stubborn oil filter housing
 

2.0t a4

trying to do my oil change today, got the oil drained fine but i cannot get the dang oil filter housing off for the life of me. after much cursing i resorted to the internets. i think i found something helpful but i just want to know if anyone has any special tricks or tips for getting theirs off. i have tried all kinds of wrenches and vise grips but its starting to strip the plastic bolt head. also, there is an arrow on the bottom of the housing, is this the direction of removal or installation? i know its a stupid question but i just wanna cover all my bases.

thanks

nevermind, i got it :)
p.s. for any newbs out there, the arrow on the bottom is for installation! its a traditional lefty loosey, righty tighty

What did you use to get the housing off? I was under the impression that it required a special tool that you had to get from Audi/VW.

just a big adjustable wrench is what i used....the special tool ur thinking of b7night is a tool that allows u to drain the excess oil that is stuck in the filter before unscrewing it...it isn't necessary but deff makes it a little more cleaner

well i tried a crescent wrench, a monkey wrench, and vise-grips lol but then i stopped being an idiot and used the vise grips to turn it in the right direction. i saw somewhere that a 33mm or 36mm socket would fit but i doubt most average people have one that big so wrenches work fine. and yea there is a special drain tool that is optional but i recommend it since the housing does hold quite a bit of oil and it will spill all over the stuff below it (frame and crap). next time i do an oil change ill just take some rubber hose and make my own drain hose. all you have to do is remove the dust cover on the very bottom of the housing and then put a hose on the orange nipple and push it up and the oil should drain out. but when youre done make sure you pull the orange nipple back down into the closed position.

Thats a better setup than what my dad just did for his boat. To drain the filter, he punched a hole in it with a screwdriver. I had the fun and messy job of catching the heavy diesel oil down below.

haha that sucks, just dump it and blame BP :-P

noob here, where is the filter housing?

sorry but this is the best pic i have on my compy right now but you get the idea. look under/around the black air intake hose and below it you'll see a black plastic cylinder. there is a hexagon on the end of it that you can attach a wrench to and remove it. i would advice that you remove the plastic dust cap/screw from the hexagon end and use a small rubber hose to drain the housing first. it holds quite a bit of oil that does not drain through the pan/drain plug.

what helped me was when i stopped trying to get at it from the bottom and reached over the engine with gloves and was able to turn it with my hands

also for future ease....put a little oil on the rubber ring that comes with your oil filter and unscrewing it will be alot easier next time around