Oil filter questions.. last one didn't seal right -> oil sprayed everywhere

[srvblues00]

the last time i went to change my oil, i got valvoline max life, and a motorcraft FL1A filter. that filter is spec'd in the owner's manual. i drained the oil, took the old filter off. then i stuck the new FL1A filter on there, stuck the oil drain plug back in, and filled 'er up. i cranked it to make sure everything was right. i heard something that didn't sound right, so i took a look under the X. i saw oil spraying out everywhere from the filter area. :frustrate so, i took it off, made sure the gasket was on there, and put the filter back on, and tightened it down abotu as i tight as i could get it hand tight. i checked the oil, and only lost 1qt, so i fired it up again just to check the filter. it did it again!! man i was so pissed. i ended up draning putting the old fiter back on there. i compared the threads between the old penzoil filter and the FL1A. the FL1A had about 3 threads and the penzoil had about 8 or 10. any ideas what's going on here? the old filter went on fine and i haven't had any problems with it. i checked another FL1A filter at an auto parts store to see if my first one was defective, but it wasn't. the new one also had the threads like that. what's going on? what filter should i get next? i don't want to lose another $10 in oil. thx

 

[SWLathrop]

Don't want to push any buttons, but did you verify the sealing gasket was on the filter or OK? I've seen gaskets that were not cut square that caused leaks. But then again, you could have gotten ahold of a "PIRATED" filter. They do exist and get thru to the auto parts stores.

 

[srvblues00]

Originally posted by SWLathrop
Don't want to push any buttons, but did you verify the sealing gasket was on the filter or OK? I've seen gaskets that were not cut square that caused leaks. But then again, you could have gotten ahold of a "PIRATED" filter. They do exist and get thru to the auto parts stores.

i didn't examine the gasket closely, but when i put some oil on the gasket before i installed it, it felt ok. i guess next time i'll try to look closer. now i'm really paranoid about the motorcraft filter, so i'll probably go with another brand, and it won't be fram either.

 

[Stephen S]

Did you check to make sure that the gasket from the old filter wasn't still stuck to the filter's sealing surface? Everytime I take my filter off, I have to peel the old gasket off the engine cause it doesn't come off with the filter. If you put the new filter on with the old gasket still stuck to the engine, then it won't seal properly. I've never had or heard of problems with Motorcraft filters...that's all I've ever run.

 

[srvblues00]

Originally posted by Stephen S
Did you check to make sure that the gasket from the old filter wasn't still stuck to the filter's sealing surface? Everytime I take my filter off, I have to peel the old gasket off the engine cause it doesn't come off with the filter. If you put the new filter on with the old gasket still stuck to the engine, then it won't seal properly. I've never had or heard of problems with Motorcraft filters...that's all I've ever run.

good point, but I don't think that's what happened.. I remember finding the gasket in the bottom of the bucket i drained the oil into.. :\

 

[Stephen S]

Hmmm...

Well, in that case, I would take the filter off and look closely at the gasket on the new filter and also the filter's sealing surface on the engine. Make sure no foreign matter got between the filter gasket and the surface. Make sure the surface isn't damaged somehow.

Here's a longshot, but it happened to a friend of mine and his 94 Ranger. Make sure that the filter didn't go on cross-threaded. If this happened, it would be hard to screw on from the start and would never seal properly. If you could spin the filter on all the way to the sealing surface with little effort, then this probably isn't the problem. He pumped ALL the oil out of his engine before realizing the problem.

 

[srvblues00]

Re: Hmmm...

Originally posted by Stephen S
Well, in that case, I would take the filter off and look closely at the gasket on the new filter and also the filter's sealing surface on the engine. Make sure no foreign matter got between the filter gasket and the surface. Make sure the surface isn't damaged somehow.

Here's a longshot, but it happened to a friend of mine and his 94 Ranger. Make sure that the filter didn't go on cross-threaded. If this happened, it would be hard to screw on from the start and would never seal properly. If you could spin the filter on all the way to the sealing surface with little effort, then this probably isn't the problem. He pumped ALL the oil out of his engine before realizing the problem.

Yeah, next time I change the oil i'm going to look things over very carefully.. it's not fun cleaning up 3 to 5 qts of oil off the garage floor. :frustrate

i at first thought maybe i had crossthreaded it, but when i put it on a second time, i was very careful, and it spun freely until it supposedly contacted the sealing surface.

 

[AgExplorer]

I had something similar happen and found out that the nipple that you screw the oil filter onto had a couple of threads messed up. How, I don't know. Thought I had the new filter on tight and when I cranked the engine, oil was everywhere. I just got pissed at the whole situation and cranked down hard until the gasket seated. Got a new nipple from Ford Parts Network and everything worked fine.

 

[Hotweels]

not really related but.....

I just did a oil change in a Volvo semi tractor and i forgot to check for the gasket, Now if you can imagin 40 LITRES OR OIL ON A concrete floor!!!!!! What a collosal $%#& up. It turned a half hour job into a 3.5 hour job!! I think i am going to lose my job over this.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Well, same thing happened to me before. In my case, it's a defective oil filter. Instead of loosing 1 quart of oil, I lost all 5 quarts of oil. So I had to push my truck out of the garage, wait for my dad to get home so I could go to walmart and get some oil. Well, after twisting in the new filter and put in new oil. The total came to almost $60, old oil and filter and new oil and filter combined. So my advise is to get another filter and see if it'll happen again.