[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

I guess I'm having a hard time comprehending how it makes the oil change less messy because the last time I messed with one was on a classic car of course, and those things were horrible. They leaked with age, and pulling the bolt out starts a gush of oil, runs all over the cannister, then you have to pull the nasty filter out and clean the inside of the can etc.... It was a total mess.

I think there are still 2 or 3 of those things in boxes up on the mezzanine because those engines were switched over to a spin on filter, lol.

I'm assuming they have improved those things in some way to make them less messy.

As you can imagine, I'm totally out of the loop of anything foreign, so I'm unaware those other brands have been using them for decades.

Perhaps you are thinking they are like the old school canister filters on American cars. The modern version of the canister filter is different. See photo below of my BMW engine. To remove the filter, you just unscrew the black plastic cap and the filter comes out with it. This is how most European cars are set up. Very easy to get it out without getting a single drip of oil anywhere.