Is it OK to just hand tighten an oil filter?

I have noticed that many people tighten their oil filters like they are putting lug nuts on their wheels... I even see that with a local ford dealer especially on the 4.6 litre 820s filter is there something i am missing here? I would love to here from everyone on this subject.. We had one on a f-150 today that we had to use an extension breaker bar to loosen it and yes we were turning it counter clockwise. The other extreme is leaving it too loose which may be worse i see that too.

As far as Ford 4.6's go, I had my Crown Vic serviced at the dealer once while it was getting warranty work done, went to change the oil the next time and couldn't remove the drain pan bolt or the oil filter. Breaker bars were no help either. Went back to the dealer and they refused to touch it, saying that they may strip the pan getting the bolt off. I stood there like an a-hole and told them I wasn't going anywhere until they got the bolt and filter loose. Finally the manager came out and I told him what happened. He inspected the drain bolt and put a wrench on the filter. He couldn't budge either one. He called out the guy that changed the oil on my car previously and told him we wasn't to leave until he put got them loose. The guy looked like a drooling retard with severe emotional problems. About an hour I came back and the guy said he had everything loose. I told him to keep it on the lift, I wanted to inspect it before I left. He balked, but I'm one of those guys that can be pretty persuasive when pi**ed. Looked up under there and danged if it wasn't the same exact filter and drain bolt. He hadn't done anything to it. I called the manager out and he acted like he didn't believe me at first, then put a socket and breaker bar to the bolt and it wouldn't turn. Same with the filter. After it was all over with I ended up with a new oil pan, drain bolt, and filter. Somebody with an IQ over 85 must have replaced both because they both came off pretty easy that time. Somewhere in that craziness one of the guys ended up breaking my drivers side door handle from the inside and getting grease all over my leather. Instead of taking it back there I replaced the handle myself and did what I could to get the oil stains out of my upholstery. In my experience, Dealership service departments are no better than the typical Jiffy Lube or Wal-Mart IMHO.

Originally Posted By: Spawne32

more then likely they used an air ratchet on the drain plug, but yes i have seen that, my brothers ex-gf's car had the oil filter on there so tight we destroyed the oil filter wrench trying to get it off, as well as the filter, i dont know how they could have gotten the filter on that tight but they did. I even had a shop air gun spark plugs on my old car.

Wow, airgunning sparkplugs, WTF! From what I've seen in places "specializing" oil changes, heck most every Shop, period; airgun on the drain pan bolt is the RULE rather than the exception. I asked a guy once why he did that, he said it took too long to do it with a socket wrench. I said, what an extra ten, twenty seconds? He just glared. Laziness is what it was. Another guy told me he did it because all the other shops did it and it was impossible to get it off by hand. So, why don't you just use an airgun to get it off, and a wrench to put it back on? Once again, it took too long to use two different tools. Laziness, and lack of sympathy for the DIY-er who goes to get it off the next time.

I changed oil and busted tires throughout highschool and college. I have seen guys who have cross threaded drain plugs and have stripped out the threads on them so that they spin in place. I forget who, but there is a company out there that sells a kit of plugs. One side if the kit is normal sized plugs, the other side is slightly oversized plugs to fit the oil pan with the stripped threads. I have dealt with cars that had their drain pulgs cross threaded, a real PITA to remove. It gets really interesting when the plug you have on the car won't hold oil and you go to that kit and the size of drain plug you need has been all used up. I have also seen many horror stories that begin with "the oil filter was stuck". The most indcredible story was the guy who stuck a screwdriver through the filter, shreaded the filter, and then proceded to shread his arm on the filter. The amaizing thing is how the filter mountings are engineered so tough. You would figure one would break off a car every once in awhile with all the abuse. Never seen anyone use an airgun do drive a drainplug, but it really dosent suprise me. Isuzu used to have some brittle lug nuts on their cars, i dont work that business anymore so I dont know if they still do, but a few years I saw guys tighten the lugs till they broke off the car. It was such a regular occurance that we stocked Isuzu lug nuts for when it happened. My advice is to either do it yourself or find a place where the guys can talk cars.

Do you need to tighten oil filter with wrench?

Every reputable oil filter is designed to seal for tens of thousands of miles with no more than a good hand-tightening. You don't need a wrench unless you have one of those deeply recessed filters with no space around it for your hands.

Can you tighten a loose oil filter?

Overtightening an oil filter may crush the oil filter gasket or oil filter housing, causing it to break and eventually leak. Never use oil filter removal pliers to tighten the filter — only to remove it.