Lizard928

I drive hard and have had them back off so I tighten them a little tighter too. I have a nice big pair of channel locks that I have yet to find one that they won't take off.

RKD in OKC

I was just stating that I have the same problem with the oil filler cap as the oil filter. Easy on, difficult off.

ALKada

Come on Brad, now what fun would that be if it came off easy..... I've lost fillings in my teeth grunting trying to unscrewing filters. I have a nice selection of filter wrenches down the street if you ever need one.

Dave928S

I tighten them a bit more than spec too because I've had a few leaks. If there was a simple way of locking them from turning I might be more inclined to leave them looser. It's always amazed me that in many forms of racing it's a requirement to lock wire drain plugs, and take all sorts of other precautions to stop fluid leaks ... yet you can just spin a filter on.

AO

Somewhat related...

When I bought my GT, some grease monkey had put the oil drain plug on with an impact wrench. It was so tight I had to dremel it off. Needless to say, the threads were slightly compromised. I installed a Fumoto valve and now an oil change is so easy.

Ed Scherer

I'd like to get a couple of similar ones to replace the block drain plugs, especially if they had a nipple that you could hook a vinyl hose to. You'd finally be able to drain the block without getting coolant everywhere!

AO

The one that will do this with the nipple that you can attach the hose to is F109N (M12x1.5).

AO

Oh... and the oil drain plug is F-105 (M20x1.5)

Bill Ball

I hand tighten all mine. I'm no gorilla, but after cranking on them with both hands, they aren't going anywhere on their own. I usually can't get them off by hand a year later. I have no problem if someone wants to put an extra quarter turn with a wrench, as long as they don't require a screwdriver to get off.

The oil drain plug has a torque spec of 37 ft lbs, so it can be somewhat hard to remove with a standard wrench or ratchet.

Daniel Dudley

Once you see them leak, too tight seems about tight enough. I have also seen a couple that did not leak but spun off so easily that it was shocking.

if you are putting them on with a filter wrench, then maybe you are making a mistake. People used to pay me good money to get them off, and some were beyond interesting.

GlenL

Some people overtighten everything. I want it to not leak or back off. I've had that happen with just being hand tight.

I hope you got a good one this time.

blown 87

I guess I have been lucky, never had one back out or leak, and I sure do not get them really tight 3/4 to a full turn.
I do really clean the mating surface though.

Mike Frye

No tools for installation. Not for me anyway. I do think they tend to get bonded on there over time, but I'm thinking the ones that require a screwdriver or channel locks are the ones installed with a wrench instead of 'as tight as you can with one hand' which is my rule.

auzivision

A little oil on the seal and tighten by hand always works for me. Still usually requires an oil filter wrench to get off, but just barely.

I remember doing the screw driver and hammer trick on my buddy’s boat. The screw driver just spun around and cut the filter in half. This was after we tried a strap wrench which just collapsed the can. We eventually destroyed/removed the entire filter can using tin snips and needle nose pliers. From there we cut some notches in the flange and used big center punch and hammer to finally spin the remainder off.

We should consider ourselfs lucky the oil filters are out in the open and not buried inside some dirty cramped bilge.

antsmands

Thats how I do it also. Hand tight only!