unable to remove oil filter, HELP!
 

While in the midst of changing the oil in our 2005 X5, 3.0 I find that I am unable to remove the oil filter. Last oil change it was somewhat of a problem but finally was able to remove it.
This time it won't budge. When I resorted to using a lever to pry up on the top plastic the filter began to seperate the plastic from the filter material.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking of completely seperating the top piece and the filter material from the wedge in bottom piece and then screwing something through the bottom, trying to pull up on the installed screws.
Anyone with a better suggestion?
btw, the filters are Mahle, OX 154/1D purchased online from a forum sponsor.

the oil filter has most likely shunken from heat cycles. you can easily remove the filter from the cap by splitting the filter in half at the tip.

Thanks for the reply. I'm confused, you said split it at the tip. Do you mean top? The top is loose. Do you think that I should try to remove all the filtering medium and then use a cold chisel or screwdriver to split the bottom of the remaining part of the filter?

I just re-read your post. The filter isn't stuck to the top, it's stuck to the housing bottom.

I proceded to remove the paper filtering medium and when I got to the last half inch of material I pinched it with a pair of longnose pliers, pulled, and the bottom part of the filter came out with it.
I'm trying to figure just what was holding it in there, maybe the paper filtering medium was fused to the the wall of the filter housing??

Next question, should I install another Mahle filter or should I wait until tomorrow and call ECS Tuning?

After a closer inspection of the new filter in the canister I see that the filter medium doesn't touch the walls of the canister. The only thing that touches is the inside of the filter. It must have shrank from the heat. I don't know why it was so easy to remove once the filter medium was removed.

Ooof, has it been a while since you did an oil change/replaced the filter? I usually do mine every 8-9k and the filter does indeed seem to get stuck near the bottom portion. I changed my oil yesterday and I had to wiggle the filter a few times while pulling before it came out. I also use a Mahle filter.

Last time was 7 months ago, 8k. When I changed it then I had much the same trouble you had. I thought maybe the filter wasn't the correct one.
This time it wouldn't budge.

Ah, okay. I guess that's normal then, because I've faced the same problem every time I did an oil change (yesterday was the 5th one I've done, and I've used the same brand Mahle filter every time).

Glad you solved the problem!