Best tool to remove a really stuck oil filter?

ttm

I've just broken a chain type filter wrench (one of the links broke) trying to remove a filter on a 1.4 Petrol VW engine. Access isn't too bad (alternater on one side exhast manifold on the other) but does anyone know whats the strongest filter wrench I can get?

Hal1

This?

ttm

Thanks Hal1 looks good to me but I think I'm stuck with using the local motor factors today and that tool would have no room to work from above and only about 20degree movement from below.

I'm off out now to get one of those ones that winds tape around the filter and takes a socket set bar on one end.

Ali Babba

Stick a screwdriver through it, crude but effective.........

Run_to_da_hills

Ali Babba wrote: »

Stick a screwdriver through it, crude but effective.........

+1 do it all the time.

Hellrazer

Ali Babba wrote: »

Stick a screwdriver through it, crude but effective.........

I do the same here--just make sure you have the right oil filter before you do this though.

Remember a while back a mate of mine did this,had the wrong filter and no way of getting back to the place to change it.

Cmar-Ireland

1. Make a dent in the rim of the filter with a regular screwdriver (not a phillips).
2. Hold the tip of the screwdriver firmly in the dent in the rim.
3. Then keep tapping with a hammer until you can get it off.

ttm

Thanks for all the replies. I would normally try the screwdriver method but I wouldn't have had much room to turn it. Notching it and then tapping it around on the notch might have worked. Anyway just so you know how tight it was I used a very wide 2inch tape gadget around the filter turned with a bar from a 1/2 inch socket set - that didn't work. Added a two foot long pipe so had nearly 3ft of leverage and it eventually moved.

Intersting thing is once it was off I there were marks on the filter where somebody else had tried before and given up so guess the same filter had been there for at least 30K miles.

Rovi

ttm wrote: »

I'm off out now to get one of those ones that winds tape around the filter and takes a socket set bar on one end.

No matter how tightly you manage to wrap these things around the filter by hand, there's always a lot of slack to take up with the ratchet before they tighten enough to move the filter.

As already said, the screwdriver/skewer method will work, but is destructive.

Another zero-cost method is to clean the filter as much as possible and wrap some sandpaper around it; it might then be possible to grip it well enough to open it by hand.



Everyone that I know who deals with oil filters on any sort of regular basis has a selection of options in the toolbox, here are my favourites:

Filter socket. If you look at the end of the filter, it'll have a series of flats, dimples, notches, or similar, which will fit one of these yokes:

These can be purchased singly or in sets to cover a variety of filters.


Those sets of filter sockets usually also include one of these:
Claw wrench.

These work by gripping tighter as you turn the socket/spanner/ratchet.


Then there are Oil Filter Pliers:


My personal favourites for awkward stuff are these:
Large Jaw Vise-Grips.


... and Chain Vise-Grip




Depending on access and space, something out of that lot should shift pretty much any filter.

ttm

Suprisingly enough most of those wouldn't have been any good on this job. The big limitation being the access from either above or below, so that by the time anything had been locked on and the slack taken up you ran out of room to turn the device. I forgot to mention I also wrecked a correctly sized Filter Socket along with the chain grip thingy and had broken the "nut" shaped fitting off the end of the filter. I was very much in two minds about the Claw wrench as knew this thing was very tight I thought it might totally distort the filter before it undid it or break like the other tools. I used something similar to this in the end



The advantage being the bar used to turn it was well out and away from any obstruction and the very wide tape wouldn't destroy the filter can.

Rovi

Good to hear you got something to work, some of those things can be a right b1tch.

I must add one of those wide straps to the armoury.

pajero12

I think these ones are the best job.....You can get a ratchet or hardi-bar into a fairly tight space with it!



Edit:Oops,sorry noticed you got it off...

Ferris

A pair of marigolds, seriously. Gives a good grip and even pressure. Used them many times myself.

ttm

Rovi wrote: »

Good to hear you got something to work, some of those things can be a right b1tch.

I must add one of those wide straps to the armoury.

If you want one that comes recomended this one below is as near to the one I use as I could find online.



Advantages are you don't need much access room and it takes 3/4inch or 1/2inch square drive plus or even a spanner. I used a short extansion bar to place the tape as near to the base of the filter as I could. Disadvantage is you get enough tape to go around a massive filter which gets in the way a bit on small car size filters. I found it best to wrap it loosely around the new filter working out which way it needed to turn first before slipping the pre sized tape loop onto the old filter.

