How do you remove a stuck, and now broken oil filter after trying all known options?

Question

I was doing a routine oil change on my car today, A 2004 Toyota Matrix xR to be exact, the first one I've done since I bought it 6 months ago. And before you say "Did it even need to be changed", It did, Trust me. Anyways, the oil filter was tightened so much that I ended up crushing the can with the filter wrench, then went and bought a cup wrench, which broke under the stress. Finally I ended up using the strap wrench, which didn't work either. When I did some research on means of removing oil filters, it recommended piercing the filter with a s***w driver to gain leverage. The only thing it did was shred the can open. So now, my car is totally unusable, and I have no idea what I can do to remove it as Ive exhausted all common methods. Please, if you know how to remedy this situation, I'm all ears!

Answer 1

One time I seen Wile E. Coyote use a stick of TNT to fix this problem.

It's funny you should use the word "exhausted" that will probably be the next thing to go wrong of your Foriegn Auto LOLZ!!!

Answer 2

as mentioned, make sure you are turning in the 'loosen' direction.

as for being 'too soon', unless you hardly drive it shoulda been changed 2 months ago.

finally, since it's already torn to heck, the only real possibility is to take your strap wrench, slid it right under the head of the filter and turn from there.  if the wrench slips buy a piece of medium grit sand paper.  fold it in half with the grit side out on both sides.  wrap the filter and slide the wrench back over it.  the grit will grab the strap and the filter too.

as you lay under the car, the correct direction to loosen is to follow the second hand on your watch.

Answer 3

Get a regular metal strap type wrench way up on the flange of the filter, closest to the motor. That's the stiffest part. If you can't get your regular one up there, get the kind that you attach a ratchet to, and use an extension. Looks basically like this one;

http://images1.hdpi.com/product/lubrimat...

although the ones I have, have a little more leverage built in, like this one except without the handle;

http://www.classic-car-magazine.co.uk/ar...

The ones with the cloth or plastic straps don't distribute the pressure as evenly, and all those end cap ones depend on the strength of the shell which is the weakest part. Even worse are the ones that use chains or clamping jaws. Piercing the shell with a screwdriver hardly ever works, it just tears the thin metal.

Answer 4

I had that happen once and I think it was on a Plymouth. The thing that the filter screws on to was bolted to the engine block and I took the bolts out and took the whole thing off and unscrewed the filter with a pipe wrench.

Answer 5

finish tearing it up. there should be a big nut once you get it torn up. get a socket and put on it and unscrew it. those filters are only have to be hand tightened.

Answer 6

brute force and ignorance might work..probably not thought in my experience jabbing a s***w driver though it ususally works but you might also try twisting whats left of the oil filter with a large pair of channel locks  

Answer 7

Now that you have stripped down the filter to the thin metal you will have to remove all the thin metal.  Do that right down to the rubber gasket that keeps it from leaking.  Take off that also.  Once you get that out of the way,  remove the filter material itself.   What should be left is the heavier metal threaded part that screws into the car.   Without the friction of the rubber gasket you should be able to remove the remainder of the filter without much of a problem.  Grab that with an appropriate set of snap grips and unscrew it.  

When you put on the new filter,  put fresh oil on the rubber gasket and put it on hand tight only.  You can use both hands if you want but only use your hands.   Do not use any kind of tool to s***w it on tight.  That is the problem you are having now.  It was put on too tight.  

In regards to the oil plug....if you make it a habit to use your second biggest tool to s***w it in,  you can use your biggest tool to s***w it out.  That way you will not run into a problem with that either.  

Answer 8

Duct tape the filter completely for grip and use two pair of locking pliers (one on each side 180 degrees apart) and turn both at the same time counterclockwise slowly (this will require both hands and will provide a lot of torque).

Good luck.

If that doesn't work, call a mechanic.

Answer 9

I've never seen or heard an oil filter stuck that hard.

Are you sure you are turning it the correct direction?  Are you sure you are not tightening even more?  Just do a mental check.

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Other than that, you've already done everything I would have recommended.

Good luck...