Stuck Oil Filter on 2010 Toyota Prius, a Solution

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: zerosoma
Originally Posted By: hatt
Anyone needing one of these tools should go to Advance and order it in person. Part number ASSTOY640. Good for a laugh.


Haha, serious?

The guy told me after he found it that he couldn't believe he was looking for that part number. Thought I was pulling a prank.

 

[The Critic]

Snap-On makes one that is similar to the OP posted, for about the same price.

The spec for the filter cap is 18 ft-lbs - the moment that the o-ring bottoms out, the effort to turn the cap increases significantly, and that is when you should stop. If you use your fist to tap the ratchet in order to give it the extra bit, you've gone too far.

I always use an in-lb torque wrench on cartridge filter caps. It's too darn risky to guess on those, since an error could result in losing an engine.

zerosoma- I did an oil change on someone's Gen II Prius, and tightened the oil filter to just over 1 full turn as I always do. At the next oil change, my friend did it- and said it was one of the tightest filters that he had ever removed.

The space on the Gen II Prius is just very small, so it is difficult to get enough leverage. If you properly tighten the oil filter (3/4-1 full turn), it will be difficult to remove on that car. A metal cup oil filter wrench is your best bet - the plier ones are the worst, IMO.

 

[hatt]

Taking the housing off is always hard on my Camry for some reason. No matter how it's put on.

 

[edwardh1]

Originally Posted By: Jac09
The oil filter housing on Prius can be overtightened by shops and may be unable to remove with a standard filter wrench with a hex cap shape alone. I tried to remove it on my Prius with a standard wrench. The result was that the little round plate with the 3/8 ratchet fitting in the center that is spot welded to the filter wrench just broke right off of the wrench at the spot welds.
After looking around on the web, I found a filter wrench that grabs not only the hex top, but the entire cap including the six tabs that stand up from the base of the filter cap. This filter wrench has six slots at the edge that fit down over these tabs that make it impossible for the wrench to slip. It is well constructed; it is made from a solid cast pour not rolled thin sheet metal. It has 64.5 mm width and probably works on several model years.
The filter wrench is manufactured by Private Brand Tools or PBT, part number 71110 of Australia. It can be found on Amazon or EBay. I bought it from Amazon.com for $27 including shipping. It was well worth the money. The filter came off the first time I turned the wrench. Nothing else would get it off and I didn't have to wrap the filter housing in cloth to ensure a tight fit either.


what type mechanic place put the filter on?

 

[Jac09]

I had it changed 4 times before I started doing my own at 40k. At least 2 shops had changed the oil; one local and the most recent was Super Lube. The manager sent a service person to my house to remove the oil filter housing when I started to change the filter and could not remove it at 40k miles. I completed the oil filter installation myself. Not having a torque wrench, I estimated the torque. I am not muscle bound, just better than average fitness for age 69 I would say.

Guess what! At 50k miles, again I could NOT get the oil filter housing unscrewed. I broke a standard filter wrench as I described at the top of this thread.

I can only conclude these recent Prius oil filter housings are prone to jamming.

 

[tig1]

Check with O'Reillys. I bought one there for the Fusion for less than 10 bucks. Had to order it.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Jac09
I had it changed 4 times before I started doing my own at 40k. At least 2 shops had changed the oil; one local and the most recent was Super Lube. The manager sent a service person to my house to remove the oil filter housing when I started to change the filter and could not remove it at 40k miles. I completed the oil filter installation myself. Not having a torque wrench, I estimated the torque. I am not muscle bound, just better than average fitness for age 69 I would say.

Guess what! At 50k miles, again I could NOT get the oil filter housing unscrewed. I broke a standard filter wrench as I described at the top of this thread.

I can only conclude these recent Prius oil filter housings are prone to jamming.

I'm at just under 70k on my 2011 so I've done mine a number of times. I've found that as long as you lube the gasket and use 18 ft-lbs, removal is a breeze.

Also, I am not sure what brand of filter you are using, but I have only been using the OE ones from the dealer. It is possible that the aftermarket ones are a different size in some way that may contribute to the problem.

 

[pennzoil_guru]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-Lexus-Scion-Special-Oil-Filter-Wrench-Tool-4-Cylinder-/321028758236

I bought one. Makes removal a breeze

 

[BlueOvalFitter]

If it were a Honda, why would the owner want to remove the filter?