Removing struck oil filter

Twice. First change of OEM filter. Strap, band, cap wrenches no go. Mangled can before removing wheel and going through wheel well with hammer and chisel. Second was new to me used car. Giant channel locks got it loose just before collapsed can would have leaked or came off entirely.

That style strap wrench you pictured has let me down so many times

I have lots of tools to remove engine oil filters

these types are the ones I go to first if working on very large filters, the ones that hold several quarts

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Well FWIW my strap wrench used a ~3 wide piece of seat belt type material @db4690. And over the years I shredded the strap and once replaced it with a seat belt section. It would hold an harmonic balancer.

edit to add; This highly favors my wrench.

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200814536_200814536

Experiences will vary from one guy to the next

:smiley:

I had one about 40 years ago, would not come off with the skinny metal band wrench I had, punched a big screwdriver through it and ripped the can in half,. peeled the can down to the base with vise grips and then used a hammer and cold chisel on the base.

The plastic cartridge housing on my 2012 Camry is a pain. I have ro use a 64mm cap wrench, tapped down on the end with a hammer to get it off and then pot the wrench in my vise and pry the filter housing off the wrench. I have a 65… wrench to put it back on because if I used the 64, I would have to leave the wrench on the housing. The 65 slips if I try to remove the housing with it. I have even tried soaking the O-ring in oil overnight to see if that will help. Glad I only have to do it once a year in August.
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I would be worried about the oil catching on fire, Not doubting what you did.

I’ve had a few minor complications, all ultimately manageable. The worst, one of my first ever filter changes, led to desperation when I had virtually no experience working on cars and was far from any help. Somehow, I “improvised” a method which I now see is well known: drive a screwdriver through it. At the time, I never appreciated my ingenuity, was just relieved that the crisis had been averted. I had totally forgotten that until I read this thread.

More recently, doing a first change on my latest used purchase, I was surprised that my cap wrench seemed to slip, as if it was the wrong size. Maybe it was. Anyway, figuring I just needed to make it a little tighter, I slipped a thin cotton rag (former T-shirt) into the cap to make it fit tighter. That solved the problem quickly. I’m sure that’s not a new idea either.

Reading here about strap wrenches, I wonder if the problem with the straps is that they are slipping, or rather that they crushing the filter. I vaguely recall crushing a filter that way once, learning a lesson about getting closer to the ring.

If the problem is that the strap is slipping, which I had happen with a cheap old wrench I had in a previous century, I have a thought. This may also be well known everyone else on the planet.

The friction could be increased with a slab of thin sticky rubbery material. What comes to mind first is the non-slip mesh stuff used under throw rugs, and similar stuff for drawer liners. I hope I remember this by the next time I change oil, which may be a while longer than usual now. Better yet, I’ll cut a piece right now and stick it on my pegboard where the cap wrench hangs.

if your strap wrench is slipping put a folded piece of sandpaper between it and the filter.

I had mentioned that this type of tool has let me down so many times

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and you hit the nail on the head . . . it crushes the filter without loosening it, making your job that much more difficult :frowning_face:

But as I’ve said, I’ve got plenty of other tools and methods at my disposal

I have always been able to get them off with my cap type tool, if it starts slipping (on the first change), I jam a small screwdriver or allan wrench in it.

The only problem as @oldtimer-11 is the Prius cartridge oil filter. The cap tool has cuts in it, the center is the 3/8 wrench which essentially broke my wrench. I had to buy the 36 mm socket and go at it with a 2 ft breaker bar assisted by a pipe to get it off. I have torqued it to spec and even then it doesn’t come off very easily.

Yes, the 64 mm cap wrench for my Camry has a square 3/8 hole for the socket extension to fit in but the wrench is cast aluminum which I knew would break if I applier enough force to get the filter off. The 3/8 hole is in the middle of a 17mm hex shaped protrusion that I put a 1/2 " drive socket with a 2’ pipe over my 18" breaker bar.

I don’t know why it comes out so hard, I can thread it back in and it bottoms out with very little force so it only has to be tight enough noy to come off. and it seals with a O ring and not a gasket

Yes, I am now using a torque wrench, going with 18 ft/lbs which is the spec, after 6 months (I change oil based on time as my daughter drives 5K miles a yr), it is still stuck as hell.

Not thinking there is enough metal in the filters of today for the screwdriver solution. @Tester Kind of scared me with the blow torch to melt of the gasket, I do not know the flashpoint of oil.

On my Camry, if I break the plastic filter housing, I will go yto the dealer and buy the aluminum one from the Venza. It firs my camry but I don’t know about your Prius. It is cheaper than the plastic one.

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I don’t understand why the torque spec is so high, factory installed filter caps are not very tight at all. After the lube techs perform an oil change I find the plastic caps very difficult to loosen, they only need to be hand tight, they don’t loosen on their own and with an O-ring seal they don’t leak oil if not “torqued”.

I have never thought about the torque specs on a regular filter since i just hand tighten and then some and has worked. With this one, was worried about leaks, there is a plastic pan that would hide minor leaks and to make things worse, my kids are the main drivers, so I am trying to go by the book.

But I can also say that it takes pretty much as much force if not more to loosen that has taken me to take axle nuts off. I believe their specs are over 165 ft/lbs for most cars.

I only pot mine on by hand, it spins down and bottoms out very easily and will not budge a bit past that poing but is still a bear to get off.

I never worry about torque spec on over 90% of bolts on a vehicle. Only the critical ones. Every bolt on every car has a torque spec…including oil filters. The oil filter on my wifes Lexus and my Highlander are different. You only replace the paper element inside the housing. It goes on differently. You tighten the filter snug. The older type canister filters - the old rule-of-thumb of Hand-tighten (then 1/4 quarter turn more with a wrench) has served me well for well over 45 years and hundreds of oil changes. Many times a stuck filter is due to not applying oil on the gasket when new filter was installed.

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