Have you ever wished the process of changing your aircraft’s engine oil could be a little less messy? While this important maintenance task offers many ways to get your hands dirty, I find that cutting open the oil filter to check for contaminants often is how they wind up bloody.
During a recent oil change for my Commander 114B, I began thinking about how many times I have performed the operation over the years and how rarely I get through it without making a mess of the filter and sometimes spilling blood in addition to oil. Early on I tried basic tools including metal snips to cut the filter can then moved on to specialized filter can cutters available from aviation suppliers.