Hello,

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place for this post, I just discovered this forum. I am new to self car maintenance so please be patient with my lack of knowledge!

I went to perform an oil change on my 2020 Mazda 6 today after having it serviced at different at chain auto shops due to my lack of garage and tools. I spent Saturday buying the tools and materials I needed (it took 7 stops to get what I needed due to stores being completely sold out of basic things). Today I went to a self service car wash for the space and got to work. Everything was going as expected until I went to unscrew the oil plug (17 mm hex nut) and I did not have enough clearance to fit my 3/8 inch ratcheting drive/socket around the nut because it was blocked by the oil filter. It almost fits but it started to dent my old oil filter and I did not want to risk damaging anything or stripping the plug and being stranded at the car wash. At the time, I also didn't want to take the oil filter off first and risk a mess and I also was not sure if the auto body places used pneumatic tools on the plug. I wasn't confident in being able to remove the plug so taking the oil filter off and then not being able to remove the oil plug seemed like a risk. I ended up putting everything back together and leaving in shame.

My question is- does anyone have a guess as to why is there not enough clearance? Have you experienced the same thing? Every video and post I have seen uses a 3/8 inch drive and socket. My tools are standard width. I wasn't sure if the oil filter was an extended length (it's vertical and I didn't think to check at the time) or if the oil plug nut was larger in depth then it should be. I have read that Mazdas come with an 8 mm allen and many people convert to a 17 mm plug after stripping it. The auto places may have done this for me but I am unsure which my car came with. The nut was quite scratched so I am wondering if they just used a regular wrench to do it, it seems like a pneumatic tool would not be able to fit either unless they installed the oil plug and then installed the oil filter afterwards.

Any advice? I can purchase a standard 17 mm wrench (again not confident that I will have the strength to unscrew it) or if I should try to remove the oil filter first?

I really appreciate any time and expertise you all can share. Thank you!

 

Use a box wrench or an extension on the socket. If the head of the drain bolt is chewed up, pick up a new drain bolt before your next oil change. And don’t forget to use the crush washer.

 

Thank you for the response! I believe that the extension to the socket would be worse since it's only like an 2 inch or less clearance but I bought box wrenches today and will try again soon. Thanks again.

 

A picture of what you are talking about would be helpful????