A Cake On

It's been said before that DIY oil change (at least for the first time) is a PITA. I heeded the warning but decided to go through with it anyway. I mean how hard could it be right...I have been doing oil changes on my other cars for some time now. This dam oil change from opening the toolbox to cleanup took 1.5 hours. How's that for a motherf**k.

Went to the dealer, picked up a couple cases of Mobil 1 and some oil filters with no cup wrench because they didn't have it in stock. Anyway the said that you should be able to pull the filter off by hand (yeah right) or with a pair of large channel lock pliers. So off I went to the house.

The first hurdle was my own damn fault. I had 3 ton jack stands and my 2 ton trolley jack wouldn't lift the car up high enough to give the jack stands enough clearance underneath. So I went to Murrays (which thankfully is around the corner) to get some new 2 ton jackstands. Note to self: get rid of bunk tools and buy all new.

I get under the car and found that little access door for the plug. Go to take the bolt off of it and it is giving me all types of resistance. I was tunring the bolt with the ratchet and the whole plastic assembly was flexing. So me being Mr. Impatient after going to Murrays, I decided to rip the door clean off. Take that you sunamabish! I guess I will try and find a way to get that thing back on there, ripped plastic and all.

Pull the drain plug, drained oil, OK, this is getting a little easier...WRONG!!! That bastard of an oil filter is hanging on to the car with Schwarzenegger type strength. Can't get it off by hand. My adjustable oil filter wrench was too big, my channel locks were too small, and the filter is now laughing at me. Now I'm pissed off guy.

So I go to Murrays again to look like a putz who can't do an oil change and I get a knockoff 65mm cup style filter wrench. Now this makes me look like I am flirting with the little cuite that was working the register, cause I have been in there once earlier in the day, and twice for parts during the oil change, all at her register. "See you in a half hour" she says with a smile.

Anyway, I bring it back to the house, seems to be working fine until the filter flutes start stripping under the pressure of the wrench. Dammitt!! I finally go the brightest idea of the day (no, not bring it to the dealer) but I grabbed a glove that we had in the garage and it saved the day. It's not just any glove, it is a Wells Lamont latex coated glove. Glove + beef arm > oil filter. Here is a pic of this marvel of technology put me back on the path of sanity....



Now I just have to find where I bought these things from....

Thanks for letting me vent....

aaronng

LOL, I agree, they do put the oil filter on with gorilla strength at the factory. What happened to hand-tight + 1/4 turn extra?

xizor

how can something that feels so right be so wrong clips on the fender liners always tick me off, good thing I have a couple extra laying around

jlukja

I laughed, I cried, I laughed again. Very entertaining post.

LoveMyTL-S

Awesome write up and classic first oil change. Yea, that oil filter is a PITA. I allowed the dealer to do my first one. It was free anyway. I always wear my mechanics gloves when doing the oil change. Not only does it help with grip but also helps prevent burns. That little plastic door, I just left off. Replaced drain plug with the SureDrain system. Works great but a little slow. Your next oil change should go a lot smoother. That oil filter can be messy also. I used a heavy plastic bag to catch most of the oil and filter. Glad you had fun bonding with your TSX!

curls

LMFAO

Oh, and (of the cutie)

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Even the most mundane things can get entertaining when told with the right tone.

junktionfet

I think they tighten the factory oil filters and cylinder head bolts with the same tool.

BulldogHockey

That was pretty hilarious. I haven't done it with my TSX yet, but will soon.

I had the exact same filter problem though with my Dakota P/U. Damn filter was on there so tight that the socket type filter cap was stripping off the outer ribs on the filter. That truck has the added bonus of only allowing one hand through the stupid access hole. I had to eventually trim some plastic above to get access for both hands to get it off.

Another case of lawyers ruining America (or at least greedy, lawsuit happy Americans). The manufacturer's have to put the filters on so friggin' tight that only a gorilla with latex hands could get it off.

