Haha. Agreed and agreed
I looked at the photo's and wondered about their durability, then started wonder how I could make my own
Having not yet changed my oil yet Sean, how hard is the valve to push up to release it? Do you think enough to potentially snap the lug's off then? If they did snap off, would they get lodged in and create a problem?
Need to way up possibilties before being the guinea pig.
The valve has quite a beefy return spring on it, so it takes quite a bit of force. But the problem of using a screwdriver to release it is that you may end up canting the valve over at an angle, and then not be able to re-seat it - and this could also be an issue if one or more of those tags snaps off. And the other issue of releasing it with a screwdriver is that you WILL get an armfull of hot oil. If you have a friendly farm vet - blag a few of those really long gloves that go up to your armpit - the ones they use when the vet sticks his arm up a cows ar$e or fanny!
If those tags do happen to snap off, I can't see them getting wedged anywhere - they'll probably just drop out when you unscrew it.
And it isn't a necessity to use that tool. If you havn't got one, just get an old corn flakes packet and fold it into a v-shaped funnel (shiny side to oil) and wedge it under the filter bowl.
Probably the biggest issue is finding a socket big enough to undo the filter bowl. It is 36mm, and ideally, you need a 6 point socket, rather than a 12 point. And don't be gash - my local Audi stealer used a pair of fcuking STILSONS to remove the filter bowl on my RS4 - they really are utter incompetent w@nkers!!!!
Oh, and don't over-tighten it either - it says '25+5Nm' on the bowl for a reason.