The concrete is cold on your back. Warm oil dribbles into the drain pan just off your right shoulder. You reach up and grab the oil filter, give it a twist and…it won’t budge. Anyone who’s been in this situation knows the frustration builds rapidly as mechanics and would-be mechanics curse in unison at whoever overtightened the oil filter the last time it was changed.
Between engine compartments being tighter than ever and the slick nature of oil filters themselves, applying leverage on an overtightened oil filter can be an excruciating task. So when I saw that the Torque Test Channel on YouTube not only tested a handful of methods and tools for removing oil filters but did so in a fairly scientific manner, one could say I was more than a little interested.
It’s intriguing for a few reasons. One point that the video itself calls out is that all the tools on the market designed to help remove oil filters don’t give much specific info about how much the tool might help. When the bar is a sweaty hand on painted steel, it’s very easy to beat, but what is the hierarchy of the common tools and tricks? I haven’t encountered enough stuck oil filters in the wild to try many tools or tricks for this. It’s a blessed life I lead.
The test was conducted on two different-sized oil filters to possibly highlight if a tool worked better for one size or the other. The test included multiple types and brands of pliers, band wrenches, and three-jaw tools that are operated with a ratchet or breaker bar. Each of these has its strengths and weaknesses that make owning multiple styles reasonable if this is a problem that comes up regularly in your life.
The test showed that all of them are a huge improvement over hand and even the ol’ stab-it-with-a-screwdriver method. The three-jaw style was capable of over 100 foot-pounds of twist on an oil filter. One of the filter housings began to spin at the pressed joint between the housing and the mounting plate. Of course, most of these tools destroyed the filter, which is fine if it is successful. It also means that once these come out, there’s no going back.