David T.

Has been changing oil on my '95 993 for almost 4 years now and never had problem with this stupid thing before. The small oil filter will not move. After applying LARGE amounts of torque oil filter socket simply "skips" and is not rotating the filter.



Any ideas what to try next?

Thanks!

chris walrod

Try building up the inside of the filter socket with some tape (duct or aluminum or even masking tape). This should tighten the sockets fit onto the filter. Next step may be to line the inside of the filter socket with sandpaper. Also be sure to degrease the filter as much as possible.

Let us know what happens..

bet

There have been a couple of cases of this same problem with different techniques to solve the problem. Do a search. I know there is a thread with some pictures of a destroyed and mutilated small oil filter after punching some holes in it and use a combonation of maybe a channel lock pliers type of oil filter wrench and vice grips to basically crust a portion of the filter and wrestle it free. You may contact Robin via his web site I know he has given some advice on this in the past.

Robert Henriksen

You're better off if you can take Chris' approach. Once you start hacking away at the filter housing, you're in for a miserable struggle.

Simple Green is a good cleaner that'll degrease the housing.

As an alternative to lining the filter socket w. stuff, consider using duct tape on the filter itself around the perimeter. Half on the side, half folded onto the 'top'. Having it overlap onto the 'top' of the housing will mean that it's less likely to slip when you bash the filter socket onto it for a force-fit & re-attempt to loosen it.

viperbob

Buy a Mercedes filter cap. It is drilled and tapped to screw bolts through to either gain a better grip, or to punture the filter if necessary. It fits the same filters as our cars (and it is cheaper). I have used this feature on a couple of occasions recently. It has a 22MM hexhead on top, so you and your 24" 1/2" drive breaker bar can get good leverage with those impossible filters.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Good suggestions!

Since everything in life is "Cause & Effect", I'd suggest that people make sure that the filter gasket is oiled before installation and that the filter is NOT installed too tightly.

Thats the reason people have trouble getting it off. Overtightening filters and fasteners are the biggest mistakes that DIY'ers make,....

Robin 993DX

I 2nd Steve's suggestion. Rule of the thumb is always (tighten the filter as tight as you can with your hand ONLY!)

As for removal of a over tighten filter, a giant channel lock plier will work.

chris walrod

Since its the difficult filter that you are trying to remove, maybe a strap wrench would work? Hard to explain, but it has a nylon strap that gets rolled up around your filter and a square tubing that tightens into itself. Just a thought..

Pete Lech

I finally bought what is called a lock-down filter wrench, and that worked. This wrench has two jaws that tighten as you apply more force. After a lot of cussing, it worked. <$10.00 at the local professional auto parts (the chain AP stores are generally clueless).

There isn't room for channel-lock pliers or a pipe wrench in there, as you have already learned.

TheOtherEric

Thanks for the tip. I was going to suggest you drill a small hole in your filter wrench (assuming you use the cap-type wrench) then just drive a nail thru that and into the oil filter to prevent rotation. But i guess you got it.

Ray Calvo

[QUOTE]I finally bought what is called a lock-down filter wrench, and that worked. This wrench has two jaws that tighten as you apply more force. After a lot of cussing, it worked. <$10.00 at the local professional auto parts (the chain AP stores are generally clueless).


It's what I use also; it's about the only tool I could get up in that area.

Good luck on getting it out. On my old '84 I once overtightened the filter. Had to destroy and remove the filter casing, then remove the oil tank and cut off the oil filter flange with a Dremel tool cutting wheel. I wouldn't want to contemplate what to do if the same happened on the engine-mount filter on the 993.

hdemas

>>>>>
Has been changing oil on my '95 993 for almost 4 years now and never had problem with this stupid thing before. The small oil filter will not move. After applying LARGE amounts of torque oil filter socket simply "skips" and is not rotating the filter.
>>>>>

David:

I had this same problem recently as my oil filter (which I didn't put on myself) was stuck on tighter than I've ever seen an oil filter being stuck before. Oil change ended up taking 6 hours. First, the special tool that fits on the oil filter would slip, and I tried all sorts of things to try to get it to stick with no luck. It was not for lack of my trying that this didn't work--I could get the tool to stick, and then exert a very large amount of torque, and the only result would be twisting and deformation of the oil filter body.

Then I resorted to the good old fashioned screw driver through the oil filter technique, which has always worked for me in the past with stuck oil filters. However, this only resulted in tearing the oil filter to shreds when I tried to turn the screw driver. After a few attempts at this, the filter was still as stuck as it was at the beginning and I had a mangled oily mess of filter material and metal from the thoroughly shredded filter.


At this point, I just started cutting and tearing the filter off, until I had eventually removed every part of the filter except the very top ring that has the seal and the threads. In order to more easily get at the filter, I removed the oil line going from the engine to the tank in front of the right rear tire. The ring was still really stuck to the motor, but by putting a set of needle nose locking pliers on the holes in the ring and a screw driver through the locking pliers, I was able to break loose the ring (a spanner would have been a nicer tool here, if I had had one that fit). The amount of torque that I had to apply to get the ring off made me realize that there really would have been no way to get the filter off with any of the tools and techniques I had tried to this point.

It wasn't pretty (in fact it was really ugly), but it got the job done. The filter had been on the engine for a long time. The amount of torque that I had to apply to remove the filter was so great that there is no way anyone could have put the filter on that tight without having destroying the filter, so somehow the filter over time had gotten itself very stuck.

Yours may not be that bad, but hopefully this will give you an idea of what to do when the tool doesn't work. The most important thing, though, is that you not cut yourself on the filter when you start using the screw driver and tearing the filter apart with other tools as there is a lot of sharp metal in the filter. Take your time, and when you put the new one on don't put it much more than hand tight.

Good luck.

Flight993

I am in the middle of this experience. Most frustrating is that I put the filter on myself less than a year ago. Its a genuine porsche filter and I did put oil on the seal. After trying all kinds of tricks with the cup wrench, I made a strap style tools out of 2" nylon strap and an old spark plug socket. I really thought this would do it along with the 15" ratchet but to my extreme frustration, all it did was dent the filter. I decided to give up at that point and find a shop with a lift before breaking the filter. Can anyone recommend a shop in the Agoura Hills area? Also, I assume my 10 quarts of oil Mobile 15-50 are a write off at this point.

Slow Guy

Good that you searched the forums for a solution... old thread but still valid.

When I got my 993 Cab the filter seemed to be welded on. I don't like punching holes in the filter because if you still can't get it off you're screwed. What I did is since I already had one of the "cap" style filter tool (cheap from AutoZone) is to clean both the tool and bottom of the filter as best you can, then use a tube of Super Glue on the inside of the cap tool, jam it up on the filter and let it sit for about 5 min. Then use your longest extension and ratchet on the cap and torque it off. It worked for me.

Yes, the cap is probably useless after that but they're less than $5 now.

You could also try Chris' sandpaper or duct tape idea onside the cap too.

Best of luck.

Texas993

And you won't lose much oil when you switch out the filter. It is just a messy process.