Oil Filter Problem

[SS MAYFLOAT]

I was to go on a job this morning to trim a few trees. Since I had surgery this week I'm unable to. So, I felt a little reluctant to let my son in law go do the job himself with his son, but money is money and we all need it.

He showed up this morning to get the bucket truck, shared a cup of coffee while the diesel dog was warming up. He goes out to the truck to find a very large puddle of oil on the ground. He crawled under and found that the oil was running down the sides of the oil filter. He put a filter wrench on it to tighten, but was unable to budge it.

I know of cases where salt has rusted the outer shell of the filter causing them to leak, but this one has no rust on it at all. Being covered with diesel sludge has prevented any road salt from attacking the shell. I'm sure changing it out will fix the problem, but I'm curious of why it is leaking. Son in law said it looked as if the shell has came loose from the rolled edge from the threaded flange that goes to the engine block. It hasn't been started for awhile since we had below 0 temps. Could the extreme range of temp change cause that rolled bead connecting the shell to the flange to fail?

BTW, this in on a Ford 7.3 International IDI non-turbo engine.


Thanks..........SS

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

Who knows?

Regardless of the reason for the leak I would do new filters and keep an eye on it.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

I would clean up that filter real good and inspect it to find out the cause.
I once had an oil filter rub through an exhaust header on one of my fords what a mess, anyhow i spun on a new filter and dented it slightly so it wouldn't rub and i would have never guessed but the oil pressure pushed the dent right back out into shape like it was never there, just to make sure i wasn't cracking up I dented it again and sure enough soon as engine was started the filter went right back into shape, I turned it into a remote mounted filter and it solved the problem.

overtightening gasket will squish out
old gasket still stuck to block

 

[rwise]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

The last time I saw that the oil system had plugged up, ended up changing the engine,,,,,, Good luck, hope it is just a defective filter,,,,,

 

[jimr]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

did someone forget to check and make sure the old seal was removed with the old filter? a double might seal for a while but will always leak.

 

[Pascal]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

Other possibilities have been mentioned such as double gasketing from the old seal left on the block from the last filter change.

They do not address the appearance you mentioned about the rolled seam between the canister and the base.

The filter is designed to withstand several times the normal engine oil PSI levels. If the seam splits, it is unlikely that the seam is faulty after being in use for time as your situation suggests.

It is more likely that after sitting out the cold spell, when the engine started, the engine oil pressure regulating valve spool stuck in the closed position causing a pressure spike. When the valve finally opened the damage had already happened but was limited by how severely it was stuck and how quickly it released its self.

Sometimes the regulating valve will accumulate deposits that make it prone to sticking and an additive or flushing before the next change will help. If you want to be sure, the regulating valve spool will need disassembly and cleaning.

hope this isn't really bad news for you. With warmer weather, the likelihood of this happening again - until the next cold snap - is probably low. You could change the filter, watch out for leaks especially when you start it cold and see what happens.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

did someone forget to check and make sure the old seal was removed with the old filter? a double might seal for a while but will always leak.

This is what i was thinking also. Check the engine vally for oil as it will run down the back of the engine and on the oil filter. Another thing there may be a oil cooler on that side of the engine just in front of the filter that can leek also. One last thing the oil pan may have rusted out.

just pointing out some other possibilities.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

Thanks for the inputs. My son in law is not the brightest bulb in the whole truck load. I was able to get my one friend that is certified mech to come over to change the oil in the driveway. I felt a bit better and went out with him to do the job ( didn't do anything to jeopardize my past surgery). He picked up a large pair of channel locks as his filter wrench was too small for the filter. As he lifted the pliers up to the filter, he bumped it with the top jaw of the pliers. We both saw the filter turn.????? It was loose !!! The gasket on the filter looked as if it had not been properly tightened down from the last oil change. I guess it is another one of those things that I should have done myself instead of having PEP Boys do it.

After taking a real close look at the gasket on the old filter, it was as hard as a rock and had no signs that it had been tightened down. Usually the gasket will be flattened out some, but this one looked as if it had barely seated. Guess I was lucky all those times using it on the job. This is just another verification of why I quit going to PEP Boys 4 years ago.

I'm a bit peeved about what it cost me for this DIY oil change. 4 gallons of Rotella oil and a Mobile 1 filter cost me $94. Does this sound right? I wish I wasn't in a laid up position as I would have gone and got the stuff myself.

Thanks for the inputs, it is appreciated. Truck is ready for service and ready to tow my boat to the docks in a few weeks. I just hope my body is done repairing itself after the surgery by then. It is so hard not to want to jump in a get things done. My wife said she was about ready to tie me to the couch!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

Well at least nothing was broken or damaged. Glad to hear it was a cheap fix.

 

[The_Kid]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

$94 sounds high. I pick up Rotella for about $10 a gal and a filter shouldn't more than about $15.

