Oil filter debacle.

[Hook]

So I figured I better change the oil on my new riding mower it said after 25 hours change it and filter. Drain plug is recessed so they gave me this gay little plastic thing you snap on under the drain. No seal mind you so of course it leaked. Plug wasn’t to much of a pain in the ass. No comes the filter. Of course it’s slightly recessed as well. I figured I can loosen it by hand. Not a chance. I don’t have one of the cap style filter wrench. So on too old school wrench all it did was slip. No I’m getting pissed. What kinda do Richard head puts a filter on this tight. Now I clean the filter and wrap two surgical style gloves over it they slip and tear. Now I’m effin irritated. Then I remember my small rubber strap wrench for cans and bottles it grips and I’m twisting the **** out of it and then I feel the filter starting to crush. Cussing and throwing **** ensues. Walking away wanting to kill the prick who did this. Sitting there thinking and I see my gorilla tape. Wrap a piece around filter wrench still slips. So then I take two pieces fold them over so now I got double sided tape stick it on slip wrench on let stick good for a minute. Start twisting it and it’s not slipping finally breaks free. Hot damn. I still hate the prick who installed it. 

[Gunboat1]

Such designs are intended to make you contract maintenance out to mechanics with special proprietary tools...so the maker can continue to make money after the sale.

[railfancwb]

42 minutes ago, Gunboat1 said:

Such designs are intended to make you contract maintenance out to mechanics with special proprietary tools...so the maker can continue to make money after the sale.

Ask farmers about their latest and greatest John Deere tractors…

[tous]

Some of y'all are old enough to remember when the Department of Transportation, under Nixon, I think, wanted to force automobile manufactures to seal the hoods of cars so that the consumer couldn't open them and do maintenance or, Gasp! fiddle with the air pollution crap they were bolting on to make perfectly good engines run perfectly badly.

Yeah, that would have worked in Georgia. 

Or North Carolina.  

Mebbe in Alabama. 

It damned sure wouldn't have worked in Texas.  

<--- has battled many oil filters

<--- has won all of them so far

[janice6]

1 hour ago, Hook said:

So I figured I better change the oil on my new riding mower it said after 25 hours change it and filter. Drain plug is recessed so they gave me this gay little plastic thing you snap on under the drain. No seal mind you so of course it leaked. Plug wasn’t to much of a pain in the ass. No comes the filter. Of course it’s slightly recessed as well. I figured I can loosen it by hand. Not a chance. I don’t have one of the cap style filter wrench. So on too old school wrench all it did was slip. No I’m getting pissed. What kinda do Richard head puts a filter on this tight. Now I clean the filter and wrap two surgical style gloves over it they slip and tear. Now I’m effin irritated. Then I remember my small rubber strap wrench for cans and bottles it grips and I’m twisting the **** out of it and then I feel the filter starting to crush. Cussing and throwing **** ensues. Walking away wanting to kill the prick who did this. Sitting there thinking and I see my gorilla tape. Wrap a piece around filter wrench still slips. So then I take two pieces fold them over so now I got double sided tape stick it on slip wrench on let stick good for a minute. Start twisting it and it’s not slipping finally breaks free. Hot damn. I still hate the prick who installed it. 

I had one filter put on my car by a dealer that was so tight:  I tried the filter wrench, it bent the can and didn't work.  I tried basin wrenches that will expand to absurd diameters and it bent the can.  I finally mangled the can and it still wouldn't loosen.  I drove a long screwdriver through the can and only succeeded in cutting the can in half.

I wound up cutting the can completely off the threaded base so only the base was attached to the block.

I finally had to get my air chisel (for autobody work) and put a chisel in it.  I used the corner of the chisel to dig into the threaded base of the filter and drive it off the threads.

Some people should be shot!

[janice6]

47 minutes ago, railfancwb said:

Ask farmers about their latest and greatest John Deere tractors…

My John Deere riding mower had a so called E Z filter change on it.  You took off the filter and the oil in it then replaced it with a $50 filter with a few ounces of new oil in it.  No tools.

Of course, now you had a crankcase of dirty oil and you were only diluting it slightly each oil change.  I couldn't stand it.

I spent $20+ on an adapter and drain plug to convert it to what the older models were.  Replaceable oil filter cartridge and a drain plug.  I'm happier now!

E Z filter change = $50, Old filter change with oil = $20.

[tous]

I suggest that the days of oil-bath air filters and cartridge-type oil filters weren't such a bad idea.

And, you could actually get to the spark plugs without removing the engine.

But then, back in those days,  there were a thousand Zerk fittings crying for grease every 90 days.

 

[Mrs.Cicero]

Blame the engineers who designed the stupid things.  And don't talk to me when I'm swearing about changing the oil on that POS cub cadet garden "tractor."  OTOH, I love the ease of maintenance (SO FAR) on the Brandon.   Mostly.  

[tous]

2 hours ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

Blame the engineers who designed the stupid things.  And don't talk to me when I'm swearing about changing the oil on that POS cub cadet garden "tractor."  OTOH, I love the ease of maintenance (SO FAR) on the Brandon.   Mostly.  

So, the Bidens own a tractor company or is it just another Chinese communist payoff? 

Do you have to keep repeating, Let's Go Brandon! to keep it running?

Does your Branson tractor know that you are seeing other garden equipment?

Sorry, Ma'am, but that was just too tempting for an old galoot. 

[geeorge]

When I was a forklift mechanic for Hyster these are all we used and they will remove 90% of filters. Sometimes all you need to  is grab it from the end by the tips and it will spin off.

[gwalchmai]

I changed oil and rotated tires on my truck, Mrs. G's SUV, and the Miater this weekend. Truck and SUV were like tennis courts under there. Miater required two jacks, stands, and multiple "old guy bruises" to giterdone. But it's done. And whoever recommended capturing the oil filter in a plastic bag to catch the drippings, THANKS!.

[Silentpoet]

It ain't a bad oil change till you have to get the angle grinder out.

[LostinTexas]

19 hours ago, tous said:

Some of y'all are old enough to remember when the Department of Transportation, under Nixon, I think, wanted to force automobile manufactures to seal the hoods of cars so that the consumer couldn't open them and do maintenance or, Gasp! fiddle with the air pollution crap they were bolting on to make perfectly good engines run perfectly badly.

Yeah, that would have worked in Georgia. 

Or North Carolina.  

Mebbe in Alabama. 

It damned sure wouldn't have worked in Texas.  

<--- has battled many oil filters

<--- has won all of them so far

I don't remember the Nixon thing, but probably wouldn't have on my own. Coming from a long line of stinkers,,,,,,,,,,er,,,,,um,,,,,,,,drinkers,,,,,,I mean thinkers, and mechanics. I would have heard the REEEEE plainly.

People either put filters on entirely too tight or too loose. Barely touch them and they begin to turn. No in between for the most part.

Only had one filter I completely destroyed trying to get it off, but it came off. Sometimes the gasket swells and makes for a long day. Seems to be no rhyme or reason behind that.

[aomagrat]

My snapper lawn mower doesn't even have a drain plug. The owners manual says the oil will last for the life of the engine.  Just check and add as needed.

[LostinTexas]

8 minutes ago, aomagrat said:

My snapper lawn mower doesn't even have a drain plug. The owners manual says the oil will last for the life of the engine.  Just check and add as needed.

Snapper must not be the company they once were. That is pretty unbelievable, unless it is a push mower. Still there is the "claim". WOW.

[DWARREN123]

Must not expect the motor to last long!

[gwalchmai]

1 hour ago, LostinTexas said:

Snapper must not be the company they once were. That is pretty unbelievable, unless it is a push mower. Still there is the "claim". WOW.

I've seen mowers where the manual says to pour the oil out the filler hole.

[Cougar_ml]

2 hours ago, LostinTexas said:

Snapper must not be the company they once were. That is pretty unbelievable, unless it is a push mower. Still there is the "claim". WOW.

The snapper name has been bought and sold a few times.

I think it might be Briggs and Stratton that owns them now.

 

All you need to know about a company is if you can find their products at Walmart, then they aren't worth buying from anymore.

[LostinTexas]

55 minutes ago, gwalchmai said:

I've seen mowers where the manual says to pour the oil out the filler hole.

