Oil and filter change

But they could put on the 'one way' screwdriver type slot (but much larger) that some filters used to have to undo them with, I haven't seen one for years. The best filter removal tool to use is a dedicated size cup wrench (like a giant shallow socket) In general I use either a thing like a chain wrench with 4 strips of metal with serrated teeth (car shops sell them) or the oil filter pliers that screwfix sell. Other types I use less often are the three finger thing that tightens as it grips, a belt wrench (useful on things with very limited room around the filter) or a chain wrench. New mini is fun to get the filter off, but it has a 36mm nut on the end to help.

Agreed - £1 in a pound shop and I didn't really expect it surviving its first use. I usually use a chain type which is a bit awkward to get it to get its initial grip on an oil covered filter. The £1 strap tightens first, before it attempts to turn the filter.

Use the strap wrench as others have recommended. Use rubber gloves. Fill the filter with oil and smear oil along the O-ring. Take old oil to recycling centres.

Yes I've seen it done that way. Presumably to save time. Cheap & nasty!

Thats what the filter is for?

I don't know of any place that uses 0W30 for oil changes unless you specifically ask for it as it's usually fully synthetic and costs a shitload.

On 10-May-09 14:13:27, Ian Dalziel said

Thanks for clearing that up.

Bit of an anticlimax really. :)

All the best, Angus Manwaring. (for e-mail remove ANTISPEM)

I need your memories for the Amiga Games Database: A collection of Amiga Game reviews by Amiga players

So my thinking is, the operation is perhaps the most important one for your car's engine - do I want to trust people who are in a hurry to do something that I could do, more slowly - but with love and care? :)

All the best, Angus Manwaring. (for e-mail remove ANTISPEM)

I need your memories for the Amiga Games Database: A collection of Amiga Game reviews by Amiga players

I let my VW 2.4D Transporter go for up to 2 years before changing the oil if I'm not up to the mileage. Like you, I use it infrequently, but for long distance most times.

John

All K&N filters have a nut welded on:

Well I don't actually know what they did put in it. It was 1998.

As you say once you actually specify what oil they have to use instead of whatever they have in bulk then it costs.

If you do your own servicing simply tighten up as per the instructions - it can then be removed easily.

Done up by hand a filter is hard to get off again a year later, it will always need more than hand pressure to remove. So some form of tool will be needed to increase the effort.

My foolish mistake was to read the instructions on my chain wrench (which were incorrect), and by turning clockwise carefully tighten the filter extremely tight. Various rising stages of anxiety ensued... and the filter was punctured so I couldn't drive anywhere. The screwdriver through it had the corned beef effect, but I didn't push it all the way through. It culminated in a trip on the bus to buy a claw wrench. Which still didn't work.

As a last ditch attempt I hit the screw-end with a hammer and chisel. And evidently that was enough of a kick to break the seal... came off easily in the claw wrench after that.

Life is never simple...

Theo

Oh dear!

I couldn't get the filter off. I had a wrench I bought from Halfords, but still it was stuck. Not a great deal of room to move under the car.

I probably shouldn't have drained the oil first before I got the filter off - but then again I've always done it that way.

So, I had no choice but to put new oil in with the old, slightly dented filter.

I'll have to get the filter off somehow. But how?

well when the going gets tough, using a screwdriver through the case first, if that won't do then tear off the remains of the filter, the bit that is still screwed on has holes that you can lever or hammer against to start it turning. This is a very messy job. Alternately get a mechanic to do it.

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Dose the filter have a big set of flats on the end?

The one on our Lupo does, and that handily fits the huuuuge socket I bought for getting the (non-cannister) filter off my A3. It means you can get a ratchet on it. Some decent filters (Mann/Bosch) have a handy hex end you can get a spanner on.

I remember cursing the spanish bastard that factory-fitted the filter on my ibiza- that look a lot of swearing to shift.