mine used a little pipe wrench with a pipe on it. He said in all his years he never saw one so tight. He had heard a story about someone using an impact gun to tighten one and wondered if the guy used one on mine. I owned the van for 12 years. that was the only time I had a hard time getting that off. I hope that yours is only a one time thing.
I will be doing the maintenance from now on. It is scary relying on another person to do the maintenance.
no dealership should ever overtighten them, it only needs to be hand tight though I know some guys are lazier than hell and will gun them on .
You admittedly ran through a pothole hard before having these problems. Hardly a defect, you broke something. Did you tell them you ran through a pothole or are you witholding this information? That might be why they haven’t found it yet.
Alignment problems are usually caused by bad roads and/or hitting curbs and potholes, and when they are caused by defects, those defects are easy to spot.
Have you sought a second opinion at another shop?
My GMC pickup - I had a coupon from my dealer for an oil change…It was real cheap. I dropped it off since it was about 100’ from where I worked and picked it up after work. I opened the hood and there was my bright Orange Fram filter. I pulled the dip-stick and the oil was NOT clean. I was furious. Service manager insisted that they did the oil change. I showed him my Fram Filter…He shut up and brought out a tech who drove car on lift as I watched and changed oil and filter in front of me. They probably could get away with that with their customers who only go to them for their service.
Sorry to hear that. They don’t count on people that really know their cars. (Many of people don’t) I hate hearing out and out ripoff stories like that. Dealerships wonder why more people don’t bring their cars in for routine service. One thing I can say about that Dodge dealer is they didn’t deny over tightening the drain plug. They said they would talk to the tech and tell him to be more careful. And in the 19 years I dealt with them they never tried to push anything on me that I didn’t want or need. I have 2 local Ford dealers I’ve dealt with with my wife’s Edge. They are so bad I dread having to see them. They run decent specials but come up with ways to wreck it.
So my shop I have the oil changed every 3 to 5 k, 1000 miles to go on their replacement tag. Sure I did some boat towing, oil was clean after change, level is still good, so I played dumb. Dash is displaying change oil soon on start. I did some boat towing, it sat for 6 weeks, level is good, should I trust the oil life monitor or the mileage for your 3k oil change. 03 trailblazer, no need to add oil at this point, 2k miles. Guy says the 3k miles is fine don’t worry,and it turns out fall and spring usually. It can get really confusing sometimes.
So, here we go.
I have bought a new to me, used Toyota. It was bought from a friend, he took the car to the same Toyota dealership every 5K miles for maintenance. So I decide to do my own first oil change. It is a Prius and uses the cartridge type oil filter. I bought the tool online-paid extra to get the one with good reviews. The drain plug was tight but still came off. The oil filter was a different story. The 3/8 inch hole in the middle of the tool broke, along with my ratchet while trying to get it loose. At the end I bought the 27 mm socket and with the 2 ft breaker bar, assisted with a metal bar the thing came off.
The torque specs on this oil filter is 18 ft/lbs. I swear they put it on with the air gun, probably didn’t change it for a few of the last oil changes either because the filter housing was messy (oil change was 3K miles ago) and the filter material was dirty as hell.
I was driving in Windham NH over the weekend. And I saw this used car dealer in NH called “Nu2u Cars”
Thought it was clever.
My wife’s Highlander takes the cartridge style filter. I’ve noticed it’s pretty easy to go from “that’s tight enough” to “why’d I put this on there so tight?” when screwing the housing back on. I’ve never used my torque wrench on it. I may try that next time just for fun.
I much prefer the spin on filters, but most manufacturers seem to be going back to the cartridge style…like my dad’s 1950 Chevy pickup has…which I find a bit odd.
My 1947 Pontiac and my 1950 Chevrolet pickup didn’t have oil filters. Also, my 1955 Pontiac didn’t have an oil filter as the oil filter was a factory option and the one I bought used didn’t have the optional oil filter. I did go to a salvage yard and get the filter. The 1955 Pontiac has hydraulic tappets and required heavy detergent oil. Without an oil filter, this was a recipe for disaster. I fought sludge in the oil passages in the studs holding the rocker arms even though the engine had been just overhauled
My 1947 Pontiac was a flathead 6 and the 1950 Chevy pickup has solid lifters so neither car needed detergent oil. In those days, the oil was changed every 1000 miles.
I prefer it over the canister filters. Canister filters you hand tightened…This filter…just tighten til it’s good and snug (bottoms out).
California alone estimates that over several thousand tons of used oil filters end up in landfills. Most are metal (if another material is used I’d like to know). To me…that alone is one damn good reason to get rid of the canister filters.
Point taken about the landfill waste. I don’t have a huge issue either way. A bit easier to spin off, toss, and spin on, rather than spin off, replace o rings, retract old filter, insert new, spin back on, and apply brake clean on the housing to tidy up. But not a big deal either way if it reduces waste.
I do find it a bit funny that the last time I saw a cartridge filter was on a 1950 Chevy until we bought the Highlander. Not funny “ha, ha”, but funny “how bout that”.
What is old is new, If I recall correctly my 71 triumph bike had a cleaner in a canister for oil.
Personally I do not worry about it, however we do check our statement every month line by line, to make sure it is correct have never found a problem though