Hi Guys, In need of a bit of forum wisdom again. Having reached 9000miles of lovely motoring since I bought my mk2 I decided it was time to service the beast. Everything went lovely, oil came out jet black (not surprised as I imagine the garage I bought the car off used sh*te oil, smaller mileage interval next time to clear the aftermath of that!), coolant change went well, all drain plugs etc in and out beautifully. Thought hey this is going well, time to get that filter off… …Ouch! What a tight space, I blistered the skin between my thumb and palm, scratched the hell out of my forearm and have an odd lump under the scratch now 18 hours later! Basically it wouldnt budge by hand, the chain wrench didnt go anywhere near it due to the close proximity of a pipe above the filter. After almost popping my eyes out I’ve admitted defeat and had to leave the old filter on for now!! I’m going to get myself a cup wrench to get it off as recommended in the ‘1999 Mazda MX5 miata Workshop Manual’ I downloaded off the web.
What I need to know as I’ve not had to do it before is…
Can I change the oil filter without draining the oil? (I know the filter itself will be holding oil but how much would flow out of the block after its off)
If I have to drain the new oil to then put it back in is this a good idea? Any tips on it?
3) If both of the above are possible which would you recommend/prefer?
Time and effort not a problem when it comes to my car of course! Expense however is, as at the moment my MX5 running costs are at £4000pa! £131pcm loan included. Not great when you only earn £15k and have a mortgage to keep ontop of.
I looked at the claw type as well but heard it still has problems gripping unlike the cup type, and this bugger is all but welded on.
The reason I’d consider putting the same oil back in is its been in there <50miles and I’d rather put that oil back in and maybe use it as a kindof 3000mile flush oil for the next change.
Breakdown of the £4000pa:- Loan for Car - £130.93 x12 = £1571.16
Insurance (at present) £51.94 x12 = £623.28
Road Tax £134.75 x2 = £269.50
Petrol Approx £115 (2.5tanks pcm) x12 = £1380
Bridge Tax (Tamar Crossing for Work) £15 x12 = £180
Basic Service + Mot £40+£35 = £75
Total cost of MX5 with no problems!! = £4098.94 a year.
My insurance should go down this year I hope, was under 25 and first time with own policy (0 NCB) + a 143hp sportscar so fair enough there.
The oil will not come out of the sump when you remove the filter. Just change the filter and Bob’s your uncle. Incidentally I have a claw type wrench (in fact I have 3 different ones) and none of them will touch my MX-5 filter, go for the cup type.
Niggle, I’ll make a trip to the local motor factors later and see if I can get myself 65mm & 68mm cup wrenches. If I can get both for <£10 brilliant.
Thanks to my fellow Devonians… @Alan, I suspected as much with the oil but always worth checking when youre new to servicing the car!
@Andy, I’ll try my best to pre-oil the new filter as much as possible without getting overly messy, but will check levels after.
Will try and do the swap ASAP, hopefully leaving the old filter on hasnt messed up the new oil too badly, will change the oil again in 5000miles now I think…
Expect to pay £6 - £7 each. If you have no joy with the motor factors try a motorcycle spares supplier as some of the larger bike engines use the same type of filter. (I got one of my cup wrenches from a motorbike accessories shop in Bolton). Failing this you can get them off ebay (where my other cup wrench came from).
i got a cup wrench since my last oil change, i managed to get it off without a wrench but i lascerated my forearm lol i had to modify my new cup wrench slightly as there was some weird circle thing in the top, i yanked it out and used the handle thing off my other cup wrench.
I would probably be OK with other types now, but when I did my first oil change it was MURDERED up and I could not get it off with anything else other than this.
I had a look at the K&N but at twice the price of the mazda filter, I’d rather stick to the genuine. If £10 isn’t much more than £5 to you then go for it, has to be easier! I’m pleased with the quality of the K&N panel filter I have so I imagine the filter quality is also very good.
On the original topic, nowhere in Plymouth stocks these cup filter wrenches so I ordered the 65mm online… didnt fit over the end… arse…
Ordered the 68mm online… fits over loosely and spins on the filter… double arse!!
Must be a wretched 67mm filter on there! Looks like I’ll be either whacking the 65mm on or jamming something in the 68mm and trying that way. Never easy is it!
£14 spent and its still on there hehe, will have a massive £2 left in the bank for the rest of the month (providing the car sails through its MOT!)
Two cheap methods I have used successfully in the past are 1, wear a pair of Latex gloves to get a good grip or 2, use a piece of course sandpaper about 6" x 4" folded so that the grit is on the side to wrap around the filter and also the side that is in your hand.
Slightly off topic but if you do this you’ll be pouring any bits of old swarf that are too large to get up the oil pick up straight on top of your exhaust cam. Engines aren’t all that clean when they’re built, and you often get bits of machining swarf rattling around in the sump.
So if you’re going to re-use oil - filter it before it goes back in.
It’s off! Finally!! The cup tool is brilliant when you get the right size. Even when I got it to seat on the old filter it still took a he-man effort on the ratchet to get it off though, argh! Turns out it was a 67 Mann Filter, made in Germany. Didnt make too much mess, much to my delight no oil comes out of the engine on filter removal just that which is in the filter itself, roughly 200ml I reckon. Nice shiny Mazda Tokyo 68mm, made in Japan filter on there now, went on like a glove
German filter had a coil in the middle, I assume as a kindof flow diverter. Japanese straight through flow. As I keep saying to the Z3 owner I sit next to in work, Japanese is always superior to German!