Oh and I will also be doing the Sure Drain thing on the TSX. It's a necessity for my truck to work around the skid plates and I've gotten used to having clean hands afterwards. Does take a long while to drain though.

fuckleberry

interesting but lots of misspelling & messy grammar

A Cake On

It was definately interesting. You better believe that I checked myself for a hernia after the whole ordeal.

fuckleberry....I know, I know, I noticed a lot of that after the edit time expired. Quite embarrassing, and quite out of character for me. Everything I did yesterday was full of errors. Next time you grade though, you should do it in red ink and give me a percentage grade to make it more official. I will give you a chance to redeem yourself...check out post 39 of mine on this thread that also has some errors. https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...9&page=2&pp=25 . Oh and BTW..."interesting but lots of misspelling & messy grammar" is a fragment, doesn't have capitalzation of the first word, and lacks a period at the end, and probably should have a comma after interesting.

A Cake On

I should have brought the RAZR out and snapped one huh???? What's the worst that could've happened, she gets freaked out?? Maybe she would strike a cute pose and ask me to take another... ...j/k. With my luck the G/F would find her pic in the phone and kick off a fight.

dom

I enjoyed that. And 1.5 hrs isn't that bad for all that.

peter_bigblock

There's no "a" in "definitely". B+

Black_6spd

I know what you mean. For me, it was about over an hour as well. However, in my case, I had the flter wrench beforehand and it still didn't help. It just kept slipping.

I ended up just changing the oil ONLY with the same dirty factory filter. Since it was a dino oil change at 1k, I just had the factory do it at 2k.

They probaly have a drop or 2 of loctite on the threads.

A Cake On

LOL

kboosman00

LOL... Nice hilarious write up. As far as the plastic oil drain lid portion is concerned, I had a similar ordeal (not my fault, I should say) and decided to purchase/replace the underbody splash guard when my shipment comes in.

bradykp

i'm lost, what do lawyers have to do with tight oil filters?

Master47

I'd say my first oil change on the TSX took an hour and a half, all said and done. I had to go and get the cap-style filter wrench in the middle of it. If it starts to spin on the flutes of the filter, I have found that a paper towel up inside the cap is a good design to make it "grip." Unfortunately, my first oil change was the cleanest of the 3 I have performed, and they get messier the more I do it. There is no way to get the filter off fast enough before oil starts running down the engine block. The damn thing is threaded to the front bumper, I am convinced.

greendestiny

A trip to pep boys -> Oil filter wrench 65mm $4.99
A trip to Walmart -> Mobil 1 Syn 5w30 5qt $24
Honda OEM Filtech Filter -> $4.77
Drain plug washer -> $.23

Time under the car 20 mins.
Total time finished about 30 mins.

If you have the right tools the filter can be done. I did it with the car jacked up on two jack stands. Stuck my hand high in up there with my ratchet wrench to the oil filter cap and just started turning it. That was it.

Imho, the location of the filter is not the greatest but is definitely a lot better than my old '96 Civic EX's location. Now that one was way up there crammed next to the drive axles.

A Cake On

What brand of wrench was it that you grabbed? The one that I had was absolutely terrible..I think it was Rite-fit or something like that. I should have kept it, I chucked it in the garbage rather quickly. I should have at least returned it back to Murrays. I should have tried the paper towel trick mentioned above.

TSXTuner

I drape a blue paper towel over the frame forming a funnel
through the access hole to drain out the oil filter leakage. Just have
to wipe up the drive shaft and part of the engine block after.

I have a 30 year old snap-on brand oil filter wrench that is
a fabric strap. Seems like I bought it for $10, $42 now.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

Now I use the K&N filter with a 1" hex nut built into the end
of the filter but I still use the strap on my honda's where I use
Denso filters.

