motoboy

So i set out to the my boat, sitting in my driveway to complete an oil change(496). Oil's been drained, just need to change the oil filter and put new oil in. I hop into the boat with filter wrench, paper towels, new filter, oil and of course (1) beer.

I put the filter wrench around the filter and apply a little pressure. Almost immediately the wrench starts crushing the filter like a cheap tin can. Tried clamping around another spot on filter and it crushed again with little effort. Fine, so I go grab a screwdriver for plan B. Ram screwdriver in and begin to turn. Filter doesn't so much as wiggle but the screwdriver does manage to tear a nice groove around filter, opening it up like a can opener. Great! There goes the rest of my afternoon....

Now here comes the good part: As I'm removing what's left of the filter housing with a pair of plyers i notice small pieces of plastic falling down into the center oil line.
Why Mercruiser uses brittle cheap plastic to support the filter element in their filters is beyond me.

Now I make a quick call to Mercruiser to inquire if there is any down stream screen that will stop that plastic. The Mercruiser guy, who was really cool, says 'no' and strongly suggests i get the plastic out of that line. Next stop for the plastic would be the oil cooler and then the main bearings of the engine. Not good. So after burning away another hour of my life, I do manage to remove the remote oil line and fish out the plastic.

My daughter reminds me its now dinner time, and remember I still haven't gotten what's left of the oil filter off yet. So as dinners on the barbeque I'm searching on line for ideas on how to get stuck oil filters off. Best idea I read is to use a pipe wrench.
So after dinner I go up to Lowes and buy a pipe wrench big enough to get around the base of the filter.
After getting the pipe wrench on there and using enough force to momentarily stop the Earths rotation, the oil filter slowly starts to spin off. Strike up the band!
Jeesh....


mb.

Griff

The fun of boat maintanence.

I had a heck of time getting the filter off one of my engines last week. The screwdriver all the way through did the trick for me. Actually left the gasket stuck on the remote mount when I spun the filter off.
Needless to say, I made sure to put an ample amount oil on the new filter gasket.

Naughty Kitty

I have the same fun time with the water/fuel filter. I remember one year using a small chisel at the base of the filter to apply torque....why the rest of the hydraulics industry can live with an o-ring on SAE connections and seal 5,000 PSI and Detroit can't figure out how to make a servicable connection on 60 PSI is beyond me...

jmeng

Same thing happened to me last time I changed my oil. What pissed me off is that the time before I had a hard time getting them off so I greased the **** out of them. Still ripped one to pieces before it came off. Ended up having to use a screwdriver and a hammer. The new ones were not tightened nearly as much...

Hydrocruiser

FYI...K&N filters have one of the best O-rings out there and they most always come off easilly. Great filters too.


IN our Racing Oil FIlter thread you can find cross over numbers.

http://www.knfilters.com/oilfilter.htm


They "wrench off"..with a sturdy 17mm nut welded to the bottom of the filter and the base-seal is prelubed....check out thie above site.

The K&N Gold is an amazing filter.