Makestation

I, hereby, shall rant about the difficulties of changing oil on my 2007 Jetta. 

Love this car to death, but the time for an oil change had come. It's an $130 oil change, no idea why really, but it is. Takes six quarts of synthetic oil, which costs me around $30 plus the filter, which is maybe $5 or so. Needless to say, I save a lot of money just doing it myself every 7,500 miles or so. 

Last time I tried to get it changed, however, the oil filter, I swear, was on so tight it was absolutely impossible to remove after hours or work and a few different oil filter wrenches that had costed me more than the oil itself. It was a little frustrating, and I figured, eventually, that perhaps I could get away with just changing the oil itself and forgetting the filter. 

So that being said, this time around, the filter really kinda needed to be changed. It had been 15K miles, and not changing your filter after that long is a terrible idea for the quality of the oil that you're running in your engine, and is altogether not good for the longevity of its internal parts by any means. 

It took wedging screwdrivers in and out of the wrench tool, a lot of tape, three different wrench socket tools and two ratchets, a steel bar that was several feet long as a lever, and hours of arm labor to finally break it loose. The feeling of finally getting that filter off was worth its weight in gold. 

And of course, I was presented with a clogged filter. Figures that it probably hadn't been changed in who knows how long. And additionally, it's doubtful the people that changed the oil before I bought the car bothered to change it. If they did, shame on them for tightening it as much as they did.

Hence, why I always do my own maintenance on my vehicles. I find it hard to trust anyone else.

Yeah, I hate when people tighten things like they're the Hulk.

1. Doesn't make you look strong, just stupid and overcompensating.
2. 99 times out of 100 that's not good for whatever you're tightening. More likely to crack/break.

Nice work on getting it off though! I probably would have bit the bullet and given up.

Yep...

I actually went to an oil change place a little while back and they used to put an adhesive on the bolts to make them notoriously hard to remove so that they would come back. Not sure if those people were on drugs or not, because that's just about the worst idea I've ever heard.

Mechanics I swear...

I didn't know you had a Jetta now.. how do you like it? (aside from the ridiculously overtightened oil filter)

I do feel for you man, seems any car newer than 2001 is made to be impossible for the average person to work on.

(March 13th, 2018 at 12:22 AM)pupper_donut Wrote: [ -> ]I didn't know you had a Jetta now.. how do you like it? (aside from the ridiculously overtightened oil filter)

It's been good! I've had it since August. Got it for a bit of a steal so I'm pretty happy with it. Only 70K miles on a 2007! 

You still driving the Rio? 

@Zalost: It's a shame too! Old cars used to be so simple it was ridiculous. But yeah I think I can concur with your statement man. At least in my experience yeah these newer ones are rough as hell.

I still have the Rio for now, but I'll probably be trading it for something with AWD drivetrain after moving (due to improved handling on snow/ice in the mountains).

Did you try a strap wrench?

I actually did. I found that although they were good for finding a good fit on it (which was difficult to do), they could not get anywhere NEAR a tight enough fit on it to break it loose. Whoever strapped that filter on before made a point to make it as difficult to remove as humanly possible.

It was hard finding one that fit because they used 14 flute wrenches instead of the standard 15 flute. So I found one that was the correct size, accidentally got the 15 flute variety, stripped it. Whoops. Went back to the store, got the 14 flute variety. It fit great, but then I stripped the filter itself, not just the tool. What ended up doing the trick was wrapping the filter in duct tape to get a better grip on the filter tool, and wedging screwdrivers in there to overcome it being a tad bit stripped. Finally managed to break it loose.

The important thing is to grease the rubber seal of the new oil filter well with grease or fresh oil and tighten the filter TIGHT AND NOT WITH A TOOL !!! Hand-tight means tighten until the filter is in place and tighten with one hand! but not that the metal melts !!!!! with me a filter has never leaked or become loose!

Yep, I realized that one fair and square. Haven’t ever tightened a filter that tight since. I don’t trust anyone to do my oil change because every time they do, I can’t get the filter off.

I’ve never added grease or oil to the seal. Might start doing that.

(May 27th, 2020 at 5:49 PM)Darth-Apple Wrote: [ -> ]......

I’ve never added grease or oil to the seal. Might start doing that.

You have to do that !!! Fat is better than oil! Rubber dries out from the heat and becomes hard, that's why it is so firm, next time think about it, just a little greasy or, if you don't have one, with your finger something from the new oil can and onto the seal!

I’ll definitely do that next time. I’m due for another oil change at the end of summer.

or you come to me, it's only once around the corner

@Darth-Apple having changed the oil on my jeep now I'm curious about oil filters as I'm going to need to change mine soon given the vehicle was sitting.

I did more than change the oil last time, I flushed it out until the oil was clear but I know that filter is going to need changing in the very near future.

any advice?