Oil Change from Hell

Last night I did our first oil change on our 2011 Ram 1500. Surprisingly, the recommended oil change intervals are 8,000 miles, unless notified sooner by your in dash computer. Ours popped on a few days ago with about 7,500 miles. I decided to at least get the oil filter off prior to going inside and starting our steaks on the grill. We'd never have the steaks, thanks to the filter. I first tried to muscle the thing off, which wasn't going to happen. Next, I tried my oil filter wrench, which simply crushed the filter. Next, I tried the old punch the screw driver through method and created an oily mess. The screw driver mutilated the filter and still didn't break it loose. Somewhere along the lines I managed to slice up my hands, and noticed a good amount of blood running down my arm. With a nice pool of oil on the floor, and on the back of my head, it was time to take a break to reassess the situation. With the filter now obliterated, I decided to finish her off. I got out a steel mallet and chisel and cut as much of the filter off as I could. Now left with just the mounting flange on the engine, once again, I had to take a break to determine my next plan of action.

Running out of options, I went back to the trusty steel mallet and steel punch. After a good 45 min to 1 hr of pounding, I had the remaining portion of the filter removed. Never in my life have I had such a hard time removing a filter, and I've dealt with some tough bastards over the years. I HAVEN'T ever dealt with a first oil change on a brand new vehicle, having never owned one. Friends tell me that for first oild changes, that is par for the course...though nobody has ever seen one so stubborn that it ended up like mine. While I don't anticipate such troubles in the future, I think a few more tools for my box are warranted...just in case.