Well here I go trying to save money while in lockdown...My 01 k1200lt has an oil filter that must have been tightened by Hercules. I can't get it to budge. Been at it all day. The filter wrench keeps slipping off. Since it's on the bottom I can't get any leverage against it. Online videos suggest drilling holes in the filter wrench and driving screws into the filter. I started that process and got oil everywhere, so I am letting it drain overnight. Anyone have any suggestions?
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oil filter is stuck '01 K1200LT
- Thread starter jz3377
- Start date
pglaves
#13338
Let it drain. Then install the screws. Then remove the filter. I have three holes in my filter wrench, predrilled. If I need to I stick the wrench on the filter and use a Sharpie to mark the three hole locations. Then I drill one smaller hole in the filter at one of the marks and let it drain. Then I drill the other two holes, install the three screws and remove the filter. I have only had to do this a handful of times but it works without fail.
pglaves
#13338
Never heard of this technique- but I like it.
OM
Visualize if you will how much metal those three screws would need to tear for the filter to refuse to come loose.
No need for me to visualize, I get it
Probably the only thing I haven’t done. There was a stuck oil filter thread around a while back and I think I mentioned the last tough one I did-
Called to a friend’s house to find a stuck filter that had been worked on for a couple of hours. Truck was a Chevy V-8 aluminum casting area with just enough clearance to slip the band of the wrench in the dark side.
I had brought all my best tools but nothing would grab the mangled carcass. Ended up “nudging” the filter an 1/8” inch with an air chisel and catching up the rotation with the wrench and repeating the process a half dozen times. Finally got the filter off. It looked like it had been rattling around in a garbage disposer.
Ended up back at the next oil change as well, muscled it off pre-mangelation
OM
Last edited:
6322
Member
I've used this technique a couple times with complete success. At least on my K's, the only other alternative has been to remove the oil pan for better access.
I haven't had your problem but a BMW mechanic I know suggests putting a shop rag into the filler wrench/cup to make a more snug fit when your situation arises.
Let us know how you make out.
The sticky drawer liner stuff works great too!
And... make sure you're turning the filter the correct way
pglaves
#13338
The sticky drawer liner stuff works great too!
And... make sure you're turning the filter the correct way
Having the correct filter wrench is critical. Like most things in life, in this application, almost is never good enough.
Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions, I really appreciate it! I tried almost everything I could think to stuff into the wrench (rubber glove, shop rag, sandpaper) but nothing worked. By last night I had made a sloppy mess of things and went to bed trying to figure out how I was going to save face when I brought my bike to the dealer on a trailer.
The problem for me seemed like the filter wrench kept slipping off the filter. I visualized a solution: If I could wedge a block of wood underneath the socket driver, it wouldn't be able to slip off and would have to work! It didn't. The wood seemed too soft, and shimming it up with pieces of metal didn't work either. Mind you, all of this work had been done while lying on my side as the bike was on the center stand. Not much rook to maneuver, and no leverage.
Finally I decided to use science! A lever! I used a floor jack to apply upward pressure on the socket driver/filter wrench. As the wrench began to turn, I gradually decreased the pressure and it finally came off. Success!
My next adventure is going to be the air filter/fuel filter/coolant/valve check.
The problem for me seemed like the filter wrench kept slipping off the filter. I visualized a solution: If I could wedge a block of wood underneath the socket driver, it wouldn't be able to slip off and would have to work! It didn't. The wood seemed too soft, and shimming it up with pieces of metal didn't work either. Mind you, all of this work had been done while lying on my side as the bike was on the center stand. Not much rook to maneuver, and no leverage.
Finally I decided to use science! A lever! I used a floor jack to apply upward pressure on the socket driver/filter wrench. As the wrench began to turn, I gradually decreased the pressure and it finally came off. Success!
My next adventure is going to be the air filter/fuel filter/coolant/valve check.
VIEJO
Member
nice one!
Having once destroyed a filter (and expand my vocabulary of words you wouldn't your kids to hear) in order to get it off, I resolved to never try to remove a filter from a cold motor. Ever since, I make sure the engine is fully warmed up before I change the oil / filter. I have yet to again use those new words I learned so long ago. 
Having once destroyed a filter (and expand my vocabulary of words you wouldn't your kids to hear) in order to get it off, I resolved to never try to remove a filter from a cold motor. Ever since, I make sure the engine is fully warmed up before I change the oil / filter. I have yet to again use those new words I learned so long ago.
Like you, I always do this after a ride to heat everything up. However when I have asked shop mechanics how do they get bikes up to temperature for oil changes, the replies have always been"Don't have time for that, just change the oil cold".
Of course I am amazed that these same mechanics work on bikes, up on a lift, without the front wheel vice being used.
