Oil change ADVENTURE!!

[Safety Guy]

Decided to get "unlazy" today and change Prettystiva's oil. Nasty black stuff in there!

Yesterday I staged the materials: oil, filter, rags, new washer, etc.

It rained a bit this morning, but then the sun came out. Time to go for it! I took a short drive to warm her up, then got out the ramps and got to work.

That was over AN HOUR AGO.

Huh? Most of you are probably saying, "I can change my Festiva's oil in 20, maybe 30 minutes, tops, and that's taking my time!

Yep. That's me too. But not today.

Lesson One: If you're used to your own oil changing, and putting on the new filter hand tight, then when you run across someone who was AN APE ABOUT IT, you might run across a "little delay." Ha! That's what I thought!

So I went to get some gloves and some rubber grippy stuff. Didn't work.

So I went to find one of my two old oil filter wrenches. The ones I used eons ago, probably on my Chevette.

Couldn't find any!

LESSON TWO: Don't be so lazy that your garage is a Holy Mess, in which anything you "know you have" has disappeared like Atlantis! Also lost were the strap wrenches I know I'd bought from HF a year or so ago. Couldn't find them! I thought I just saw them, still in their packaging, the other day!

So I decided to "improvise." I tried zip ties, but they didn't grip.

Then I remember, "the screwdriver technique." I'd heard of this somehow, somewhere. Never done it though.

Got a long flathead screwdriver and my 2# sledge. Started hammering away! Got through one side, with oil dripping, and spraying out everywhere. Couldn't seem to get it through the other side. Got a different driver. Made it through! Yay! MESSY though!

Uh, no room to actually turn it though. So I crawled underneath and tried. Still no room.

Went and got another, smaller one. Same same.

Went and got another, normal sized one. Stood up top and fished it in under the filter and managed to move the filter! YAY!!

Took it out and went back to hand. Won't move! Huh? THIS THING IS FIGHTING ME EVERY POINT ON THE COMPASS!

Got the gloves again and worked at it. It moved! Then moved some more.

I'm on a "break" right now.

I'll post when I've finished.

Karl

[blkfordsedan]

LOL, I've experienced the same issue before. Literally destroyed the oil filter trying to get it off. I learned that it sometimes helps to loosen the filter before draining the oil. I've heard that if you drain the oil first, sometimes a vacuum can develop that makes the filter harder to get off. Not sure if it would really effect it, but I always loosen the filter first. If nothing else, it allows to procrastinate the task if the filter is stuck!

[scitzz]

Yeesh.

You can make your own strap wrench, I sometimes use a seat belt and a pair of pliers. Wrap the belt around the handles of the pliers, and then tighten around the object, when tight, insert a screwdriver through the handles of the pliers, and get the leverage you need to twist. Works great to hold a GM Power Steering pulley in place so it can be removed...

[Safety Guy]

Ha ha ha ha!

I finished about ten minutes ago. Just cleaned up and topped off.

I think I started around 11:20 and wanted to finish before the noon news.

I missed the news!

Total time: about an hour and 40 minutes. Crap.

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

Adventure over. Time for lunch.

Karl

[zoom zoom]

Lol, sounds like you had some fun this morning! What type of oil do you run in your cars in the winter?

[Safety Guy]

I run 5W-30 year round, but sometimes I'll add some 10W-30 or -40, depending on what I have handy.

I'm driving Pretty to work today to show folks.

Karl

[zoom zoom]

Haha..nice, I wonder what would happen if you swapped the whole intake or exhaust side (whichever is making that noise) with aspire roller rockers? It takes a whole 20-30 minutes and I've got the stuff to do one side lol.

I was thinking about dumping some kind of treatment in mine to help clean the engine out a little and changing oil& filter again next week. Possibly thinking about switching to a synthetic oil while the engine is still young?

[scitzz]

Haha..nice, I wonder what would happen if you swapped the whole intake or exhaust side (whichever is making that noise) with aspire roller rockers? It takes a whole 20-30 minutes and I've got the stuff to do one side lol.

Don't quote me on this, but, IIRC, Kartracer told me of a problem he had when doing this.

[htchbck]

I think you aren't supposed to use the rollers on a non-roller cam, or vice versa. Back to the original post, I had to demolish the oil filter on my old F150 when I bought it. Chain wrench literally twisted the shell of the filter without even moving the base. Screw driver method ended up finally ripping the whole thing off leaving only the base. Then I had to very carefully (but forcefully) get the rest of it to start turning using a hammer and flat punch. Very fun! And that was all with plenty of room to work lol.

[scitzz]

I think you aren't supposed to use the rollers on a non-roller cam, or vice versa. Back to the original post, I had to demolish the oil filter on my old F150 when I bought it. Chain wrench literally twisted the shell of the filter without even moving the base. Screw driver method ended up finally ripping the whole thing off leaving only the base. Then I had to very carefully (but forcefully) get the rest of it to start turning using a hammer and flat punch. Very fun! And that was all with plenty of room to work lol.

I was 17 and worked at Jiffy lube, and someone brought a car in that had this happen. I did the same thing to remove it. Dude drove it like three miles there, and dumped about 4 gallons of oil on the road getting there...

[navdoc101]

After having that same adventure with my first Festy oil change, PO was a mechanic that I swear use an impact wrench to tyten the filter. I started useing K&N filters with the nut on the end.

[FestYboy]

Haha..nice, I wonder what would happen if you swapped the whole intake or exhaust side (whichever is making that noise) with aspire roller rockers? It takes a whole 20-30 minutes and I've got the stuff to do one side lol.

DO NOT use aspire rollers on a festy cam, there is a high probability of lobe failure due to the cam not being strong enough at the lobes to take the extra pressure. aspire lobes are hardened pieces.

in the flip side of this, i was able to run aspire rollers on Scrappy for ~8k before his engine swap. i inspected the cam afterward and saw no discernable wear though there was a new shinny band arround each lobe where the roller contacted. so, given that, i proceeded to install them in the B6 with an FMS cam and dual valve springs. several lobes failed within an oil change (2k break in). the increased pressure from the new springs wore through what little heat treating was on the FMS cam and ruined it.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Try installing an oil filter with a bolt head built into the end of the can. That's what I do on my carbed Festies since there's so much emission control plumbing in the way of using strap wrenches and the like, particularly when it's so cold that your hand would freeze to the filter.

You just put your <whatever>mm ratchet spanner on it and the filter gives up instantly.

[navdoc101]

Isn't that what I just said?

[Safety Guy]

Well next time I do an oil change on an "unknown," I'll be sure to have a filter wrench nearby!

I really hate one hour and forty minute oil changes!!

Karl