Changing the Oil Filter without Spilling Oil

I have a Pacifica with the oil filter on the bottom.

Has anyone found a good way to change the filter without spilling a
lot of oil (after draining the pan, of course)? I've wrapped a
plastic bag around the filter before spinning it out to try and catch
the oil, but this seems a bit clumsy.

Any secrets?

Thanks
Tim

 

I was going to suggest the bag thing, but that's moot. Just wanted to
say that it really doesn't matter if you drop the filter first or drain
the pan first - one doesn't affect the other with the engine off.

 

I put my drain tank under the filter.

 

you posted the secret
be careful if you have a cooler above it not to damage it or spin it loose

 

You could punch a hole in the lowest part of the filter and let most of the
oil drain from it. Then wrap a paper towel around it while removing.

 

What do you do with your filter after you remove it?

 

I will put it in a ziploc bag for the recycling guy to pick up.

I have to admit, though, that I will often come back the next day and
find the filter and the bag immersed in a bigger puddle of oil on the
garage floor. It happens enough to make me wonder if the oil is a
solvent for the plastic in the bag.

Is it?

Tim

 

You don't empty the filter out into whatever you drained the oil into?
I mean, I know there will always be some remaining oil that can drip if
it's tilted the right way, but, after turning it upside down and letting
it drain all it can into the waste container while you put the new oil
in and clean up, if you take one paper towel sheet and wrap that over
the top of the filter, that provides plenty of absorption for whatever
remains in the filter even if it gets turned over. I put the filter
with the single doubled-over paper towel sheet into the new filter's
empty box and close the top and toss that into the trash - never a
problem with pooling anywhere - like I said, the single paper towel
sheet handles that little bit with ease.

 

Thanks to all!

Tim

 

In CA residential disposers of waste motoroil and filters must take them
to a specific facility -- they are not picked up by the 'recycling' (paper
& recyclable containers) or the general trash (waste oil and filters are
forbidden) or of course not the greenery branch.

http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/USEDOIL/ alternatives to the illegal disposal of
used oil

ziploc type bags are recommended for transporting oilfilters to the waste
oil recycler.

 

I will put it in a ziploc bag for the recycling guy to pick up.

I have to admit, though, that I will often come back the next day and
find the filter and the bag immersed in a bigger puddle of oil on the
garage floor. It happens enough to make me wonder if the oil is a
solvent for the plastic in the bag.

Is it?

Tim

Yes Tim, it is. Plastics are made from petroleum, and petrolum will
dissolve them. Thats why you never use a
petroleum based lubricant with a latex condom. Or store
used oil filters in baggies....they will dissolve.

D

 

If I put a motoroil filter into an undamaged ziploc bag of sufficient size
and strength to contain the filter and zip/seal the bag properly, I would
expect that over a reasonable period of time, say weeks, that it will not
leak.

Disclaimer: I have not performed this test. I have put an organic solvent
into a ziploc bag, such as paint thinner in a gallon bag, and found the bag
to leak that solvent.

I don't think the leaking is from dissolving anything. I think the leaking
is from microporosity of the polyethylene bonded edges being large enough
for the solvent to escape but small enough to be waterproof due to the
viscosity of water.

I would not expect uncontaminated motoroil to dissolve polyethylene. If you
combine motoroil with some other unknown solvents (consider gasoline) then
the equation has changed.