Eeyore

I have the same trouble with the cap wrench slipping on the filter, even getting filters off that I have put on hand tight. I put about 2 layers of masking tape inside the cap and that takes up the slack and creates a tight fit. With the TSX if I slide back futhur under the car I've found I can actually get both arms up under near the filter, one hand to hold the cap on and the other to crank it off. I'll have to try the paper towel method also. It helps also to clean off the filter with clean cloth that has been sprayed with windex before putting the cap wrench on it, helps with grip if the filter is clear of grime/dirt.

BulldogHockey

They put it on so tight because Acura/Honda would be liable if the filter leaks oil. When I dropped my TSX off for the first oil change I asked them to do the hand tight + 1/4 turn trick so I could get it off easily. They wouldn't do it that way and instead torqued it back to gorilla strength.

Just makes me wonder why their specs are so different than a Jiffy Lube where it seems relatively easy to remove the filter.

I guess it may or may not have to do with lawyers, but they seem to way overcompensate to avoid any warranty claims. My point was just that manufacturers and businesses do a lot of strange things to avoid getting sued, or being held liable. So I can understand their financial standpoint, but it makes routine tasks like changing oil very difficult when it should not be.

Black_6spd

dealers =

Overtorquing the filter over time can cause the female threads to become stripped. That would be costly to fix.

bradykp

yeah, overtorquing it is much worse then not putting it on tight enought.

it only needs to be hand tightened anyways.

frescagod

did you get the girl's number?

A Cake On

No, even if I was on the market, I don't think I could have laid the game down well, I was too pissed off.

jlukja

No need for digits. He knows right where to find her, and he'll be back when he starts modding.

STEELTOWN

That was hilarious, makes mine seem pretty tame:
1) I left the plug for my container on the edge and once the oil started flowing, it rolled the plug back into place and I watched as the oil spilled over the edge of the container for an agonizing minute.
2) Kicked an opened full bottle of oil over after I had moved it out of the way, so I would not kick it.

I think I went through 8 rolls of Bounty and thought to myself, this would have taken 10 minutes at Jiffy Lube. The oil change is the easiest part, its all that other crap that make it a PITA. Good Post

I have got to believe that girl at the counter was used to it. More do it yourself mechanics wind up acquiring $80K worth of tools for a $10 job. That is when those stores make the big money.

vwong

To save you from any future trouble, you can buy them from Home Depot. I have 3 pairs of those gloves too.

A Cake On

jlukja - I know, right

STEELTOWN - Who would have thought that an oil change would be such a pain right. I am still going to do all of the subsequent ones. They can't be as bad as my first attempt.

vwong - I am going to stop by Home Depot and stock up on those things. With my luck I will be doing my next oil change and those will be discontinued or something.

Alin10123

Try using a plastic bag. Loosen the filter just enough so that you can hang turn it, then completely cover the filter with a plastic grocery bag of some sort. Then continue to turn the filter until you feel the oil splash into the bag. 99% of the oil is caught in the bag. Problem solved.

DuckDodgers

Just a thought , but probably not viable due to under-tray. I also maintain a CR-V that has the same basic engine and recently got a guard from HandAaccessories (also a nice TSX ballcap on sale...Red letters, blue cap, great for us RBP guys at $7.95) that has a magnet and sticks on under the filter before you loosen it. I know in the CR-V the oil drips right into a cross member and then dribble out in several spots inches to feet away...this guard channnels it into your chosen container.

So the point, would this work on the TSX too? I know I probably don't want to pull the undertray each time, but how is access around it? I'd go out and look, but the TSX isn't in the garage right now...

Da Duck

Eeyore

I think everyone can agree on this - the more you do, the easier they get. The first oil change I ever did seemed like a big ordeal, now I can do the TSX and the g/f's Element in about an hour. Helps that the engine setup - as far as filter location, etc is identical. The Element is actually a bit more difficult than the TSX due to the fact that there is a piece of steel keeping me from getting both hands up around the filter.

tlbkcal

just curious, has anyone tried wrapping a thick rubber band around the oil filter and then used the oil wrench over that to prevent slipping?