I picked up a little rubber "hat" from the auto parts store for a couple of
cents. It's meant to be placed over the filter for added grip, then you can
just twist it right off. Piece of cake!
Jason
>
>Since I moved into a house I've been able to change my own oil (Condo
>association Natzi's didn't let people change oil in the association). In
>changing my own oil I've discovered some problems with Dakota's, as they
are
>NOT the most oil change friendly vehicles in the world.
>
>#1: Because of the clearances involved, wrenches are very hard to get on
the
>filter, making getting the damn things off a real challenge (finally found
an
>articulated wrench that works well: the end cap and band style wrenches
>sucked...)
>
>#2: Removing the filter throws oil EVERYWHERE! Ugh! This is WAY too
messy.
>I've never gotten this much oil running out of a filter as I unscrew it...
>yuck. Bad Dak! No biscuit!
>
>#3: Funnel required... Daks and their darn hoses and harnesses everywhere;
>don't let you dump oil in very effectively from just the bottle. Bought a
>small, wide mouth funnel and viole', no spilling.
>
>#4: Doggie pads a good idea! Buy some dog potty training pads for large
dogs
>and lay it down before you start your oil change. They soak up a ton of
oil
>and are plastic on the bottom so it never reaches your driveway or street.
>
>#5: Synthetics clean up much easier than dino oil. Original oil in truck
>stained everything (intake manifold leak until Dealer fixed it) it touched.
>Switched to Mobil 1 and no more stains. Even splotches on the driveway go
>away after time. The dino oil ones haven't faded a bit! Wipe up on the
truck
>a breeze too.
>
> If I were to want to go to a larger filter, I'd get one of those "Oil
>Filter Relocation Kits" and just move the whole damn assembly! You'd never
>have to worry about filter size (could even get them that use diesel engine
>filters: huge monsters!) and you can mount it in an easy to get to
location.
>This make's it so that you could almost do an entire change from ABOVE the
>engine. Good thing, but you'd have to worry about bursted hoses from then
>on... there's always a catch...
>
>Shaun H.
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:14:06 EDT