As I said it took nearly all my strength on a well placed 3 foot bar to shift it and it still didn't deform the filter can.

Just examined the sludge in the old oil, don't think thats been changed in 30K either. As one guy once said to me, "why bother changing the oil when you keep putting fresh oil in when you top it up" :rolleyes:

ttm

Ferris wrote: »

A pair of marigolds, seriously. Gives a good grip and even pressure. Used them many times myself.

I honestly don't think you have a clue how tight this oil filter was stuck. I say stuck as hope no idiot had put it on with a wrench. Correct me if I'm wrong but arn't you supposed to put the filter on hand tight only? That would be as tight as you possibly can by hand and the marigolds would be a help there.

MidlandsM

A good method is a sheet of sandpaper/or wet and dry in your hand - works a treat for me every time.

Rovi

The recommendation back when I attended Culchie University was to lube the seal on the filter with a smear of clean oil and then spin it on until the seal contacts its seat. Then give it another 1/4 to 1/2 turn by hand.

I still do them this way, and I've yet to have one leak or loosen in use, and they come off easily the next time.

ttm

Rovi wrote: »

The recommendation back when I attended Culchie University was to lube the seal on the filter with a smear of clean oil and then spin it until the seal contacted its seat. Then give it another 1/4 to 1/2 turn by hand.

I still do them this way, and I've yet to have one leak or loosen in use, and they come off easily the next time.

Thats what I do, but if it goes the 1/2 turn very easily theres always the tendency to tighten it a bit more just in case. The filter I was working with has a 27mm nut shaped into the top of it so I'm wondering if the last idiot to change it tightened it "hand tight" with a 1/2 inch drive bar.

Stoolbend

Lots of people seem to tighten the sh1t out of them just because that nut is on the top of them.

This is the tool you needed. They're perfect for tight spaces!

ttm

barry81 wrote: »

Lots of people seem to tighten the sh1t out of them just because that nut is on the top of them.

This is the tool you needed. They're perfect for tight spaces!

Thats what I always thought but broke one those in the attempt :eek:

projectgtr

MidlandsM wrote: »

A good method is a sheet of sandpaper/or wet and dry in your hand - works a treat for me every time.

perfect, havent met a filter that didnt come off with just sandpaper works every time and my B16 is very tight for space where the filter is.

slimjimmc

ttm wrote: »

I honestly don't think you have a clue how tight this oil filter was stuck. I say stuck as hope no idiot had put it on with a wrench. Correct me if I'm wrong but arn't you supposed to put the filter on hand tight only? That would be as tight as you possibly can by hand and the marigolds would be a help there.

Heck no, unless you've the strength of a 2yr old that's far far too tight. What Rovi said is the correct method, usually it's even printed on the filter.

ttm

slimjimmc wrote: »

Heck no, unless you've the strength of a 2yr old that's far far too tight. What Rovi said is the correct method, usually it's even printed on the filter.

You're right I probably do put filters on too tight the one I put back today went nearly 3/4 of a turn after it first seated but I've never had a filter I've put on not come off by hand. I look at it this way if I put it on I've only myself to blame if I can't get it off, this one that took all the effort wasn't one I'd put on in the first place.

danjo

Same problem on same engine - 1.4 VW Petrol Polo. Tried the chain tool but no luck then tried a nylon strap tool with a ratchet.
Filter housing distorted but no budge on it. :mad:

Very little room to get at it. Thanks for any ideas

ttm

danjo wrote: »

Same problem on same engine - 1.4 VW Petrol Polo. Tried the chain tool but no luck then tried a nylon strap tool with a ratchet.
Filter housing distorted but no budge on it. :mad:

Very little room to get at it. Thanks for any ideas

I found the nylon strap and a 30cm ratchet bar alone wouldn't shift it. It was only whe I added a 3ft section of pipe to the ratchet bar did the &&^$^ thing started to move.

GhanGee

very difficult access to the oil filter on my almera. From the bottom of the engine on the drivers side facing in. Space so tight I can't even put both hands on the filter from underneath the car. From the top I can hardly touch it. It's so stuck it's killing me I managed to make a hole through it with a wire but no space to get a screwdriver through. Today I am going to get one of the tools designed for this purpose I hope it'll help.