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[rollacorolla]

Drained the old oil no problem on my Omega 3.0 V6. I'm now trying to get the metal housing off to change the paper oil filter. It was really tight to shift but now seems to be taking ages to loosen. Should the whole housing be turning when I loosen the 24mm nut at the top of it? 

[Webby the Bear]

It should just be the upper most part that spins (i.e. the 'lid')

it sounds like the whole housing is spinning/

[rollacorolla]

I wondered whether the housing was made up of 2 parts and like you said I thought only the lid should turn when I loosen the nut. But the whole housing is spinning. What now?   

[Webby the Bear]

I've never had it happen to me but I would guess you try and get an oil filter wrench on the housing and holding it tight spin off the lid. 

[Andy H]

You need to hold the outer housing with something (chain wrench? stilsons?) so that you can get the cap to unscrew.

Once the cap is off you than use a big allen key (or it might be a 27mm socket depending on what was in the parts bin that year) to undo the centre bolt to remove the outer housing. (if you can't get the cap off then you might end up having to cut the outer casing so you can get to the bolt to undo it)

There should be a lug on the outer housing that engages with a hole in the engine block to stop it spinning. You will probably find that the lug has snapped off.

You have 3 choices
1. refit your outer housing and be careful to hold it at the next filter change to prevent it spinning.
2. fit a new outer housing
3. fit an adapter that allows you to use the old style spin on filter

[rollacorolla]

Just my luck 
Thanks for the suggestions but unfortunately I don't have a chain wrench or a stilsons. Tried using a spare fanbelt but no luck. If I fill up the engine oil now and just leave the filter for JamesV6CDX to sort out (when he does the cam cover gaskets) - do you think the oil will leak out of the filter housing or should it be safe to drive the car?

[Shackeng]

Not if it leaks from the filter with engine warm and running.

[joff]

Had this happen to me, had to cut the old housing off. Fit another and then refil. Try and top it back up and then check for leaks. Some of the old ones did not have the lug on the back as was the case with mine.

[Webby the Bear]

if you decide to screw it back on / check for leaks..... remove the N/S front wheel, get great view and access to the filter 

[TheBoy]

Not all have the lugs from what I can see.

There are 2 things that cause this on this type of housing - some mongrel going it up too tight, or too long between oil changes.

Only solution is to remove it all, and then refix shell to block correctly (replacing if necessary), then put cap back on. 15nM only.

[05omegav6]

If the housing is loose enough to turn, it will leak. That be the car off the road until it's fixed

[rollacorolla]

Ok well I'll put the old oil back in the morning, warm her up and check for leaks. If I can make the 18 mile round trip to Halfords to buy a chain wrench, then I can have a go at trying to sort it out properly.

[powerslinky]

Ok well I'll put the old oil back in the morning, warm her up and check for leaks. If I can make the 18 mile round trip to Halfords to buy a chain wrench, then I can have a go at trying to sort it out properly.

Do you not have a friendly neighbour who may    1. Have a chain wrench you could have a quick borrow of  ?

                                                                  2. Run you to halfolds & back  for the fuel cost ?   

[05omegav6]

Ok well I'll put the old oil back in the morning, warm her up and check for leaks. If I can make the 18 mile round trip to Halfords to buy a chain wrench, then I can have a go at trying to sort it out properly.

Sounds like a plan to kill it

[Shackeng]

If you have a sheet of coarse emery paper, you may be able to get a strip round the case to hold it in place while you re-tighten the nut.