Was thinking about this when I did my last oil change. I know that the filter should be put on by hand and the seal lubed, but I'm never sure how tight to make it by hand. I usually spin it on, snug it up, and tighten by hand until it "stops," if that makes sense. But I'm worried that I may have squished the gasket too much, reducing the effectiveness of the seal?

I always remove and install the filters completely by hand, only have to use a wrench once in a while for removal.

If it's over-tightened enough, even by hand, will it leak?

 

of course it can you can damage the seal or the threads

 

spin it down until the seal touches the block, and then turn it 3/4 to 1 full turn max, some filters say different things but it ussually says on the box. i dunno what you mean by it stops but i always do mine 3/4 turn and it never leaks.

 

depend how how strong you are, throughout all my year I haven't seen anyone be able to damage oil filter by hand tighten, especially on Honda oil filter location

 

ive never damaged a filter.. but i always tightened it till i couldnt anymore.. lol.. how tight can you really get it at an angle like that..

 

the only oil filters I have seen really over tightened are the fram pieces of crap. the ones with the black sure grip. most seem to forget its there to aid in REMOVAL of the filter, not installation. And unforunately those are the ones that walmart FNGs use, so they always seem to find a way to fuug things up

 

Personally, I have never worried about the oil filter leaking because I do as you and only tighten by hand. Is your car leaking oil since the oil change?

 

i have seen oil filters cross threaded

 

Do you think you can spin on an oil filter without realizing the threads have been crossed? If anyone has spent any amount of time wrenching then you know what it feels like to cross thread a bolt, much less an oil filter. Just my opinion.

 

Vin Diesel could probably overtighten the Honda oil filters, but for the average Joe, I doubt you could muster that up.

 

I just get it snug. Maybe about 30 ft lbs is when I don't spin anymore.

Most common leaks are from when people replace their filters but don't notice the seal from the old one stayed on the block

 

He probably gets jesse to do it.

 

i dont know but there is some dumb people

 

Like you for improper english? lol jk

 

lol, you would have to be downright retarded to cross thread an oil filter all the way on. It will NOT spin on if cross-threaded. Yeah I tighten it until I can't anymore. I guess I'm wondering if I'm squishing the gasket too much and causing minor leakage? I haven't noticed any leakage from the filter, but just wondering about this.

 

Oil filters are only supposed to be torqued to around 8 lbft.

 

dang lol, either I am over tightening or have a hard time judging how many ft lbs I am spinning an oil filter

 

That answers my question. I'll go easier next time.