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Some moron used a wrench

972 views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  Kevin abq 
#1 ·
Changed the oil in my son's '96 Trep 3.5L today. We had a hell of a time getting the oil filter off. For starters it's up in a cubbyhole with limited options for your filter wrench placement. I torqued it on it to get it off and it just deformed and the wrench "thumb" poked through the wall of the filter. The next hour and a half was spent jamming blocks of wood between the wrench and the filter to give the wrench something to push against.

Needless to say, all went well in the end and the new filter is hand-tight like it should be. Whoever did the last oil change on that car also tightened the oil drain plug so tight we had to use a cheater bar on the socket wrench to loosen it. Good thing it wasn't stripped out ...I stripped a drain plug ... ONCE. Never again !:D
 
#4 ·
Invest in a pair of very large channel-locks from Sears. I have a channel-lock with a two foot handle that opens up to grab the biggest oil filter. I have never lost a battle. :p
 
#5 ·
I use one of those cheep ones that fit on the end of the filter and you put a 1/4 inch extension in the end. Works great. Dad bought it for his van but a regular oil filter wrench works better.
 
#6 ·
Hey Kevin, you should have driven up here, you could have used my grease pit. Whats a couple thousand miles among friends?
Doug, thanks for the offer. Dang ...I wish I had known that before I started ;)
Invest in a pair of very large channel-locks from Sears. I have a channel-lock with a two foot handle that opens up to grab the biggest oil filter. I have never lost a battle.
After spending the morning laying on an ice cold concrete floor with oil dripping in my face, the channel-locks sound cheap :D Thanks ...I'll do that my next trip to Sears.
I use one of those cheep ones that fit on the end of the filter and you put a 1/4 inch extension in the end. Works great. Dad bought it for his van but a regular oil filter wrench works better.
Is that a 1/4" socket extension that fits it? That sounds like a great idea. :D
 
#8 ·
yes the old screw driver through it like a Arrow all ways works in a pinch. and that is another reason to all ways do oil changes your self to make sure its done right the first time to avoid this kinds of crap.
 
#10 ·
We just got the car in October and this was the first opportunity to change the vital fluids. I can just picture a drooling mechanic using an air-impact to install the oil filter. NO WAY would this one have come off by hand. Well, at least it's over and from now on the filter gets a hand-tightening only. I showed my son the one-finger rule for drain plugs (only using index finger on socket wrench when tightening).
 
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