 

[rwise]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

Defective work from pep BOYS, go figure, I have not seen good work come out of there location here, how the hell do they stay in business? Yes that seems a bit high, but I run mobile 1 @ $30 a gallon,,, set back and take it easy!!

 

[ehenry]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

SS, ya say SIL aint the sharpest knife in the drawer but ya gotta credit him for atleast noticing the puddle of oil under the truck and not driving it !

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

SS, ya say SIL aint the sharpest knife in the drawer but ya gotta credit him for atleast noticing the puddle of oil under the truck and not driving it !

He is not totally dumb as he pretty much wiped up the oil spill with the back of his shirt as he got out from under the truck I think it was a learning curve as he now has found out that used very dirty diesel oil does not clean up as easy

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

I saw rotella synthetic at wallyworld last night for $19/gal

LOL at your SIL...... I remember getting STP in my hair (when I had hair) in the early 70's laying under my chevy!

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

Peb boys probably do about a hundred cars a day per shop, they can probably have a couple screw ups a week and still be ok? I don't know but I have know several people to have had a bad experience. I went there 1 time and it was the last, I was planning on leaving the next morning for Fla. had a 78 Ford 1/2 ton 4wl. I was pushed for time so stopped in to have fluids changed and they put ATF in the transfer case, I had been on the road for hours before stoping for a pee break when i noticed this red stuff just dripping from the bottom of my truck, son of a .... my transfer case called for 90W gear lube.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

the shell has came loose from the rolled edge from the threaded flange that goes to the engine block.

I've seen that happen a fair bit. Especially on heavy duty filters with the cast aluminum head. In every case, the filter had been overtightened at install.

I find a lot of people ignore the little instruction picture on the side of the filter that says how far to tighten it. Putting a strap wrench on to tighten can damage the swaged can end.

 

[david_r]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

$94 sounds high. I pick up Rotella for about $10 a gal and a filter shouldn't more than about $15.

i think i may have to take a drive up there..............i just bought a gallon of oriellys brand for $10.50..and that was the cheapest oil i could find-----i have an old ford 8n tractor and when i use it it burns around a gallon of oil to 15 gallons of gas

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

I've seen that happen a fair bit. Especially on heavy duty filters with the cast aluminum head. In every case, the filter had been overtightened at install.

I find a lot of people ignore the little instruction picture on the side of the filter that says how far to tighten it. Putting a strap wrench on to tighten can damage the swaged can end.

I've always put grease on the "o" ring and tightened by hand a quarter of a turn after the seal bottoms out on the engine case. I personally have never had a failure. I'm just getting to that point of having others do it instead.

I have lots of horror stories of PEP Boys. They put one of my cars up on a lift one time and crushed the rocker panels in. They didn't compensate at all. When I got my big boat back in March of 01, I needed an engine for it. PEP Boys had a special that if I bought something and got a credit card with that purchase, I could take 15% off the price. Cool, that made for a big discount on a new engine. The 4 weeks passed and I called. NO RECORD of a marine engine ordered, but the receipt I had said differently. So they reordered it. I waited another 4 weeks. Nothing here, call back next week. So when I called back, they said somehow the engine got shipped to the wrong store and then it got lost! Finally I got a call and the motor was in. WHAT! why does it say TRUCK engine vs marine? Guy says go ahead and install it....My thought was NO. 2 hours after the manger called me told me to wait and bring that truck motor back. Motor was for another customer. 3 Days later in June, a truck shows up in my drive and drops a new marine engine off.

Only good thing about this that every time they screwed up, they would deduct 10% from the bill. Engine finally cost me $1,050 for a complete long block. Original price was $2200.

The old saying "If you want something done right,,Do it yourself" I believe in this,,,,,,,,,,,,,,at least until you body says differently

 

[david_r]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

the 1/4 turn trick usually does the trick............but i worked for a construction company a year or so ago and did a few oil changes on their dump truck. this truck had 2 oil filters and you had to use an oil filter wrench to tighten them up or they would leak.....i didnt like that idea but soon learned it was true ----- for that truck anyway.

ss, sounds like you got a heck of a deal ----- $1000 for a long block is great.........even though you had a lot of aggravation and wasted time involved...................this is a good example of the old saying "good things come to those who wait".

did you ever find out why it cost you $94 for an oil change?..........it sounds a lil high but rotella-t is expensive oil.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Oil Filter Problem

did you ever find out why it cost you $94 for an oil change?..........it sounds a lil high but rotella-t is expensive oil.

Yep, I gave my bud a rewards card from Autozone. He forgot to use my available reward points which came to about $20. He could have at least had the reward points added to the card if he wasn't going to redeem them . So the actual cost came to $72 and some change. I can't complain, he changed the oil for free and takes care of some of he other maintenance for use of the truck.

When you own your own bucket truck, you would be surprised the number of people who want to use it for practically nothing. Insurance isn't to expensive if it is just me operating it, the premium almost quadruples if I have others use it. I don't like using it for trees as the insurance goes way out of sight for agriculture use. That is why tree companies charge so much to remove trees.