I am ready to perform and oil change for the 1st time. I have never done it before and while reading thru the manual it says I need a special tool to replace the oil filter.

Any idea what this is all about?

 

any of those 'filter wrenches' at the local auto parts store should be able to take the filter out for you... no special tool required.

 

The factory seal on the original filter can be rather tight. Some people have needed to get the aforementioned filter wrenches.

The only really special tool you need is a hand with an opposable thumb.

 

Some people like to poke a hole in the top of the filter with a screwdriver to let the oil drain better.

Mazda specific oil filter wrenches can be found at your local auto parts store next to the blinker fluid and muffler bearings.

 

That screwdriver hole can be used to turn the filter too.

 

The best is a #5 filter socket!!!

 

grip it by hand and wrap it in sand paper, it'll come off.

 

Special technique. Look forward from drivers side. rech right arm in. Grab it take it off.

 

can see that going bad....

 

Once you punch the hole in the filter, there's no turning back. You're committed to getting if off.

 

Normally, an oil filter should be hand tight. If it is not, a hole in the side, can be used with the screwdriver to "torque" the first quarter turn, as you now have a lever arm with which you can exert more rotational force. It's not the best way, but it is a way, that requires no additional tools. Usually, I reach in and turn it by hand.

 

and you are going to get a hole in the side, and get a screwdriver down there how???

i really need to know.. i have read about it for while..

beers

 

The only reason I put a hole in the top is to let more of the oil drain out. I still get about a teaspoon worth of drippage, though. I hate that g#$&@mn inverted filter!!

 

I tried this method once on a stubborn filter (on another car) and succeeding only in twisting the hell out of the filter and sheering the top off. If you thought it was hard to remove before...

 

Just go to your local auto parts store.

find the right size of oil filter, then try each of the oil filter wrench on it until it fits.

buy the wrench, put the oil filter back (or buy it if you dont have 1)

Go home, do the oil change.

Feel good about yourself.

 

The trick I've found is to poke a hole when I start the drain, when it's all done stick an oil rag down around the bottom of the filter and as I twist it off take the rag with it. I've gotten oil leakage down to a minimum/non-existent.

 

Once you get the old one off with whatever method mentioned above, buy a K&N Oil filter. The K&N filter has a normal hex bolt head on the end of the filter and if you couldn't get it off with your hand you can just use a socket set. Plus a K&N filter is a really great filter.

 

I don't know of their filetering abilities, per se, but the frams with the sticky black handguard are easy to use by hand as well. I know my father's construction company ran Fram everything for years, but I haven't checked on them for my 8.

 

I got a filter wrench and was able to remove the Mazda filter no problem.

I decided to go with the Fram filter PH6607 and Castrol GTX 10w-30. It needed EXACTLY 5qt's of oil because I have the Greddy oil pan.

 

10w- 30 ??? why that thick???

I'd use 5w 30 or 20

 

if you go buy yourself some "hp-1008" oil filters. made by k&n engineering. they have a nut at the top of the filter that you can easily fit a metric socket on.(as said above...except i gave you the k&n part number)

yamajj

 

Do some reading. 10W-30 is what I need since I have a greddy turbo kit.

Some even say 10W-40

 

Ahhh interesting.

I did not know that.

Very interesting.

 

If you had that happen then you were not going to get that filter off in the first place. If it was torqued tight enought that you ripped through the filter with the screwdriver then someone overtorqued it to begin with.

I have used the screwdriver method probably about 10+ times. Usually the first oil change after a rebuild (when the motor is out of the car you tend to over torque it because it is SOO much easier to put on because you do not have to twist your arm through everything else when it is installed). I seem to do this on 1/2 of the rebuilds that I do and that first oil change can be a bitch