Miata oil filter location...

Keith Tanner said:

Knurled. said:

Keith Tanner said:

Doing an oil change on an older Subaru (like an EJ18) will make you want to kiss a Subaru engineer.

After having three EA82 engined cars, my mind is still hanging up on EJ engines being in an "older" Subaru.

 

 

Maybe it was an EA. Whatever's in a 1986 wagon, before Subaru discovered model names. But the EJs aren't bad either.

Wikipedia says the EJ18 was last sold in the US 18 years ago, BTW

Yeah, that would be an EA82. EJ didn't arrive until 1990, and even then it was only in the Legacy. It showed up in the Impreza in 1994. Those filters are a dream to change. Except for I had a weird issue on mine where it was like the filter would self-tighten between oil changes. I would put it on by hand, but then 3000 miles later it would be so tight I would have to destroy the filter getting it off

here is where the filter is on my crosstrek. subaru is making it easy now.

In reply to MrChaos :

Now, if only they could do something about those spark plugs

In reply to Toebra :

It is not bad getting to the filter through the wheel well. I think it is worth the effort taking the tire off

Keith Tanner said:

Exhaust in the front, which means that not only is the filter under the intake manifold, it's up against the firewall.

Whoops, totally correct. That does make it worse. It's been a few years since I've had a Miata in the garage!

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Yeah, on the Manic Miata, there's a bunch of intercooler piping in the way.  I owned the car for 9 months before I even figured out where the oil filter was.

The oil fiter location on the K24 in the TSX, which was designed as a transverse installation, is just stupid.  No way to get it out without spilling it all over the subframe and your armpit.

DD#1 had an EJ22-powered Impreza, and you could change the oil from the front of the car without jacking it up.  Awesome.  The EJ25 isn't that easy, but still not bad.  Bonus points for spin-on ATF filter.

I'm looking forward to finding out where the filter is on DW's new S60 T5.

I may be a lone dissenting opinion but I don't think the Miata oil filter is too bad. Yeah, a little tight but very doable. There is a lot harder stuff out there. Like a mechanical fuel pump on a mid-70's Buick Apollo 350. Sits in the upper A-arm channels. Took me 3 hours to get the old one out and 2 hours to install the new one. 3 bolts that didn't have enough room to turn one flat. Quickly figured out why the PO bypassed the OEM mechanical pump and wired an electric pump in to the tail lights. Didn't like turning on the lights to start the car so I replaced the mechanical pump. I'm also a helicopter mech and some stuff on helicopters seem to require 2 articulating elbows on 1 arm besides being skinny enough to crawl in to where it is.

Again, clearly you guys never worked on a 914