oil filter housing-tightening without torque wrench
 

hell all, this post shows how much of a novice i am , but have picked up an oil filter for my 3.0d and have read the posts on oil filter changes and torque wrench settings, BUt can i get away with tightening up the cover of the oil filter housing without a torque wrench ?

ok i guess if i tighten too much I will cause damage and too little will get leaks.....I am sure that during my last oil change when i watched the mechanic change th efilter and tighten up the housing he never used a torque wrench, then agai he may have been lucky and not overtightened or under tightened....any ideas much appreciated

I did mine by hand and gave it a slight 'nip' with a 30cm ratchet. 25Nm isn't much above hand tight. Whoever had previously done mine had done it up so tight I needed a 60cm 'breaker bar' attachment on the socket to undo it. With it being plastic that meant undoing it VERY carefully in case it split. And with there being an 'O' ring seal in the cover it doesn't need to be that tight - not like older cars where the ring around the top of the seal needed to be properly compressed to work.

Why it had been done up that tight I have no idea! The rating is embossed in the cap after all. :yikes:

yeah its really hand tight plus maybe a quarter turn at most I'd say, I would just snug it up nicely and not worry too much, just make sure you use the fresh O-ring on install that comes with the filter.

unless its holding the seatbelts, wheels, or brakes, a quarter turn past hand tight is fine. These micro torque specs are rediculous.

+ 1 million.

Thanks to all, bit shocked that the the actual nut is plastic!

excuse me again for being a novice, posts say here tightening the oil filter caps just about hand tight, does the actual housing tighten hand tight and then i tighten the bolt on top hand tight too?or is the plastic bolt on top of the housing 'fused' to the housing and i need to tighten that bolt?thanks

Only one bolt incorporated!Plastic bolt,plastic thread on filter housing an " o" ring= hand tightening only!;)

ok so grab the whole housing cap as such and just hand tighten?

Exactly! But check for leaks around that o-ring, since over-tightening can flatten the o-ring and cause leaks. Had that problem on my last 2 filter changes.