Date:         Wed, 13 May 1998 20:04:35 -0700
Reply-To:     Off White <off_white@OLYWA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Off White <off_white@OLYWA.NET>
Subject:      Oil Filter Nipple Snafu!
Comments: To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Well, I started on oil filter change #1 on a Vanagon for me.  Drain plug
was no problem, feeling pretty smug about my old obsession with six point
sockets and all that, threaded back up nice too.  Then, the filter was a
nasty bear.  Neither of my filter wrenches worked (compression one too big,
end drive one just slid round and round) so I tried the big screwdriver
driven in trick I read about here.  Driven in the end, it just twisted out
and made a nice large round hole, driving it in the very end and all the
way through the filter gave enough purchase to turn it off, but it was
stubborn almost all the way out.  Then, it became apparent that the nipple
was stuck in the filter.  Naturally, even with a rag on the nipple, the
small pipe wrench mangled the threads a bit.  Instinct tells me it would be
a mistake to thread that thing into my nice engine block, how hard is it to
find another?  Absolutely gotta make the van run tomorrow.  And how does
one keep it from coming out again?  Is it as simple as not letting some
yahoo oil change outfit use an impact wrench to put the filter on?
Suggestions appreciated...

Off White
Tenino, WA