On 14 Nov 2001 at 8:53, Tobin Copley wrote:

> Shawn,
>
> Your imagination is indeed getting away from you.  I have an '82
> diesel and I don't have any problem changing the oil filter.  I did
> have to buy one of those saucer-shaped oil filter "wrench" tools with
> a 3/8" drive socket on it to remove the filter, since I can't twist
> the filter off without breaking my hand.  (I broke my left hand when
> younger, and it never healed right so full-on twisting can break the
> bones again...  :-/ ).  I got my filter wrench from Canadian Tire,
> and the filter comes off effortlessly with it.

Glad to hear it's not as bad as I imagined... btw, I'm getting a 2 pack of
those Boa constrictors for Christmas (yeah, I peeked... well, actually, I
bought 'em myself for the kids to give me...;-) anyway, these things are
great (I borrowed one and put it right back before the kids saw me) for
things like awkward oil filters and such. In this case, I used it to loosen the
drain knob on my Jetta TD water separator.
For those who haven't seen a Boa Constrictor, they are like a rubber strap
version of an oil filter band wrench. Safe to use even on plastic parts with
chewing them up. They were 2 for $10 I think.

<snip>

> Hope this helps.  Changing the oil and filter on the diesel is really
> clean and easy.  You don't even get oil on your fingers removing the
> oil drain plug!  Great design!

Yes, thanks for the detailed info.

Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta TD
'88 Westy 2.1L