kuhner Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 My wife has a Jeep Liberty with the 3.7 Liter V6. Not my favorite vehicle, but my wife loves it. I do pretty much all the maintenance on it. I typically change the oil, but three changes ago she had it changed while I was out of town. She takes it to a small garage who, like me, use Napa or Wix filters and synthetic oil. About 2500 miles I notice a drip of oil under it. Turns out the filter is loose. I tighten it and don’t give it anymore thought. Next oil change I use a Wix filter and same thing. I was convinced it was me . Now it just happened again. That’s 3 times in a row. Ive worked in garages when I was young, changed oil in all my cars for my 46 years of driving never had this problem. I do the 3/4 turn by hand after gasket touches. I have checked the oil pressure sending unit, it is leaking at the filter for sure. A quick check on line and it seems like this is not an unusual problem, not unique to Mopar but no solution. Maybe on an unrelated note I bought two Motorcraft filters recently that had both bad threads that would not screw on at all. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 I've always changed my oil and filter myself.Never had any problems using any brand of filter. I put them on hand tight and take them off with my bare hands. I've never had one to leak. The only problem I've ever had was trying to get the filter off after having my car worked on at a shop that required changing the oil and filter due to work done on the engine. It was so tight,I had to drive a screw driver through the filter to get it off. I don't even have a filter wrench. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 I always tighten a full turn + with wrench. Never a drip or leak and still tight at next change.......bob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave39MD Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Filter manufacturers have been know to change filter gasket material so I try to match what each box has for tightening instructions. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old car fan Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Make certain there isn't a double gasket. I've seen that happen. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 (edited) Simple solution is tighten it a little more and check to see if that fixes it. If it does chalk it up to changes in manufacturing probably saving 1/100th of a cent by making a cheaper thinner gasket. Then they hiked up the price by a buck or two for the new and improved gasket seal! China at is best!’ dave s Edited February 2, 2023 by SC38dls (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimy Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 10 minutes ago, old car fan said: Make certain there isn't a double gasket. I've seen that happen. Yes! Have you been cleaning off the mating surface on the housing AND spreading oil all around the gasket surface on the new filter? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
46 woodie Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Andy J, doesn't that tick you off. I had the same issue with the wheels on my car. One day I came out and had a flat in one of my tires. No big deal, I'm in my driveway and I'll just jack it up and take it to the tire shop. Well, I had to use a 24" breaker bar to loosen the lugs. If I was stranded by the side of the road I would have needed to call for help. When I dropped off the flat to be repaired I could see the mechanics installing wheels with air guns using 120 PSI. I asked why they over tightened the wheels and the mechanic said they need to be tight so they don't fall off. Now whenever I get new tires on my car, I break the lugs and re-torque them to the recommended value. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zepher Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 If this was the first time your oil filter has shown a leak, I would think the mating surface is flat but I would still use a small straight edge to make sure it is. I use Wix XP filters on my modern cars and I have never had an issue with one leaking or becoming loose on its own. Also, if your Jeep uses a remote oil filter mounting assembly, make sure that one of the hoses that connects the assembly isn't leaking. I had that happen on my 2002 Nissan with the 3.5L V6. One of the hoses that fed the remote oil filter assembly had started to leak and at first I thought it was the oil filter. But close inspection showed a slight leak with one of the hoses. Also, when I purchase filters I inspect the gasket and the threads to make sure the gasket is flat and the threads are not messed up. I have passed up a few oil filters when it looked like the threads were a little off or the gasket didn't sit perfectly flat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pfeil Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Some cars have a filter housing sealed by a large "O" ring to the block. When using a filter wrench many times the housing is twisted off the block, or slightly backed off the block causing the leak. One of my cars has this and I always carry a spare "O" ring in case this happens. Make sure you lubricate the spin on filter gasket, so this is minimized. You might ask why a filter housing is there? In my case the housing has oil line hoses to the engine oil cooler. So that housing serves two purposes. So, every time you change oil and filter check for tightness of the screw on portion for the filter. You can see the cooler housing behind the filter with the one of the oil line hoses coming out. The screw on filter pick up tube and fastener go right through the cooler to the block, and it must be tight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 7 hours ago, SC38dls said: China at is best!’ You mean Gastonia North Carolina..... Now owned by Mann Filter, so some changes have been made. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuhner Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 No remote filter mount right off the block. No old gasket sticking. I have checked for flatness, I even scuffed it up with a scotch bright pad. Just frustrating, at least 10 different makes from the early sixties till now and never a problem. I’m not counting the canister filters I’ve done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f.f.jones Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 9 hours ago, 46 woodie said: Andy J, doesn't that tick you off. I had the same issue with the wheels on my car. One day I came out and had a flat in one of my tires. No big deal, I'm in my driveway and I'll just jack it up and take it to the tire shop. Well, I had to use a 24" breaker bar to loosen the lugs. If I was stranded by the side of the road I would have needed to call for help. When I dropped off the flat to be repaired I could see the mechanics installing wheels with air guns using 120 PSI. I asked why they over tightened the wheels and the mechanic said they need to be tight so they don't fall off. Now whenever I get new tires on my car, I break the lugs and re-torque them to the recommended value. 11 hours ago, Andy J said: The only problem I've ever had was trying to get the filter off after having my car worked on at a shop that required changing the oil and filter due to work done on the engine. It was so tight,I had to drive a screw driver through the filter to get it off. I don't even have a filter wrench. A brief hi-jack here...I've had times when even my impact wrench will not loosen a lug nut due to the high torque tools the tire shops use. I questioned the shop manager and was told they are concerned about the liability of a wheel coming lose and causing an accident. Extra torque and fewer potential insurance problems overrule the customer's ability to easily service his car. I presume the tight filter situation could have the same cause. (...or the same clown worked at both shops and was told to "muscle down", or else!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan G Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 I have that same engine in my Dakota, and always change the oil myself. I've used a few brands of filters, including Wix, Baldwin, Motorcraft, probably a Fram at some point. I've not had a problem. I do the same 3/4 turn, sometimes a bit more. I did once have a bad filter on another model; that was a Fram, that had a tiny pinhole somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pfeil Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 12 hours ago, f.f.jones said: A brief hi-jack here...I've had times when even my impact wrench will not loosen a lug nut due to the high torque tools the tire shops use. I questioned the shop manager and was told they are concerned about the liability of a wheel coming lose and causing an accident. Extra torque and fewer potential insurance problems overrule the customer's ability to easily service his car. I presume the tight filter situation could have the same cause. (...or the same clown worked at both shops and was told to "muscle down", or else!) I have my own tire balancer and tire machine BUT, if you don't have one at least take your torque wrench with you when you have your tires changes or rotations or if you need a balance. If that tech tries to put a wheel on with that impact stop him before he does damage and go straight to the service manager. If either complain, get your car out of that shop. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 It is also known that the lubricity of synthetic oils these days will leak thru places that the dinosaur oils don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 18 hours ago, Frank DuVal said: You mean Gastonia North Carolina..... Now owned by Mann Filter, so some changes have been made. Last WIX boxed airfilter I bought had Mann+Hummel logos on both filter and packaging along with "made in Mexico". So next one I needed I just bought O'Reilly's house brand, with exact same markings. I've never had a spin-on oil filter to leak at the gasket. Can't say the same for a cartridge filter! 😄 Damnable things... and the Ferguson tractor has several of them! That said, I've had a couple of orange oil filters leak at their crimped seams. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pfeil Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 I never had a leak with the cartridge filter on my 59 Catalina, and it's certainly less messy changing out the filter because of the drain plug at the bottom of the filter housing. I was really disappointed when the 60 Pontiac's started getting the spin on type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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