I just did the first oil change on my new 2006 F150 XLT 5.4. As many of you have discovered, the factory installed oil filter is virtually impossible to get off. There must be a machine on the assembly line that puts it on with a ridiculous amount of torque. Not knowing the ordeal I was in for, I first tried to get it off by hand wearing a tacky surfaced rubber glove. Not even close.

I next tried a socket wrench and a cap style filter wrench. The filter wrench seemed to fit the filter well, but it rounded the corners off the filter when I attempted to turn it. All attempts to better mate the filter wrench up with the filter, such as hammering it on, etc. failed. It just continued to round off the corners.

Next I tried a pair of wide channel lock pliers. I got a really good grip on the filter, but as I attempted to break it loose the filter started to seriously deform. I was afraid that the channel locks would puncture the filter so I gave up on that idea. My contingency plan was to refill the oil, and drive the truck to my mechanic and let him take a crack at it. A punctured filter would have rendered the truck immobile until fixed.

As a last resort I jumped in my car and drove to Autozone in search of a tool that would get the damn thing off. I came home with a strap type filter wrench. Its amazingly simple, just a nylon strap attached to a metal rod with a socket that will fit a 1/2" drive breaker bar. All you do is loop the strap over the filter and wind the rod until the strap is tight around the filter. You then attach the breaker bar and have at it. Pressure on the breaker bar simultaneously tightens the strap and rotates the filter. As soon as I got it on there I new it was going to work. It took a lot of pressure, and the filter deformed a little, but not in such a way that it might have punctured. Two minutes and it was off.

I use the same breaker bar to break loose the lug nuts on my race car all the time. My lug nuts are always precisely torqued to 96 ft. lbs., and I can guarantee you that this filter was torqued at least that high, and probably more. Absolutely ridiculous for an oil filter!

I hope this post helps the next person struggling with their factory installed filter. If you're doing this job, then start with a strap type filter wrench and save yourself the aggravation.

 

Been there done that. I had to take mine to the damn quik lube place because I couldnt get it off. This is after I have drained the oil out of the pan. So I had to run fresh oil through a dirty *** filter. Pisses me off. I believe it is like that on all new trucks.

 

I've done that exact job, and was amazed by yes the torque. It didn't seem as much as when I did the oil change on a buddies, but still felt tighter than it should. I'm pretty sure it is for pressure testing, in that it will eliminate any possibility of leaking from there. At the plant, they have an electric torque gun that only releases after a green light (proper torque) has been achieved. I guess you don't have to worry about it bieng too tight by hand then

 

This kind works REALLY GOOD too.
I always tighen my oil filter as tight as I can get it, so it takes one of these to get it back off.

 

as tight as you can get it?

oil the gasket
turn untill it touches the block and then 1/4 turn after

no more

no wonder you have such a problem getting them off..

i can get mine off by hand in most cases.. and they dont leak...
you dont need a tourque wrench for a oil filter

...zap!

 

I just always go hand tight. No leaks and no foolin around on the next change.

The stubborn ones get a big screwdriver through them and then cranked off, but I've only had to do that twice.

Adrianspeeder

 

I just always go hand tight. No leaks and no foolin around on the next change.

The stubborn ones get a big screwdriver through them and then cranked off, but I've only had to do that twice.

Adrianspeeder

 

Ok, I don't want mine to leak, and it won't if you get it really tight. I've never had a problem getting them off, cause I have a filter wrench. You can leave yours loose if you want to. It's your truck....

 

hate checkers with a passion but they were the closets and fiound a universal wrench (like a large channel lock pliers) that i had to get on my first oil change. worked great!! the angle is a bit off but can be done

 

JimChild,

Thanks for the heads up on the filter. I just took my filter off my '06 Mustang GT 4.6 V8 and it too, was on tight as heck. I thrashed around for quite awhile before I was able to get it to pop loose. I still have a thousand miles to go before my first oil change on the new F150 but I will be prepared.

I have been changing my own oil since 1965, and I never put a filter on more than 1/4 turn past hand tight. I have never had one leak, not one drop.

 

Just kidding, I knew what you were trying to say...

 

When I did my first oil change last month mine wasn't hard to get off at all. I just put my filter wrench on it and with a little pressure it came right off.



james

 

Hmmm...... I dont know about everyone else with new f150's, but when I bought my 2005 f150 SCREW about a year and a half ago, it came with free oil changes for a year, yours didnt????? If not must be one of the regional promotional type of deals. I know the truck I bought had less incentives than the truck I had ordered, the only difference being the one i bought was FX4 and the ordered one was XLT. Anyhow I lost the Tow and Go incentive and a couple others. XLT had everything you could get, dvd player all that bulls**t, FX4 less options, 75 dollars more per month. Isn't that some crap!

 

The factory uses the same torque spec they publish in the manual, but they don't lube the seal before installing it. It's overcoming the seal that causes many a smashed OEM filter. As long as you lube the seal on subsequent filters, you'll never encounter this problem again.

-Joe

 

Mine was on unbelievably tight also. Used a strap and breaker bar to get it off. It took a LOT of pressure to bust it lose. Ridiculous. I was not able to get a normal handle type wrench in there and get enough room and torque to get it off. I'm really hoping that the one I put on there won't be that tough to get off. I can see where people really struggle with that first factory filter. It's not exactly roomy in there to work.