Stuck Oil Filters

Evoex

Evoex

The God
Moderator
Site Supporter
Spent about 3 hours doing an oil change on the FZ, my god what a nightmare.

I should preface that i've done oil changes on bikes in the past without any issues.

Anyways, no idea what the hell the dealer did to torque this thing on..i guess they did it in spite as i had them roll the 1st service into the purchase.

  1. Could not get it to turn by hand, tried rubber gloves and paper.
  2. Broke out the filter pliers and on the initial grab one side of the filter folded in like a wet noodle. I literally sat there looking at it with my mouth dropped.
  3. Resorted to pounding a screwdriver through it in a few places to try and leverage it open. Only result was tearing the thing to pieces.
  4. Broke out some blankets laid the bike down on her side so i could get at the now shredded filter better.
  5. Ended up using needle nose pliers in the circular vents with wrench pliers clamped on to rotate the damn thing off the threads. I swear the needle nose were going to snap before the thing would rotate.

What a whole bunch of drama. :mad:
 
Last edited:
Hand tight, and not even that hand tight if you're overly burly. The pressure sucks them tight. I am sure you also know to lube up the gasket ring on the filter before turning it on.

Also, start using either the K&N filters with welded on socket OR, use stock filters and purchase the Channel Lock oil filter pliers. I bought mine at Canadian Tire.
 
princess auto and maybe CTC have various sizes of cap style, they are molded plastic and fit like a little hat, sort of a socket set for a filter. They are almost impossible to mess up. Pretty handy because sometimes they are just wound on beyond belief.
 
strap wrench
or decent pair of slip jaw pliers
or hammer and chisel and the real nasty ones
 
I'd put money on the possibility that the oil change monkey at the dealership probably didn't lube the o-ring before spinning on the new filter.
 
The '05 VFR I bought (and sold shortly thereafter) had an oil filter that was stuck on. Couldn't find my Honda oil filter cap tool and I was already halfway through the oil change. Filter was stuck on there crazy tight. CT oil filter wrench I had was too old and wouldn't tighten enough.
Tried the screwdriver technique and same result. Shredded the oil filter.

I got it off somehow, but I don't remember how. I think I repressed the memory.

I've done countless oil changes, never had this issue before. Must have been left on too long or as others mentioned, the previous person over tightened and/or didn't lube the o-ring on the filter.
 
Glad to hear you won the battle!

I think most of us who do our own oil changes have come across this at least once. Usually it happens on a vehicle you have just purchased so you have no idea who did the last oil/filter change. The main reason for a stuck filter in my opinion is the lack of lubrication on the rubber seal before installing the filter.

Always have a good filter wrench. Those plastic ones at CTC are crap, get one made of steel. I have a strap wrench as a back-up and if all else fails then you're on to the screwdriver through the filter and so on.
 
images


As has been said no lube on the o ring upon install and/or severe overtightening probably caused this nightmare.

I've used wrench similar to image (my is 12 points vs. 6) to remove filters for 15+ years on my ST and it has worked well.

I usually change the oil/filter without full removal of the lower fairing and due to very tight access for my hand I use the same wrench to tighten the filter about a quarter turn after just snugging it up a bit by hand.
 
Ran into that once on my BMW K75. The oil filter is up inside the sump, accessed by removing a little cover. Never had a problem using OEM BMW filters, but the first time I cheaped-out and used an aftermarket ( Fram ) filter, it became the nightmare from hell. On top of that, I had ridden the bike to the cottage, so tool availability was an issue. Had to get real creative, but three hours and a lot of sweat and cussing later, success! Won't do that again.
 
justmike said:
Ran into that once on my BMW K75. The oil filter is up inside the sump, accessed by removing a little cover. Never had a problem using OEM BMW filters, but the first time I cheaped-out and used an aftermarket ( Fram ) filter, it became the nightmare from hell. On top of that, I had ridden the bike to the cottage, so tool availability was an issue. Had to get real creative, but three hours and a lot of sweat and cussing later, success! Won't do that again.
Click to expand...

I have a metal oil filter wrench (socket) specifically for that bike. I didn't want the hassle of a filter stuck up in there.
 
The only time they are tough to get off is when they are overtightened.Easy to fix.Finger tight and a 1/4 turn and then safety wire to gear clamp.
attachment.php
 
^ agree with this
the oil on the seal thing is to lubricate it when tightening
if they're hard to get off, it's because someone has gorilla'd it on there
 
GreyGhost said:
I have a metal oil filter wrench (socket) specifically for that bike. I didn't want the hassle of a filter stuck up in there.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have a nice heavy duty sandcast aluminum ofw that fits the OEM filters perfectly - it's at least 25 years old and works like a charm.
 
I hate strap wrenches but they seem to work well for some people. At a garage sale my dad found this weird socketed jaw thing that you can put on a ratchet and it clamps harder on the filter with more torque being applied. It works amazing and I'm going to steal it when he's not looking
 
Evoex said:
That's pretty much exactly what i used and it crushed the filter on first contact.
Click to expand...
I think that depends alot on where you grab the filter.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom