Edit: I snapped this after I found it. That’s how I knew it was on so tight. It still took me a good few minutes to find it because I kept looking under the car. I wasn’t expecting the filter to be on top.
Edit: I snapped this after I found it. That’s how I knew it was on so tight. It still took me a good few minutes to find it because I kept looking under the car. I wasn’t expecting the filter to be on top.
Devils advocate: As a mechanic, if I tighten the oil filter too little, I’m liable for thousands in repairs. If I tighten the oil filer too much, some rando curses me but I don’t hear it and continue sleeping like a baby. Or it comes back to me and I don’t care if it’s tight, Ive got the tools that make it easy.
So, sorry, not sorry. I’m gonna keep cranking those puppies down.
Also your PCV hose is starting to look pregnant.
Okay, you’re a mechanic, great, you’re awsome, thank you for your input but oil filters do have a set torque strenght to be tightened to. Overtighten any screw can and will cause damage either to the screw itself or the socket it is being driven into and I’m sure you know it.
I had a mechanic do this - the better to overtighten than not - and strip the socket of the oil level sound: the mounting block was aluminum, the screw was steel. Guess what happened when the sound had to be replaced?
The cost to have that damage alone repaired made scrap the car. It was still in good shape but not worthy of spending that much to repair.
You see where that filter is. You damned well know it was tightened with just a hand and no tool was involved. OP just needs to pull out his man hand and power that sucker loose.
Shhhhhhhhh
We ignore little things until they’re problems. Tis the broke bitch car guy way.
Yeah, it’s pushing thirty years old. We’ve got some deferred maintenance items to tend to. This isn’t my daily lol
And no I totally don’t blame the techs and mechanics for super snugging filters. I was pissed off an hour ago, but now that I’m on the other side of this job, I get it.
I mean, I’m still pissed, but I get it lol
I wouldn’t sweat the PCV line until I had to remove it for some reason either.
Those old Civics are indestructible.
The danger in overtightening is that you ruin the seal. So maybe not quite as bad as loose, but an oil leak is still a problem. Much like anything with a crush washer, you want to get it snug, then tighten enough to squish it, but not so much that you ruin the very thing that keeps it intact.
That’s not really so much of an issue. Virtually all spin on oil filters are designed in such a way that you can tighten them until the metal filter body contacts the sealing surface and the o-ring will still be happy and protected from over-squishing in it’s little recess.
All bets are off if you’re buying no-name filters tho.
Manufacturers should make it so that it’s not possible to overtighten it. Like the grip of the screw will start to rotate freely around the base of the screw when the torque exceeds the correct tightness
Adding a clutch mechanism would likely make oil filters more expensive by introducing new manufacturing challenges depending on the style of clutch mechanism they use. The more economical approach might be a torque wrench with a special socket shaped to grip the filter. That way you can tighten to spec without overdoing it, and most consumers wouldn’t have to bear the increased cost of filters since most folks just go to a shop that will do it for them.
A lot of manufacturers are starting to go with the cartridge type oil filters which are much better, but still not perfect.