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Unread 06-08-2018, 06:53 PM   #1
Rich Z
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Default Why you should avoid Super Lube, Quicky Lube, etc.

Well, today didn't go at all as planned.

Connie has been taking her truck to the local Super Lube to get her oil and filter changed in her 2001 Chevy Silverado pickup truck for just about as long as she has had the truck. Yesterday I took the truck out to run to the post office, and noticed the little sticker on the windshield indicating the last oil change. Hmm, mileage was under 2500 miles, but the date on the sticker was 02/02/2016. I didn't think that could be right, as I'm pretty sure I took the truck out not that awful long ago to get the oil changed in her truck and to dump off a load of old oil from changing oil myself in the other vehicles. Connie said she wanted to continue taking the truck to Super Lube for the oil changes, as she felt kind of bad "using" them to drop off that old all all of the time. But I think that will change now, as you will see.

I almost swung into the Super Lube on the way back from the post office, as it was right along the way, but they had both bays filled, and I decided to run to Walmart instead and pick up some oil and a new oil filter so I could do it myself. Heck, it's an easy enough job, and I didn't have anything else planned for Friday, except maybe to get something to eat later on.

So I got up bright an early this morning I got out to the garage around 11:30 or so (hey, I'm retired! THAT is "bright and early" to me!), thinking this would be a quick job, and then I could run out to Zaxby's and pick up some chicken for dinner tonight. Connie is up in Delaware visiting her sister, so I'm on "bachelor rations" for dinners. Lots of sandwiches....

Anyway, when it came time to remove the oil filter, I used my usual tool which is sort of a cap device that I use with my 3/8s inch ratchet to break loose and screw off the old oil filter. Hmm, the filter wouldn't budge. I got out one of my long breaker bars, thinking maybe I had just gotten a LOT more feeble since the last time I took of an oil filter. But the tool was just slipping off the ridges and started to round them off. Obviously this wasn't going to work. So I grabbed another oil filter removal tool I had which is like a big slip joint rounded pliers with teeth on the edges. I got a real good grip on it, but it still wouldn't budge. So I just clamped down harder and whacked it a few times with the deadblow hammer trying to break that filter loose. Well the sides of the oil filter got crushed in with me squeezing on it so hard, and on top of that, the teeth chewed through the side of the filter, and now the old oil was leaking out through the side of the oil filter. I figured I was pretty much committed to getting that filter off myself now. The truck isn't going anywhere.





I do have a few strap sort of tools for such jobs, but with the oil filter pretty slippery from oil, I didn't figure I would have much luck with them. And that was an excellent place to knock the knuckles off of your hands when something slipped suddenly. So on to YouTube to see what other people have done for stuck oil filters. One thing I did note is that a lot of people commented that this is a very common problem using Super Lube, Jiffy Lube, etc. to change your oil and filter. Apparently too many of the techs working there tend to over tighten the filter BIG TIME when they put on the new one. Which has me curious about what they do when they run into a stuck oil filter like I just did. Just no way they would get a stuck oil filter off in a "10 Minute Oil Change". But more on that later.

Anyway, a couple of people used a method of just driving a Phillips head screwdriver though both sides of the oil filter and using the screw driver as a
long handle were able to twist off the stubborn oil filter. But there were a couple of guys where even that didn't work for them. One of the guys found a specialty tool (Bogert Aviation 10-M Talon) that seemed to be the tool of last resort that pulled him out of the fire. In that case, you basically need to cut off at least the bottom of the oil filter, and pull the guts out to get to the plate at the top of the filter that actually screws on to the oil filter adapter attached to the engine block. I was REALLY hoping I didn't have that extreme case of a problem.

I sprayed the top of the oil filter with some Break-Free, but I wasn't real confident that it would help much through the oil filter's seal. But what the heck, I didn't have much to lose at this point. Like I said, I was COMMITTED.

Still no luck after letting the Break-Free set for about an hour, so I figured it was time for the screwdriver puncture method. I had to be careful because there wasn't all that much room to get a good shot with the screwdriver, and I sure as heck didn't want to punch a hole in the oil pan. So I used a smaller screw driver first and easier to punch a hole through with minimal force and maximum control. More oil drained out of the filter at that point. As an aside, I watched a video of a guy using a drill to put the hole through the oil filter, and that really turned out messy for him when the oil drained onto the drill bit and got slung all over the place. That and the fact that I was more afraid of a drill bit going through the oil pan than a screwdriver prevented me from wanting to try that particular method.

So with the small hole through the filter, I got a larger diameter Phillips head screwdriver and pushed that though the existing hole. So now I had the screwdriver through both sides and could get some leverage to twist off that filter. I wanted more surface area than the small screwdriver would provide, because I was concerned that the smaller screwdriver might wind up just slicing through the side of the filter like a knife blade. And come to find out, I'm pretty sure this was warranted, because even with the larger screwdriver, the side of the filter WAS starting to slice apart before the filter FINALLY started to loosen up and turn.










Whew! What a pain in the butt that was! Now it was around 2:30 and rain and thunder had set in, so I really didn't feel like running out to Zaxby's. Not to mention that I was sweating like hell, so not really fit for going out into public anyway.

So the rest of the job went easy, like it should have. Torqued the oil drain plug (24 ft/lbs), put the new filter in face. ONLY hand tightening it! and then filled the crankcase with new oil and then ran the engine and checked for leaks. Good to go.

Oh about the question of what Super Lube (and the like) do about stuck oil filters. I'm wondering if they just leave them. Seemed kind of odd to me that the last time I got the oil and filter changed there, they did not bother to put a new sticker on the windshield. Was this intentional? Did they want it to look like it had been a LONG time since that oil filter had been changed out? Just speculating, of course. Or heck, maybe they are used to this kind of a problem and have other tools available (even using the screwdriver method) to remove stuck oil filters, and think nothing of it as a matter of course. But I would guess that SOME of the techs might just not be conscientious about the job, and just leave that old filter there. Again, just guessing, but I certainly wouldn't put that past some people. And I sure as heck don't want to be leaving an old oil filter on an engine through multiple oil changes. Heck, that is all you would need. A clogged oil filter that is just passing unfiltered engine oil through your engine. How long do you think that could go on without engine damage taking place?

Maybe I am being unnecessarily unkind to the people who work at those oil change places. I would like to THINK they all would be conscientious and do their job like they are supposed to, but I'm not that naive. All I know is that this oil filter was not coming off easily, and I don't know for certain that the last guy, or even the last 3 guys, at the Super Lube would have made the effort I did to get it off and replaced. How many people would even know?

But in any event, I guess I will be changing the oil in Connie's truck from here on out. That oil drain bolt was a bit tighter than it needed to be too, and I'm not sure they change that rubber gasket on the bolt neither. It's the same bolt in the LS engines for the vettes, so I have a box of those gaskets in the cabinet.

So yeah, what should have been just a simple oil and filter change didn't really go that way today. I can't remember how tight it is around the oil filter in the vettes, but seems to me it is much tighter, which having a stuck oil filter would have been an even bigger pain in the butt to have to deal with.

So if you take your vehicle to those quickie oil change places, you might want to keep this in mind.
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Unread 06-09-2018, 07:09 AM   #2
mrr23
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sometimes one person's grip is stronger than needed. i've had to do the screwdriver trick myself over the years.
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Last edited by mrr23; 06-10-2018 at 08:21 AM.
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Unread 06-09-2018, 04:19 PM   #3
Rich Z
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Well, here is a guy offering some innovative methods to getting the oil filter off...




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPVs03aZjmc
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