mx5cartalk.com

started the morning with the full intention of an oil and filter change, bloody hell what gyro gearloose designed that little doozie. needless to say I jumped under the car (or should i say squirmed ) and easily undid the sump drain plug, then I tried to locate the oil filter. After about quarter of an hour I finally spotted it. managed to get a filter spanner on it and imediately got it jammed and couldn't turn it or get it off. after about 20 mins of swearing and cursing I got the spanner off, filter still in place. so I made the executive desision to book it in to the mechanic to get an oil and filter change. But of course I had to fill the car with new oil as I had already thowen the old oil away. so my oil and filter change will probably end up costing me about $150. bugger. Still it gave me the insperation to degrease and clean the engine bay, which was long over due. came up a treat. I'm sure I'm not the first person to find the oil filter for the first time and shake his head in disbelife.

Yep, been there done that. The 2nd time is much easier if you only hand tighten it on installation. I can now reach in and un-do it with one hand.

J

i think its in a reasonable postion, my last cars were a S13 and GZ20 soarer and they were under the intake manifold as well. but with longer runners made it more difficult. I undo it from the top, however ill be fitting my cooler and relocation kit shortly so wont be an issue

Take off the wheel - it's much easier getting to it through the wheel arch.

I find it rather easy to change the filter

If the filter is on too tight, just take the car & a beer to a local mechanic with a hoist, loosen the filter & hand tighten it yourself so you know you can get it off later. & I find the OEM sized Mazda filters a better size to work with then aftermarket replacements Ryco Z79A & Valvoline VO5.

Ryco Z437 & Valvoline VO33 (their catologue books lists these filters for Mazda 121s) are what I use & the same size as the Mazda filter. Can put in the filter from the top of the engine bay, I just do so on a cold engine though & let the oil drain for a while.

SuperMazdaKart wrote:I find it rather easy to change the filter

Same provided the nut before didn't tighten the filter like it was holding the car together. It helps to have a range of different oil filter wrenches rather than the typical flimsy K-Mart filter strap for difficult to reach filters.
And to remind people, it only needs to be hand tightened with a dab of oil around the rubber seal to ease future removal. Then next time, you can reach in with your hand and easily twist the filter off with no tools neccesary.

oil filter wrench

Screwdiver and a hammer fixes tight filters.
It's a bit awkward but not impossible to get both hands in there

I've tucked a rubber washing up glove in my toolbag to give that extra grip when removing the filter. Works well.

i'd do what supermazdakart does, in future, just handtighten it.. easiest and cheapest trick in the book

By a $10 filter wrench from mazda (has a socket nut on one end and the other fits the filter perfectly), take the front right wheel off = happy days. When I first got my MX I thought about getting a relocation kit now it is no trouble at all. Takes about 10-15 minutes.

http://www.mx5mania.com.au/oemparts.htm#Service_Parts