Major caution for those who DIY oil change

Check every other morning for my gas sipper.

 

The percecntage of PC members that doesn't use the search feature is higher.

 

Rookies!

(Guilty as charged.)

 

Having done about 15 oil changes without really paying attention, I checked, and yes: that's what it says:



A few thoughts:

1. Why is this important?
2. If it is important, seems like a very fussy requirement, easy to miss, sign of a poor design.
3. What does "temporarily" imply? You screw it in, then unscrew and see what happened, did the O-ring jump the groove or not? And then what? I don't know what's flakier: the design or the instructions. Don't get me started about that little metal tang, btw, that thing is totally pointless.

I'm thinking seriously about doing that conversion to cannister. Not sure how to get the parts at reasonable price, up here though. Was it @Rebound that did the conversion?

 

agree on the crazy instructions. I honestly didn't know about that 90 degree angle. also, does reapply means second application of oil?

 

I can only speculate:

The cap is plastic, and the housing is metal.

1. Get the thread started in the correct orientation/aligned up so that it starts correctly and less prone to strip/damage.

2. OVERengineering. So much so we're scratching our heads on why...

3. When you initially twist the cap on and it makes contact with the end, the engineer realized that the gasket is initially under twist stress from friction between it and the cap and it and the housing. Not completely tightening to spec right away allows the gasket to relax/relieve this stress, because of lubrication, and go back to it’s natural untorqued position, before you torque to the final setting. Going straight to the 18 ft/lbs may pinch it in this torqued state. I’ve seen multi-torque instructions on many, if not all, other canister filters in the household. I have an iQ, it is in the form of 25 + 5 Nm.

A moderator took a pic of that cap 2nd pic in this post:

Oil and Filter Change

And this one (down below) from a N54 engine in an '08 BMW E90.

So the first initial state is to allow the gasket to "relax", then torque it to the final spec, in my iQ I first torque to 25 Nm, then I reset the torque wrench to 30 Nm and do it again.

And yes, double lube. Lube the gasket before placing it on the cap to protect it from damage, (stretch damage or abrasive damage), going over the threads, then lube it again so it goes in the housing with as little friction as possible.

 

My first two oil changes were with the Mobil 1 Extended Performance filter M1C-154A (A denoting 20k mile interval), but I think the Fram is better, 20 micron vs 30 micron spec.

 

Good idea, but still I don't think so. When you torque the housing the O-ring is just somewhere along the barrel; it's not at the flange end of the housing where the torquing action is stopped, by increasing friction between the housing flange and the aluminum face it's tightening against.

 

That’s true, but the canisters on different vehicles/manufacturers all have this kind of instruction. Maybe it’s time to pull out the measuring caliper to see if there is a slight elevation in the surface towards the final resting position. I do not know, my conjecture then....

 

If you clean it properly, lube it properly, install it properly, you won't have a problem.
It rolls off because it's not in the correct place, and/or everything wasn't cleaned off before
installing, and it wasn't lubed before installing...
I have come across this many times. Those quickie lube places just pull it off, change the filter,
and slap it back on. Same with the drain plug seal.
I made a lot of money replacing pistons and engine from their incompetence.

 

Didn't say you had it done at juffy lube.
Perhaps it slipped off and you didn't notice. No one is perfect. Or the O ring was defective.
Last year I notice transmission fluid on my driveway. I have change the filter/fluid in the van about 5000 ago.
Turns out the gasket was leaking, a lot. When I pulled it off, I saw nothing wrong with it. I double checked the bolts
to see if I missed tightening one, but all were tight.
Put on a new gasket and over 10,000 miles later, still not leaking.
I could see nothing wrong with the gasket. I'm "guessing" it was just a little thin in that area and that's why it leaked.
It was the weak link.
Maybe you just got a bad O ring???

 

Maybe a good work around for next oil change: lube it well with oil, screw it in (starting at that proscribed 90 degree offset, why not), and watch it as the O-ring transitions from outside to inside of the barrel, then back it out verify it's still seated, then back in, gently.

Shouldn't HAVE to go through this BS though.

 

Just because it didn't work 1 time, doesn't mean it wasn't correct. Just do it the way you've been doing,
just pay extra attention to make sure it is correct.

 

Last time I changed the oil there was a decent sized panel under the oil filter and oil drain plug which could have caught said trivial dripping....

The question is how much can that panel contain before it starts dripping onto the ground?