I have this fear that when I ask this question everybody will say what an idiot I am but I'm sorry I just don't know the answer. When I change the oil filter on my '92 b2600i 4x4 pickup I make a terrible mess. The filter is on the side of the engine and when I remove the old one there is a tremendous amount of spill that runs down the engine onto front suspension parts. It splashes all over and then when the job is done I have drips that show up on the driveway for days. So - - - question - - - how do you remove the oil filter without it dripping all over the place? I promise that if the answer is too obvious I'll confess to being an idiot.

thanks,

rolomac

 

You are not an idiot, it's just bad engineering.
Have you tried using a rag and tilting the filter upright as soon as it's free from the threads?

 

Hi - I don't know if you've got an answer to thehorizontally mounted oil filterdilemna (mess)yet, or not! But- a long-time professional mechanic I used to work withshowed methe technique with the least messis:take a plastic grocery / shopping sack (such as the type that Wal-mart or Target would give you at check-out, andbecertain it doesn't have a hole in the bottom!!) and carefully slide it over the filter, getting the bottom of the sack up against the flat "end" of the oil filter. Do it when the old, still-warm oil filter is just BARELY loosened....Then with your hand around the bag, you can slowly unscrew the filter and try to keep the lip of the grocery bag over the gap created between the filter seal and the seating surface of the filter pad.An amount might still spill, but hopefully it's going to be much less than before. Then you can let the filter drop into the bag and gingerly lift it out of the engine bay, assuming that you may have a very tight squeeze! Fish the filter out - and pour off the excess oil from the bag. Then you will have VERY LITTLE oil on the bag, when you throw it away - about as much as you'd have on a paper towel. Hope this suggestion may help you out. - Tim

 

hey Tim and Virgin - - - great suggestions - - - and I'm thinking about using both ideas at the same time - - - slip a plastic bag over the filter and then use a rag to catch any spill that slips by - - - I thank you and my wife thanks you too (she hates the oil drips on the driveway)

rolomac

 

i would look for a oil filter relocation kit.. they make em for all kinda vehicles..

 

FYI....Kitty Litter (non-clumping)will dry up any spillage and Simple Green will get rid of the stain.