Common practice on push mowers. Like anyone ever changed oil in a lawn mower prior to the 21 century. 

The recommendation is the wild part in my mind.

[GT4494]

Dad taught me the screwdriver trick.  when the filter is too tight to get off, drive the biggest screwdriver all the way through it and use it like a "T" handle.  Never lost to a filter yet!!

[gwalchmai]

22 minutes ago, LostinTexas said:

Common practice on push mowers. Like anyone ever changed oil in a lawn mower prior to the 21 century. 

The recommendation is the wild part in my mind.

When I was a kid my dad always had a stable of push mowers that were parts flying in formation. When one would stop working he'd take it to his buddy who knew a lot about small engines to repair and grab the next bucket of bolts in the rotation. I think they had total loss oiling systems because I never recall filling one from empty or one ever overflowing, and I added oil whenever I added gas. Dad used DixieLube reconstituted oil. It came in quart cans that said "Made from previously used motor oil." I think Dad probably gave a dime or a quarter a quart for it. Good stuff.

When I moved out Dad bought a used riding mower from his buddy who knew a lot about lawnmowers. 

[LostinTexas]

7 minutes ago, gwalchmai said:

When I was a kid my dad always had a stable of push mowers that were parts flying in formation. When one would stop working he'd take it to his buddy who knew a lot about small engines to repair and grab the next bucket of bolts in the rotation. I think they had total loss oiling systems because I never recall filling one from empty or one ever overflowing, and I added oil whenever I added gas. Dad used DixieLube reconstituted oil. It came in quart cans that said "Made from previously used motor oil." I think Dad probably gave a dime or a quarter a quart for it. Good stuff.

When I moved out Dad bought a used riding mower from his buddy who knew a lot about lawnmowers. 

Of the ones I remember, they really couldn't be overfilled because of the way the fill was constructed, as long as it was level (ish).

They had slingers instead of pumps, and burned through a quart a summer, or more. Neve thought that replacing the oil might keep it from burning. But a smoking mower wasn't the Anti Christ it is today.

It kept the mosquitoes from eating us alive too.

[Walt Longmire]

23 hours ago, tous said:

Some of y'all are old enough to remember when the Department of Transportation, under Nixon, I think, wanted to force automobile manufactures to seal the hoods of cars so that the consumer couldn't open them and do maintenance or, Gasp! fiddle with the air pollution crap they were bolting on to make perfectly good engines run perfectly badly.

Yeah, that would have worked in Georgia. 

Or North Carolina.  

Mebbe in Alabama. 

It damned sure wouldn't have worked in Texas.  

<--- has battled many oil filters

<--- has won all of them so far

Well they are trying to pass a law making it illegal to work on your own vehicle as we speak.

[Walt Longmire]

I could tell you about the 10 gallon oil change on the Kenworth where I ended up with several gallons of oil on the shop floor along with a similar amount of coolant, but then you would all just laugh at me. My clothes (all of them) went right into the dumpster after that one. Those changes usually go without a hitch.....but that one time. BTW, I always change the oil in any engine I buy whether new or used. The small engine guys will tell you what happens to those mowers when you don't get that break in oil swapped out right away. Those first oil changes are the most important.

[tous]

My dad bought a Sears Craftsman power mower in 1960.

It replaced the reel-type push mower.

I was pretty darned happy, because I had pushed that old mower a lot.

This mower had an odd, turn a crank to wind up a spring, then release rather than the more common pull rope starting system on a Tecmsah engine.

I used that mower in my adolescent lawn-mowing business.

I rebuilt the engine in high school, I guess around 1967.

As mentioned, one drained the oil by turning the mower upside down and letting it drain out of the fill hole

When I bought my first house, i was gifted the Sears mower.  Dad had moved to a self-propelled model.

I used that mower until around 1996 and the only reason it was replaced was because the deck had just about rusted out.

I had replaced the blades around three times, i think.  They were quality steel and a bitch to sharpen.

It never failed to start, mowed a lot grass in more than 30 years.

I figure both me and my father got our money out of it.

 

Edited to add: yes, I salvaged the engine.  You even had to ask?