Oil Filter cap not budging :(

[Israar]

!!MAJOR UPDATE!!

Oil Filter cap, now replaced with a fresh oil filter! I can finally rest at a ease now my filter and this saga, is now over! :rolf:

Pictures to come, although I do personally believe and my uncle was there to see it himself as he also stated "Jesus, look at the sludge!" that the oil filter had DEFINITELY not been changed when I bought the car and went for a full service with timing belt kit and water pump replacement.

At least now, the cap has been replaced and tightened properly. I will reiterate that properly!

Will edit this post with pictures when they're uploaded, thank you to all who helped and thank you very much verbal_kint for the link to the housing! to all!

--Lee

 

[verbal_kint]

Fantastic! So did you bother with the housing in the end or did you get the old cap off?

 

[Israar]

Fantastic! So did you bother with the housing in the end or did you get the old cap off?

Thanks verbal mate, I was so damn chuffed that I managed to get the cap off, saved having to do the whole housing! I used the chain socket, with the 600 mm breaker bar and even my uncle said I had to put a fair amount of whack behind it, it's weird how it's not actually cross threaded!

Here's some pictures for you!

to you all for persisting with me through this and having patience while I didn't take to the butchers method!

--Lee

 

[verbal_kint]

But at least you were prepared for the worst.

And I spy a familiar rachet wrench, Lidl I'd say. Got the large set when they had stock last, very impressed with quality so far. Just rounded off my box wrench trying to get the plugs out of the A2, now trying to get a decent replacement. Hate it when all work stops because of one stupid thing.

 

[Nam-uk]

Operation oil filter cap is now complete , did the message explode after you listened to it lol

 

[Israar]

But at least you were prepared for the worst.

And I spy a familiar rachet wrench, Lidl I'd say. Got the large set when they had stock last, very impressed with quality so far. Just rounded off my box wrench trying to get the plugs out of the A2, now trying to get a decent replacement. Hate it when all work stops because of one stupid thing.

That's true, but only thanks to you lot helping me out! Otherwise I'd have been stuck as to what to do aside going to the garage!

That's the one, I had the set myself from Lidl, £34.99? Absolutely awesome kit, really impressed with it myself! If I was close enough I'd have come lent you mine mate, I know the frustration of having to put things on hold due to not having the tools or equipment to do what you intend to!

Hopefully you get get back on to what you need to do soon!

Operation oil filter cap is now complete , did the message explode after you listened to it lol

Yeah, it nearly took my ear off! Have to be careful of these Operation Missions, they have explosive tendencies!

--Lee

 

[verbal_kint]

Bit of an anticlimax now, need another mini disaster to threaten our existence.

Skip that totally, I can't handle more hassle with my cars at the mo!

 

[MOZ_LC_TDI]

Well done, glad to hear it's finally sorted.

All the best.
Moz

 

[Israar]

Bit of an anticlimax now, need another mini disaster to threaten our existence.

Skip that totally, I can't handle more hassle with my cars at the mo!

Lmao, I can bet there will be much more than this within the journey for perfecting my car! That I can bet on haha!

Fingers crossed you have less trouble!

Well done, glad to hear it's finally sorted.

All the best.
Moz

Thanks Moz mate, me too! Seriously glad, will be booking a power test Monday at Midland VW for about 2 weeks or so from now maybe, see what their dates/bookings are like, get that done then wait till next month for my next present for the car, but might have to wait for the month after as I have tax end of August (plus my kids birthdays! )

My next venture is this!

--Lee

 

[Muttley]

Glad to hear it is all over, and successfully done in the end. I am a bit surprised that the chain wrench worked when the solid cast tool failed, but at least it did the job, and without breaking the cap too. Apart from a few marks, it almost looks re-usable, but better to replace I guess, the stress of the removal may have cracked it or at least weakened it.

You can see in your photo's how the o-ring makes its seal against the circumference of the filter holder and is not pinched closed by the cap, so there is no point in hauling the cap closed with a great long bar, it doesn't help the seal at all.

Regarding socket sets, I now have a small Sealey dual metric/AF set, replacing my old Hilka AF/Whit/metric set that was the first set of tools I bought, more than 40 years ago. It was nicked when my new shed was broken into last year, and they took all the portable stuff. How they expected to make any money off an ancient socket set in a rusty case with ingrained oil and grease I don't know, but it would cost me hundreds to replace it with an identical set, and I no longer have a need to work on Whit fasteners. I'm still annoyed about it though, much more than the power tools that were the other things they stole. I still need to replace the long breaker bar, the little set only has a 14-inch bar. Fortunately my torque wrench evaded their view, and is longer.

That filter does look a bit sludgey, doesn't it? Not blocked though, I don't think, and no evidence of sparkly metal bits that are the bad signs you don't want to see in your filter. Congrats on a job well done

 

[MOZ_LC_TDI]

I was surprised the chain did it too ( over the cap tool) but hey the proof is there and one to remember for the future.

Well done again and thanks for the post, will hopefully be useful to others as your not the first and certainly won't be the last to suffer this.
All the best.
Moz

 

[Israar]

Thanks Muttley, I was just as shocked myself to see that the cap didn't fold under the pressure or at least crack! I'm just seriously glad that it worked, at least we all know now that you can get the cap off without having to butcher the cap and risk unwanted plastic in the filter housing!

I've definitely replaced my old cap, the new one looks in pretty damn good shape and it was very clean, I wiped off all the old oil and dried it up, made sure to leave no unwanted bits on it then replaced filter and cap with appropriate hand tighten then torque to make sure the cap was at 25Nm.

Aye, it's not that close to the top of the cap, you can feel it seal as you hand tighten the cap up mate. It's gutting you have had your tools stolen mate, I can't stand that. People should learn to pay more respect to other's hard work for the stuff they save up to acquire. One of my real big annoyances!

Definitely not blocked and EXTREMELY glad not to find any silver/metal bits as I know the pistons should be in pretty good shape as the rest of it!

Thanks again Muttley, as the same goes for everyone else too!

@MOZ_LC_TDI: Aye, definitely one to remember!

Lets hope it will help others in the future so they can just grab the chain socket wrench and also a breaker bar, that way they can be done and dusted without the hassle!

Again, my thanks go out to all who helped, all have been given rep for their inputs!

--Lee

 

[verbal_kint]

I take it you've tried a chain wrap wrench and a bmf bar on it.

Just got to ask, had you used the chain wrap back then?

 

[Israar]

Just got to ask, had you used the chain wrap back then?

At the time I never tried it due to worry of it breaking my cap without a replacement, though with my body weight, a 600 mm breaker bar and the chain socket, the cap came off with minor markings to the cap itself, so all in all, it's definitely worth using if you have a cap that's ridiculously tight, otherwise cup socket and breaker bar / wrench and all should be fine!

--Lee

 

[Vortecks]

I've just managed to change mine - it was stuck SOLID and I found the cure.

1 - Put some pressure on the cap with something that exposes the nut (I used some pipe grips)
2 - smack the exposed nut with a hammer

It immediately frees it up!

I only found this out after an hour of sheer frustration but I thought I'd share it

 

[Israar]

Well done Vortecks mate, glad you sorted yours out and some point during the up coming week I will alter the main post with links to all suggested fixes and the one which worked for me that way people don't have to trawl through this entire thread to get their fix!

--Lee