Ok. I now have my little Honda oil filter. In the past, instructions for installation included something to the effect of hand-tighten 3/4 of a turn. This filter says to tighten "3/4 turn with tool". Is this implying that I won't be able to tighten the filter to 3/4 of a turn using my hand? I suspect that Honda has a specific wrench for removing and installing the filter. I visited an auto parts store and none of the wrenches there are small enough for this filter. I had intended to use my old wrench, which is activated by a socket which tightens down a metallic loop as you turn the wrench, to remove the old oil filter. I just placed the wrench over the filter and it seems like that will work for removal.
Your experience?

 

Against my better judgment this is the very reason I've started using the mid-grade Fram filters on my Honda. Why? Because they have a very nice grippy high-friction surface on the outside, and given where the filter on my car is located, it is almost impossible to use a conventional filter wrench on it.

 

I had the same trouble. I put a few paper towels on the base of the filter, then I pushed on the tool.

I think it was at Fleet Farm (mostly in Minnesota) that says it's for Honda. Fits great. Like I said I had touble, WalMart, Autozone and O'Realy didn't have one that fit, even thought they said they did.

 

I put on rubber gloves to get a better grip on the clean new filter. Tighten it as hard as I can, and I can usually get it about 3/4 of a turn, but I don't stress about that too much. Those strap tools that use a socket ratchet, usually put a big dent in the side of the filter when I remove it, so I don't use that to install the new one.

 

Thanks for the replies. I bought a cheap wrench on Amazon and that should work even though the wrench is actually too small to fit on the filter completely. The Honda wrench was like $35! The one I bought was like $7.

 

On my '97, I noticed that the metal part of the Honda filter bottomed out on the flange that the filter screws onto. So, tightening 3/4 turn may not be possible since you will have metal-to-metal contact eventually after compressing the o-ring seal.

The aftermarket filters I've used (Wix/Napa and Purolator) don't have the metal-to-metal contact as the filter housing OD is bigger than the flange so I can get 3/4 to 1 turn.

 

For the most part I've found with any oil changes I've done if your metal on metal with the filter your compressing the gasket way to tight. I go good and snug and I've never touched the metal part of the filter to the base.

 

A couple of years ago I bought a Denso filter for a non-Honda vehicle; prior to that I've never seen a filter specifically designed to have the metal case of the filter crush into the oil filter mount. Said another way, there are some filter makers who design their filter to cause metal-to-metal contact.