Most Mazdas seem to suck in the filter location department. My old '88 626 had it on the back of the engine, under the intake manifold. My Miata is hard to do without using a bunch of towels to keep the oil off the sub frame. My Nissan Titan is great. No need to jack and right at the front center of the engine. It's at a 45 degree angle, but they put a catch pan and ramp to direct any spills. The oil pan even has a small drip rail to control the flow when you remove the drain plug.
not a stock application, but my 350 powered Vega had a pretty tricky oil filter to get to thanks to the funky headers that it had.. i had to unbolt the header just to get the filter to unscrew.. i fixed that after the first oil change with a relocation kit that put the filter up next to the radiator...
my second worst one was the 88 S10 4X4 that i swapped a 350 into... there was just barely enough room to squeeze the filter in and out..
Nothing in the fleet (Miatas, CRX, MGB) is terribly complex or annoying.
I haven't had to do the 4Runner myself yet - it came with two years' free maintenance that has only recently expired. Next time it's due I have to either have the dealer do it and actually pay for it, or tackle it myself. I've looked at a DIY on a 4Runner forum and it's, at first glance, it's pretty involved with its canister filter. It could be an adventure!
I probably brag about it too often, but I love the engineers at Subaru if only for the ease of changing the oil in the Forester.
To the left of the battery and down, that's the filter. You can drain the pan w/o jacking the car up. Why can't more manufacturers make that happen (not the not needing to jack it up part, the filter placement)?
accordionfolder wrote: I probably brag about it too often, but I love the engineers at Subaru if only for the ease of changing the oil in the Forester.
they might have made the oil filter easy to get to, but holy crap do they love using yellow caps for everything...
novaderrik wrote: they might have made the oil filter easy to get to, but holy crap do they love using yellow caps for everything...
Let's not get crazy now, multi color caps? What is this, the future!?
(Never noticed, but that is a lot of yellow)
did they at least put symbols (or, Dog forbid- words?) on them so the average civilian knows which cap goes to which fluid?
In reply to Woody:Yeah, I was going to point out that the original hole was not big enough for the flow of the 911. Pep Boys has a 18qt open pan with spout that seems to work the best.
'89 MR2 SC: the filter was in the crook of the header exhaust system. I would take the car to the station just down from my office early in the morning and pick it up late in the afternoon. They had set a previous SC on fire trying to do it hot so they were very cautious.
My wife's MS6 is now the one car in the fleet that I will pay someone to change the oil rather than DIY because of the belly pan and canister oil filter. I can do the GTO, NA yellow and the 911 all in the same amount of time.
I loved the filter in the BMW. It was just a cap up high in the engine compartment. unscrew it, pull out the element, replace the o-rings, and put it back together. Easy peasy
mad_machine wrote: I loved the filter in the BMW. It was just a cap up high in the engine compartment. unscrew it, pull out the element, replace the o-rings, and put it back together. Easy peasy
Yeah, my 525i was the same way. Seriously the only car I've ever had where an oil change didn't mean a mess. Almost made up for the extreme oil pan gasket job that it required...
I though THAT was a "canister" oil filter, but people are saying canisters are a PITA? So is there a different kind of canister filter? Am I using the wrong word? If they mounted one of these like the BMW's have upside down that would probably be a mess!
MA$$hole wrote: I was annoyed when I had to rent a 36mm socket to access the oil filter on my E36.
A what socket now? Are you sure you don't mean E46 with the plastic cap? All of the M/S50/52 motors I've ever worked on had a 13mm hex head.
For the E46 plastic ones... here is a hot tip - a channel lock pliers, a rag and slow steady pull will get it loose without marring the plastic if you don't have a 36mm or an adjustable handy. It seems really tight but if you apply a lot of pressure for a while (rather than trying to yank or tap the wrench with a hammer) it will overcome the o-ring grip and pop free.
Regardless - the BMW six is one of the all-time easiest filter swaps I've seen. I love that it can be done without bending over or making a mess.
