WHERE IS THE OIL FILTER on Ecotech 2.2?

Open the hood, stand in front of the driver's side near the center and look straight dow. See that black screw-on cap there? That is the oil cartridge filter. It is now a simple oil cartridge that screws into the engine block instead of the old metal external filter. Makes it kinda nice for the do-it yourselfer, huh?

marx404

Lol yeah this will be a new one for you. Looking from the top of the engine compartment standing at the front bumper. Look at the intake manifold then look to the right of that and down a little bit. Notice a black plastic cap about 3 inches in diameter. Notice a 1 1/4 inch hex head on the cap. Remove that cap...hey theres your filter, have a rag handy. Some things to know for the ecotec:

- Snap the new filter into the cap or you might crush it when you put it together.

- Do not torque down on that cap as it may break. Just snug it down till it stops.

Geee, wasn't that what they had before the spin-on filter was invented? IIRC, 'very messy' was the reason why it got displaced by spin ons long ago. And spin ons aren't messy unless they're cheap with the design and put them horizontal.

Hey, remember that 80's GM that had it up in the oil pan?

The Ecotec oil filter design is a lot less messy than most spin-ons I've seen - there's not much oil that lingers in that area and the filter snaps into the cap so you can just pull it out, pull off the old filter and put in the new one.

I actaully like the cartridge filter used on the Ecotechs. Unlike most people around today, I have had the thrill of working with both cartridge and spin-on filters. To be sure, the old style cartridge filter could be messy. However, I've never seen a spin on that wasn't messy also. I don't care what angle you mount them at, some oil always slops over the side when you unscrew them. The vertically mounted ones are little better than the horizontally mounted one. In fact, I've seen severval vertical arrangements that were worse than any horizontally mounted filter. The Ecotech filter on the otherhand is painless, and very simple to change. Little if any oil is spilled when you pull it out of the enclosure. I have changes my Vue's oil twice now and have yet to drop any oil from the filter on the engine. I'd rate it as the easiest car to change oil in since my 1972 Pinto. The Pinto has to be number 1, since I could change it's oil without even going underneath (I could reach both the pan plug and filter from the top of the engine).

Ed

I asked the salesman that question on the final walk-around when I bought my 2.2L. Vue 3 weeks ago. He was amazed I asked that question, since it was the first time anyone asked it of him and he did not even know where it was. He had to go find one of the dealership mechanics to get an anwer. Anyway, I'll probably get the dealer to change the oil for the first few times, then I will install the synthetic oil that Valvoline recently offered a 100 percent rebate on. I changed the oil every 3K miles on my two SW2's. With the new Vues. there is no fixed oil change interval anymore and the CPU determines when the oil needs to be changed. Does anyone have figures on the elapsed mileage when that happens?

The Oil Life Monitor counts engine rotations. If you drive hard or put your engine underload by towing your engine makes more revolutions. Other things are factored but thats the major % of it.

Here are several GM web sites that give a more complete explanation (sales pitch?).

From "A computer chip in the Powertrain Control Module is loaded with a certain number of engine revolution counts. The count for each engine/vehicle combination is determined by testing. As the engine runs, each revolution is subtracted from the remaining count in the oil life monitor. When the count reaches zero, the instrument panel light comes on. But, here?s the clever part.

"When the various input sensors detect that the engine is running under either cold or hot conditions, it subtracts extra counts (penalties)for each engine revolution. So, the conditions that cause the oil to "wear out" make the counter run down faster."

Regards,

Ed White

Does anyone have figures on the

My 2004 Quad Coupe just alerted me at 2,466 miles. No trailer towing, no hard driving. It was esentially highway. I was really surprised. I do not know if age of the oil figures into it (based on the previous setting / reset) but the oil was placed in the car at manufacture in October 2003. Due to it's age it was due anyways, and besides, I wanted to run synthetic, so it was surely time.

Warren