Had a nissan in the bays t'day...LIttle '93 stanza or somethin...Ok...Had to replace the air filter...Now, to get to the air filter, I had to undo 4 clips, 2 of which could only be seen/accessed from the bottom lookin up. I then had to detach the airbox from the throttle body *Not the tube leading to the TB, mind you, but the actual TB itself* then disconnect the air intake tube and the auxilery air intake tube.
Immediately afterwords I had to change air filter on a 2000 Excursion *NIIIIIICE truck...Limited Edition* and all I had to do is take the clamp off, and twist the box 1/10 clockwise.
One more reason to hate imports...Fucked up engineering.

this would be because they're engineered from the cost and ease of assembly point of veiw not the guy working on it obviously you havent seen a good portion of american cars that arer even worse have to jack up and unbolt engine to remove oil pans ect... trucks are the usual big engine bay type of deal so the room is there look at a toyota previa engines in the middle of the van

And plus, the japanese have small hands!!! LOL

I highly doubt you had to remove the throttle body to change the air filter. I know two people who own stanzas of those years and have never heard that they require that amount of removal. And ah yes imports must all suck because you can't change a simple air filter...

-Ben

It was 'modified' so yeah, I did have to take it off...Oh and I got a good dose of American Shit t'day lol. Had 2 cavaliers in the bay at the same time...I was the upper bay tech workin on both of em, and had to pull the oil filters from the top cause the lower bay tech can't get to 'em. The 5 speed Cavvy wasn't a problem at all...Easy to get to...But on the auto...Ooooohhhhh shit. It's in the same place, but there's extra shit there. i don't know what it was, but it cuts the width of space where I had to put my arm into by 3/4s. I'll tell ya somethin...Those sleaves they give us to protect our arms from heat of an engine...They work for about 4 seconds...Which is about 26 seconds shy of what it takes to unscrew an oil filter that you can barely get your fingers around...Ouch.

Oh yeah, by the way, in case I haven't told y'all yet, I'm a WalMart grease monkey now. lol.

if you had the right tool for the job ya know snap on and mac both sell oil filter pliers makes life alot easier

Haha... Stryker man... i know EXACTLY what you're talkin about... i was changin the oil on my sister's car today which just happens to be a 1998 cavalier with a automatic t/s.... man... and she had just driven out here to visit which is about a 75 mile drive in Texas heat.... which i think today was around 95 degrees... well... needless to say... i of course didnt have any long sleeved shirts, so when it came time to change the oil filter the last guy that put the oil filter on there screwed it on WAY too tight so i had to reach and squeeze and twist while my arm felt like it was on fire.... hehe... i found a towel to put over most of the hot stuff, but that shit still a'int fun and that oil filter is in the biggest pain in the ass place it could be... needless to say my arms and hands now have 1st and 2nd degree burns on them... lol...

and hooyeah... unless them oil filter pliers are the shortest fuckin pliers in the world, there's no way they'd fit in the tiny amount of space you have... my arm and hand barely fit there and i definitely couldn't get a grip all the way around the filter... everything else is in the way... and the axle is in the way from the bottom so you also have to do it from the top..

-Gor

they aren't pliers that have to be used from the side they're very long and thin bout 8 inches long and work from underneath the filter as well as side of it

i'm not exactly sure what you're describin... but next time i change the oil on that damn car i'm DEFINITELY going to Fox Auto Parts to see if i can find that tool thing-a-majig... and yes.. thats technical terms... "thing-a-majig"

-Gor

well its like a set of pliers with a round oil filter shaped end nd you reach it in there squeeze and twist never has failed yet

I have two kinds, one is like a set of pliers but has one short arm and one long sweeping one with ridges to grip. The other is a metal hoop which slips over the end of the filter and then tightens down.

-Ben

hooyeah...I know what you're talkin about...And yeah...We have those. We have 5 different sizes of them actually...But it won't fit. You have no idea how fuckin thin this space is man...There's NO way to get to it from the bottom, cause like he said, axle in the way, and he forgot about the exhaust too...But gettin in from the top is just as hard almost...I had to put grease on my hand to squeeze it between the firewall and whatever the hell that was that the 5 speed didn't have but the friggin auto did lol...If I'd had a wrench of any kind, size, or whathaveyou, I wouldn't have gotten my hand down there. IT's a BITCH
Oh I got to drive a 'mary t'day. '96. Nice car. Then comin back from lunch, first car I got was a '96 Impalla SS. I'm not big on Impalla's but anything that says SS is Super Sweet in my books.

actually stryker i'm not talking about oil filter wrenches it's a set of pliers P-L-I-E-R-S not a wrench there are no sizes it's not a wrench

I heard you the first time. And yeah...We have P-L-I-E-R-S...And guess what? They are bigger than the oil filter wrenches so good fuckin luck gettin them in there.