I cannot get that damned oil filter off. To loosen it, it's counter clockwise, correct? Maybe I've gone crazy?

 

counter...
give it some elbow grease man

 

I've given it so much elbow grease that it's now crumbling in. Then I managed to rip it using a oil filter plier from Sears - oil everywhere!. Gonna try the screw driver trick. If it doesn't work, I'm screwed...

why the hell are our oil filters so damned small?

 

righty tighty

lefty loosy

 

It was lefty after all. I swear the mechanic somehow used an impact drill to tighten that filter. I had to turn the filter almost a full revolution with a long, LONG plier before being able to loosen it further by hand. Thanks for keeping my sanity in check.

 

Try to avoid the screwdriver trick, if you can't get the filter off you're pretty boned when you try to drive the car. Try a Craftsman Strap Wrench or something similar.

 

Bought the craftman strap wrench and returned it the next day. You can't put torque through rubber, it will just stretch. I got a really bad-*** oil filter plier from Sears and grabbed at the very end of the filter and barely had enough grip to apply 50+ ft-lbs of torque. The filter is really really crushed but I'm just glad it's out now. Needless to say, never going to that shop again.

 

heh, can't say as$ here :P

 

hand tighten it next time so it can be easier to pull out... thats what my uncle's repair shop does.

 

channel locks channel locks channel locks channel locks channel locks

you will bend the hell out of the filter but it will come off. had to do it once myself.

 

yea the oil filter is a biotch to take off, even if i hand tighten it...i've ended up crushing it more then once to take it off..this was from under the car but i think next time i think i'll just turn the wheel all the way to the right and just pry back the wheel well and get it from there...that way i have more leverage and easier access.

 

that's not a bad idea except it's a biotch to take the oil filter area cover off. I've never had problem taking the filter off until today. I always change oil myself and hand tighten the filter. It's just that last time I had to make an exception and have a local shop change oil because there was 2 ft of snow on the ground.

I still don't understand why our filters are so small. It's hard to even find a filter remover that will work with it. I had a adjustable oil filter strap and used the lowest settings but thanks to the mechanic, I broke the metal chain while trying to get the filter off - too much torque.