Where is the Oil Filter in My Car?

The days when you could just open the hood of your car and find your oil filter seem to be long gone. Even worse, if the instructions tell you to jack the car up, you know you are in trouble. Manufacturers are not making do-it-yourself auto maintenance easy. Unfortunately, even using a single jack may not provide enough space to reach many of these not so well placed filters.

Some manufacturers will provide a diagram of the oil filter location for their vehicles. If the information is not available, you may have to hunt for the filter. Before removing what may look like an oil filter, make sure that it really is. Many vehicles, including Saturn models, use a transmission filter that is identical to an oil filter in appearance. Even better, the transmission filter will most likely be very easy to see when you open the hood. Clean away any debris to read the information on the filter.

In some newer vehicles, the oil filter will be accessible through an opening in the fender well. The vehicle will still need to be raised to obtain enough working space. In most cases, the oil filter will be on the passenger side of the vehicle. Ford F150s have the filter on the driver’s side near the bottom of the engine. On older model Toyota Highlanders, the oil filter is under the exhaust manifold.

The Toyota Camry uses a filter cartridge. The housing is behind and above a plastic shield under the front of the vehicle. The Saturn Ion also uses a filter cartridge, which must be removed to access the filter. The Saturn vehicle pictured required the use of ramps to elevate the vehicle for filter access. It is not so conveniently placed behind the engine, below the firewall and above the suspension on the passenger side of the vehicle.

Tips:

• Let the vehicle cool down before working on it. This will reduce the chances of burning yourself on hot engine parts.
• When working in hard to access areas, use a swivel-handle oil wrench. This allows you to bend the handle to avoid obstacles. This is the wrench style that worked on the pictured Saturn.
• Oil filter cap wrenches fit over the top of the filter and work like a socket wrench. This style will work well if the filter is set deeply in a tight space. The Honda CR-V is one vehicle that will be easier to work on with this type of wrench.
• If you are using ramps or a jack of any kind, set jack stands to support the vehicle. Ensure that the car is well set on the ramps to prevent it from rolling back.
• Rub a little oil on the filter seal to keep it from welding itself to the mounting and do not over tighten it.

Saturn vehicles are even known to “leak” oil after a filter change. This is not necessarily due to a filter problem. The location of the filter makes it difficult to change without spilling oil onto a brace beneath the filter. The oil accumulates, and if not cleaned away, it will slowly drip underneath the car.