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An Improvised Oil Filter Wrench

An Improvised Oil Filter Wrench

Last night I realized I needed to take a friend to the airport at 5:00 am this morning and my car (a '91 Cadilliac Fleetwood Brougham RWD 5.0L) needed an oil change. I was planning on changing the oil and had already purchased it and an oil filter at K-Mart.

So, late in the evening and after all of the local auto supply stores had closed I began changing the oil. I remembered to try loosing the oil filter first (I learned this after having once drained the oil, and was then unable to remove the filter..), and found the oil filter was on so tight I couldn't budge it even using my oil filter socket wrench. The oil filter socket is unfortunately all plastic and would have stripped before the filter would loosen. So I tried using one of those adjustable strap wrenches and it still wouldn't budge and was denting the filter.

So in desperation I wrapped about 4 feet of 5 mm braided nylon rope around the filter so that when I pulled on the end of the rope it loosened the filter and this (thank God) worked.

I hope this tip is helpful, Malcolm Keller Beyer III

Reply to
BeyerIII
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Worst comes to worse change the oil, leave the old filter, wory about changing it next weekend,mostly clean oil's a step in the right direction.

Reply to
The Masked Marvel

Lesson learned:

1) Do NOT over tighten the oil filter

2) Do NOT use those plastic filters

3) Get a oil filter wrench that has a wide band instead of the narrow found on cheap wrenches.
Reply to
Rajsircar

I found one stuck hopelessly tight once on a used car I had just bought. The can twisted and collapsed but would not budge. A guy in the local quick change place had the simplest solution - he just drove a big screw driver through it and used the two ends of the screwdriver like a lug wrench - it came right off.

Reply to
E. Meyer

This is what I do when best attempts turn to anger and frustration. It always works.

I have figured that, if I have to, I can take the filter off piece by piece.

Reply to
Larry Smith

I have done this a number of times. On one occasion, the can was too flimsey and twisted apart. I peeled it down to the baseplate. I ended up using an air chisel to start the baseplate turning. Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

I bent two screw-drivers that way. I ended up going to Sears and getting a filter wrench. Even then, I had to use a breaker bar on the ratchet and lean on it - that filter was seriously on there! Emanuel

Reply to
E Brown

Hmm. I'd think that the leverage wouldn't be that great. The rope is working with a lever arm equal to the radius of the filter.

I use a chain wrench. Hint: Use only to take filter off. Put filter on hand tight only and future removal won't be a major problem.

Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

I have two wrenches. One for the sideways filters, one for the verticals. Both "wrenches" are made of pieces of pipe made pointy with a grinder and a hammer. The one for the vertical filters has a pair of barbs welded on the sides, so it looks like a little trident with little reebar handles poking out the sides at the bottom. Hold it to the bottom of the filter, give it a whack on the bottom, oil in filter drains out the pipe, handles let me twist the bugger off. Sand the parts smooth so the dead filter is easy to remove from the points. For the sideways filters I leave off the extraneous crud--it's just a pointy pipe with a few holes cross-drilled a couple inches from the tip. I hammer it through until the point pops out the other side (one wack to pierce, let it drain a bit, then wack it again) and I get enough leverage to twist nearly any filter loose. Tore the butt off one filter, so I had to get a strap wrench to remove what was left. I hardly ever need the leverage--I just like the drainage. But the lever is nice when needed.

Reply to
B.B.

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