Quick Change Oil Fiasco

A couple of days ago a friend was backing out of his driveway when he
noticed a large puddle of oil. He stopped the vehicle - a Ford pickup
- popped the hood and oil was leaking out of his just changed oil
filter. When he got the filter off and replaced - it was damages -
holes punched into the sides of the filter. He went to the quick
change place and asked the manager to see the tool they used to change
filters - the tool hand slots which gripped the sides of the filter and
the ape putting on the filter twisted it hard enough to cut into the
filter body causing the oil leak.

Posted this cause it is a new low for quick oil change idiots - people
who go to these places to get their oil changed are taking huge risks.
Even on my honda accord it takes less than 10 minutes to change the oil
and filter - have a local garage who is really happy to see my 10
gallons of used oil in midwinter - lots of these guys have oil heaters
to heat their garage - saves hundreds every month.

 

using old motor oil for heating is not a smart thing to do. it contains
lead from bearings, neuro-toxic organics and a host of other
contaminants it picks up from operation. sure, the user will notice
nothing immediately, but they're still there and the effects are
cumulative. an interesting way to compete for a darwin award though.

 

Those are really popular up here in Ontario Canada. Saves a fortune on
heating oil. And since you're in WI, you know what kind of weather we
get...eight months of winter, four months of bad skiing.

 

My buddies in this garage have drank too much of your namesake and it's
cousins to care much about air pollution - they are also chain smokers
- personally burning used motor oil makes sense - particularly when you
can save $1K per month on gas bills. Most every garage around here
does that - you have to pay some guy with a govt approved truck and
license to haul off the hazardous waste AKA used motor oil. Hmm let's
see if I burn it I save $1K/month - if I have it hauled off I pay also
- no brainer.

 

It sounds like the "ape" was using what I think is
colloquially called the "Crusher." It's //only// for
removing filters that will not come off with an ordinary oil
filter wrench. Very effective at that. But good lord, using
the Crusher to install a new oil filter? Big mistake, as you
found.

I think consumers everywhere should understand that the
least experienced apprentice/technician is often the one
changing one's oil. One should always be vigilant after an
oil change done anywhere. I had Sears do an oil change
twenty years ago, and the kid technician didn't scrape off
the old oil filter gasket. This yielded a sort of double
gasket after the new filter was installed. Of course it did
not seal properly. Five miles down the //highway//, the oil
pressure light came on. I pull over. Oil is all over the
ground. Called Sears. They towed it back and re-did the oil
change correctly.

Fortunately I knew enough to stop the engine.

 

Anybody remember "Ravishing Ronald"?

 

werd...

doesn't those used oil furnaces have special filters to catch those
contaminants before it goes out the exhaust?

if they have it for home use/ i'd get one for the garage...

 

the kid technician didn't scrape off

I know of a case where the "double gasket" simply blew out while the
engine was at very high revs. Destroyed the engine. Dealer had to
replace after the owner complained to the state motor vehicle
commission as a "lemon law" matter.

 

That's what got me into the mess I'm in. My excuse is that I was not up to
speed recovering from shoulder and eye surgery, and I'm stickin' to it.
Didn't notice the old gasket still on the block EVEN after it felt funny
when I screwed the new filter on.

Then my honey was on her way to work and drove it a wee bit too long after
HER oil light came on. Ended up shearing the key on the cam pulley. The heat
generated de-tempered the end of the cam shaft and it came off with the
pulley.
I had already bought a replacement motor before we found that the rest of
the motor was OK. I figured it would be less complicated to just replace the
head rather than the cam.

The good news? I have a TON of spare parts. Anybody with a comparable motor
needing parts let me know. It's a 2000 2.3 VTEC.

 

I was thinking that the hot air is supposed to vent out and the heat
from the hot pipe is supposed to warm the area. But it's still bad for
air pollultion.

 

filters should only be hand-tight. ive NEVER used a wrench to tighten a
filter, only to remove one.

 

Those heaters generally vent off combustion gasses to chimneys etc. just
like a normal #2 fuel oil burner. Extensively used in New England (my
roots) and the smart way for recycling waste products that actually
"pay" the user..

JT

 

And that's why I reside in Texas. I don't like heat but I don't like
cold a whole lot more...

JT

 

I think that the only effective "filter" would be catalytic in nature
but would not work well in this case due to the metallic particles in
waste oil and other possible contaminants.

Considering how many of these units (relatively) are in use, I don't
think that they contribute substantially to the detriment of air quality.

And yes, you can get one for home use but they are quite pricey...

JT

 

Nope. Straight out the pipe. They pollute less overall than a wood or coal-
burning stove.

They do. Garage supply shops sell them.

 

OEM should be tightened to 8-10 ft-lbs. Hand-tight may be OK in warm
climates, but it's not sufficient in places with cold winters.

With the previous filter design, Honda had problems with leakage from
garages that didn't tighten the filters properly. Those required 15 ft-lbs
of torque, which was hard to generate without a wrench.

I use a torque wrench with mine.

 

My mechanic sells it to a recycler for $0.50 per gallon. Think about
that the next time you get a charge for "environmental fee" on your
service bill.

 

A lot of smaller shops have to pay to have the stuff removed. I know
that this is the case in Austin, TX. In fact, it's one of Safety
Kleen's sources of income...

JT

 

That's pretty good, considering most cars recommend installing a new oil
filter hand-tight only! Yikes!

 

Here in BC, the gov't adds an "enviromental levy" on NEW goods like oil,
car batteries, etc. It may be beyond the shop's control.