Started to do an oil change on my rx8 this afternoon. Half way in I couldn't get the filter to budge. Who knew that you could round off a filter as if it were a bolt. The filter's on top of the engine between the intake and the firewall with no room to work. I tried the skewer it with a screwdriver method, which failed spectacularly and made a huge mess. I couldn't fit a universal filter wrench around it. I tried hammering the filter wrench on with sand paper in between hoping it would grip. About an hour of swearing later I had resigned myself to pulling the intake off so I'd have some room to work when I had an epiphany, I call it "The Persuader".
A few minutes with the drill and a couple of drywall screws later I was filter free. Here's a zoomed out view so can see how cocked-up the filter placement is on this car.
And the post-op:
This ranks high on my personal redneck solutions list.
