Well, when I started doing the oil change it was going great. Draiplug on the Corolla's engine is right out in front so it's easy to reach. I let the oil drain for about 15 minutes then I went to tackle the oil filter, and this is where the fun started. Since the filter hangs in a direction different than I'm used to, I ended up turning it the wrong way. I massively overtightened it. I said a few words then got out from underneath the car to see if I could find a filter cap. No dice, none to be found. I remembered that a long while ago I bought a strap-type filter remover at a yard sale. I looked for that for about 15 minutes. Couldn't find it. I came to the realization that I was going to have to spear the filter to get it off. I hate doing that soooooo much!
Again, since the filter hangs in a direction than I'm used to, and since I'm lefthanded, I couldn't swing a hammer properly to hit the screwdriver, so I had to take a big ratchet and pound it straight up against the screwdriver handle. Oil started leaking out of the hole I punched in the filter which made the job of trying to get it completely through the filter that much more difficult. I got the screwdriver through both sides of the filter and turned it with all my might. At this point, I was frustrated and not thinkig clearly. I realized that again I was turning the filter the wrong way, so now it was on even tighter than before. After examining the filter from every angle I figured out which way I had to turn it. I jammed the screwdriver back through the filter and turned it the proper way. It was really damn hard to move it but it did move. I ran out of room to turn the screwdriver so I had to pull it out then punch another hole in the filter. It was harder to do it this time because the handle of the screwdriver and my ratchet were covered in oil. More words were said, and it took me a few minutes to punch through the filter. I finally got the old filter off!!!
Now I went to look for the spare filter I had somewhere. Somewhere was right, I forgot where I had put it. I finally found it then attempted to put it on the car. Hmm, what the hell, why isn't it going on? I swore a bunch and got even more frustrated. I tried and tried and tried and just could not get the damn thing on. I thought the baseplate of this spare filter looked the same as the other one. I tried again, still wouldn't go on. I looked at the baseplates of the old filter and the spare one and to my horror realized that they weren't the same at all. The spare filter had a different thread and was a bit wider than the old filter. I 'praised' the Almighty One again then took a deep breath.
My stepfather has an old 88 Celica sitting in back of the yard and I realized that I could use the oil filter off of it on my Corolla. The filter I put on it (he doesn't do oilchanges, or any other maintenance) was a Maxlife filter. It wouldn't have more than 2000 miles on it. The filter on the Celica is easier to get to, but there's even less room to get your hands in there to turn it. At this point I feel like hitting my head against a wall. Remember earlier how I said I couldn't find a filter cap or strap wrench? Well this was even more of a hindrance now. I did more cursing. I had to go next door and see if my neighbour had anything I could use. All he had was a rubber band type strap wrench. Well that's just great, I didn't know how to use the thing. I tried using it and it didn't work. It took me 20 minutes I figure until I figured out how to use it, and off came the Maxlife filter. The filter was completely empty of oil by the way.
I finally get an oil filter on the Corolla, then just to top off my adventure, I start the engine to move the car off the ramps and forgot to put the oil cap back on! That wasn't too funny to see oil spurting out of the filler hole. I just had to laugh at that part, after everything I'd been through in the past 2 hours then that happened. I took the last bit of degreaser and just covered the fender and engine with it. I grabbed the biggest bucket I could find and turned on the outside water tap and filled it. I did that 4 times and figured that's all the oil that's going to come off. I took the car up the road a little way to dry off the engine a bit. I get back, clean up the yard a little and put stuff away. Then, I came in the house and started typing this! It took me about 2 and a half hours to change the oil on my car. The worst oil change I've ever done.
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