Oil Pan Lower on 3.5

[bbarg]

My oil filter cannister is STUCK in the oil pan. I have tried and broke all the different filter wrenchs/caps...even the claw kind. The thing will not budge. I know, I know...Lefty Loosey. I think I have to replace the whole lower oil pan with canister included. How difficult is this job? Anything I need to keep in mind?

[gmtech1]

You're breaking the metal cap type removing tools?! Wow! I use the Blue Point ya-995 tool on those and have never had a problem, certainly never broke one. If you NEED to replace the pan, book time is 4.0hrs. Invest in a Haynes manual for step by step instructions.

[DeltaP]

Yeah, book time 4.0 hrs. That does nothing for this guy. Thats in a well equipped shop,up on a lift, supported by all the right tools and a parts dept. Better figure on all day and a coupla trips to a parts store.

[bluejoey]

For anyone who sees this...the same thing happened to me. The shop I had the oil changed at before overtightened the canister and I broke multiple cap wrenches trying to remove it before taking it into the store. The mechanic there loosened it with a strap wrench in a few seconds. I drove it home and changed the oil myself and tightened the canister by hand. I'm doing all future oil changes on my Intrigue myself. As an aside, I also needed an impact wrench to remove the drain plug, since they'd overtightened that too.

[Tech II]

Who the hell was working there, Arnold?

[bluejoey]

Hah! No idea, but from now until we sell the car (it's my wife's), I'm handling all the oil changes. I've always done the changes on my own car (a '95 Tercel), but just got to the point where I could do them for the Intrigue, because I got a jack and stands this year.