Oil Filter Housing Over Torquing Nightmare

So I hit 30K on my lovely Prius and since the Toyota care free oil changes are up it was time to do it myself.

I purchased an Assenmacher Toy640 filter wrench that I learned about on this forum and bought a new washer for the oil pan and a filter and O-ring from a local dealership.

My first red flag came up when I took off the oil pan nut and found that it did not have a washer at all. I drained the oil and then began to tackle the filter housing with my $17 filter wrench.

I spent way too much time trying to get that thing to budge, but had no luck. I waited until my neighbor came home and he gave it a try (we are both in the 190-200 lb range) and he was at a loss. He went home and grabbed a bar that we tried to use as leverage and still couldn't get it to budge.

So I put my oil back in (I had just purchased a new oil resevoir so it was uncorrupted) and I plan on going over to the dealership tomorrow AM that did my last change under Toyota Care to ask them to explain to me how this happened. My guess is one of three things: Either they didn't put the O-ring on, didn't lubricate the O-ring, or used some kind of power tool to torque that thing back on. Considering torque spec on the filter housing is 18 lb/ft, this is ridiculous.

While I am not a mechanic, I have done my own oil changes before and just did one last week on my XJ Cherokee. I am at a loss.

 

Is there a specific trick to getting the tab when rotating? I believe I tried to do that and had no luck. No matter how hard I pulled on the rachet nothing happened.

I will have to check tomorrow about having two washers. I hope that is not the case.

 

Did you use a longer ratchet than normal to get the filter cap off? I just used my normal 3/8" ratchet with a 15/16mm socket and the filter wrench.

Is it just that metal tang at the bottom of the housing? I can't believe that was keeping the filter from turning. I have some sore muscles from the whole ordeal.

 

Thanks Spidey thats what I figured. I have never had trouble like that before.

 

This is the one I bought

http://www.amazon.com/Assenmacher-Specialty-Tools-TOY-640/dp/B0015PK3AG

 

So I went to the dealership and they put it up on the lift. The service manager was pretty nice and took me in after little pleading.

The first mechanic had the same wrench as mine and couldn't move it an inch. He was pissed at the tech who over torqued it. Another guy who was about 230 lbs came over with a matco wrench and a ratchet about 8 inches longer than mine and loosened it. He apologized and I went on my way.

I asked him if he would change it while I was here with my supplies and he said he couldn't use the oil I brought in (Mobil 1). I don't want them working on the car anyway after this incident.

 

When I went under to take it off, it was still pretty tight even after they broke the seal at the dealership. Awesome stuff.

The cap looked okay, but who knows. I will check on it periodically. So far so good.

 

It is an electrical box knock out seal that I used for center caps on my alloy wheels. It was a $1 solution instead of giving Toyota $20 for actual Toyota center caps. There are a few threads and pics about this on the forum if you search for it.

Ironically, the service manager at the dealership asked me about these when he was looking at my car. Then he tried to sell me Toyota ones. They are the best those dealerships!

 

BTW Mendel you were correct about the gasket being glued on. I had to peel the old one off. It was so melted on I barely even noticed it.