In reply to ShadowSix:
My TDI oil filter is similar to the BMW. It's under the engine cover, but that's (3) 10mm nuts to remove. The bottom on the car is covered with a belly pan a lot of guys love to whine about, but that's only a dozen torx screws which are quickly removed with a cordless screw gun, so I've never understood their complaining.
My GT6 has an old-school canister that's a bit of a PITA to change, but that's mainly because like many LBC's, it was desinged for RHD and when they converted the car for LHD, certain things became, "oh crap..." issues. The steering shaft somewhat blocks access to the canister cover. When loosened, oil spills like crazy, but fortunately the canister is roughly over the drain plug on the pan so the catch pan is already in position.
The wife has an 04 Explorer.......pretty simple LOF, except has horrible oil splash from oil that is being drained from pan coming in contact with suspension parts......if you don't allow the oil to TRICKLE slowly, it goes EVERYWHERE..............
Seriously I'm the only person that has an issue reaching here?
I remember buying my first miata and trying to figure out where the oil filter was. It was totally hidden to the uneducated. Yes, you will give blood doing the filter change on a NA/NB. And one reason that you rarely find the manifold support bracket on most used miata.
ShadowSix wrote: I though THAT was a "canister" oil filter, but people are saying canisters are a PITA? So is there a different kind of canister filter? Am I using the wrong word? If they mounted one of these like the BMW's have upside down that would probably be a mess!
I recall hanging out with a buddy of mine who was doing several maintenance things on his E36 325i. I was blown away by how sensible and tidy the oil change procedure was.
My understanding of a canister style filter is that the element is replaceable and the case is part of the car. My Mazda3 uses this type of filter. It is on the bottom of the car, has its own drain plug, and then needs a filter wrench for removal.
The procedure is to drain the sump, then the filter, then remove the filter cap. Because the filter housing is removed after a drain plug is opened, it tends to get oil all over the filter wrench and the filter cap, even if the plug is replaced prior to this. I also find that the filter housing drips quite a bit after removal. It's just a very untidy affair.
2.5/2.7 V6 Suzuki Grand Vitara's with 4wd. There's no way to reach it for E36 M3, and when you do, it drops oil all down the side of the block, onto the front diff, and then going INTO the large flat crossmember that holds the front diff. 2 cans of brake clean later and it is STILL dripping.
On the flip side, all the 4cyl Hyundai/Kia engines are uber-easy to change the oil in. The filter stares at you 8" from the drain bolt and it's pointed so that when you spin it off you don't dump oil everywhere.
whenry wrote: I remember buying my first miata and trying to figure out where the oil filter was. It was totally hidden to the uneducated. Yes, you will give blood doing the filter change on a NA/NB. And one reason that you rarely find the manifold support bracket on most used miata.
Sounds like if I'm ever in a position to buy a Miata, I'm getting one of these:
http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?deptid=4533&parentid=0&stocknumber=04-36150
whenry wrote: In reply to Woody:Yeah, I was going to point out that the original hole was not big enough for the flow of the 911. Pep Boys has a 18qt open pan with spout that seems to work the best.
I've never had problems with draining 14qts of oil from my diesel into my unmodified drain pan. It comes close to the edge but never over. Best thing to do though is get rid of the screw in plug....
whenry wrote: I remember buying my first miata and trying to figure out where the oil filter was. It was totally hidden to the uneducated. Yes, you will give blood doing the filter change on a NA/NB. And one reason that you rarely find the manifold support bracket on most used miata.
When I did the first oil change on my first Miata, I wound up calling my dad to ask him how in the heck do you take the filter out? Now it's second nature.
Two cars.
this is just a pain in the butt.
And this because I don't have a oil catcher big enough to handle it. It overflows everything. Especially with a slump.
Some of the ones I hear you guys complaining aboot are laughable.
In reply to DirtyBird222:
My 2.2 96 Sunfire was pretty easy, put it on ramps, spin off old filter, spin on new, wipe oil off exhaust pipe and CV shaft, done. Was the twin cam worse?
Ah yes it was the twin cam one. Sorry about that. If you wanted to get it from the top you had to move the ecu or fuse box (cant remember exactly). From the bottom/side you needed to remove a wheel and extend your arm to the point where you could barely get any leverage on the filter.
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