Oil Filter on Tight from Factory
 

I had an interesting experience changing my oil saturday. I have 1600 miles on my RX8 and I bought it in November so I decided it was a good time to change the oil. I drained all the oil out and then decided to screw off the oil filter. After spending a half an hour getting a good grip with my hands on the oil filter I couldn't even get it to budge. So I decided to go to the automotive store and get me an oil wrench. I got one of thos cap kind that you attach a wratchet wrench on thinking this thing should do the job. I tried for about an hour trying to get the oil wrench to fit with several wratchet wrench extensions on, but no matter what I did, I couldn't get positioned very well to get a good crank on the wrench. Back when I was in high school we were taught by our shop teacher that if you ever get in this situation you should grab your medium sized flat screwdriver and puncture it through the filter until it goes all the way through, then you should be able to get the filter to turn enought to get it started. So I proceeded with doing this but I still couldn't get the dam thing to budge. I called the Mazda Dealer here in my local area and contacted a garage machanic, he said I was doing everything right. Gee thanks alot of help there. So I decided to call the Mazda 1800 number and they sent AAA out to help me out. The driver of the tow truck said he would get it off but of course he had no luck either. At one point in time he pushed down with the handle of a hammer while I tried to crank on the wratchet wrench. He decided that there was no way we were going to get this thing off and to tow it to the dealer. Finally 5 hours later we got the car to the dealer and they had to use this 3 clawed wrench that clamped down on the filter with an impact wrench. Lesson learned to get my first oil change by a garage instead of trying to do it my self. Tho only good thing that came out of this is not having to spend a dime for the tow or the garage. Is there anybody else out there that had problems with the oil filter being so tight from the factory?

This has been discussed quite a bit on the board- you definitely took it too an extreme... you certainly don't have to bring it to the dealer. Hopefully these tips will help:
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ght=oil+change

Having worked in garages for many years, never, poke a hole through the oil filter to try to remove it. (typical shop teacher advice - book learning vs experience) If the filter is that stuck, the sheet metal of the can is just going to shear off. Same goes for strap and lever type wrenches - they crush the filter before removing it - if they remove it.

Are you saying to never poke or to poke one? That ", never," has me confused ;) .

One hint from previous posts on this topic: Make sure you can remove the filter before draining the oil. That is, verify that with your filter tool the filter will turn a bit--not too much--then drain the pan and remove the filter.

I bought a oil filter wrench which clamps on top of the filter. The clamping action increases as the torque, on the socket wrench, increases. It slipped many times untill it finally got enough grip to remove the filter. Is the rubber seal not lubricated at the factory?
Becareful when removing the filter, oil will spill out.

I took my car to the dealer to have them do it the first time. They even did it for free when I told them how hard ti was to get it off.

Oh yeah... It was difficult. I was in my parents backyard while on vacation. I had drained the oil and was about to take the filter off. Someone came in the yard, rutted it up, and hauled ass. 3 hours later I was finished with my oil change:(

The sandpaper-in-the-wrench took care of the slipping for me. As for the mess, I highly recommend wrapping the filter base with a disposable diaper- those things will easily soak up whatever spills and will keep it from running down the side of the motor.