today i noticed i have a small oil leak coming from the seal on the oil filter. the filter is as tight as it can get by hand. any thoughts on why this is happening? i recently changed the oil, mobil 1, and bosch filter.

on a side note, i thought i would change the air and cabin filters today so i went to the local parts store and of course they did not have the cabin filter. so i proceeded to the next store down the road, yep no cabin filter. by this point i figured what's the point no one is gonna have this and i will just order one. well i see yet another store and decide to stop in. i carefully scan the shelves, no cabin filter! so i ask the guy behind the counter, "would you happen to have a cabin filter?" his eyes glaze over and looks confused. "cabin filter?" he says, " no we have oil filters and air filters, never heard of a cabin filter"
oh well i just thought that was amusing, i was contemplating asking if they carry G12, but that would just be cruel.

 

the filter should be on there more than just hand-tight, it should be torqued to 15 ftlbs

 

yup


one of those plumber wrap wrenches, u kno the ones that have a rubber strap on them that tightens pipes, those work pretty good

 

i did use a strap wrench when i initially installed the filter. seemed plenty tight, but not sure if it was exactly 15 lbs.
but today when i noticed the leak i just checked by hand to see if it was loose, but i could not budge it at all.
guess i need to torque it down.
thanks, i should have done that in the first place .

 

no you dont use a wrench to install a oil filter. just hand tighten it. bent is just saying that is about how tight hand tight is. but no tighter.

 

ok then it is tight enough and not too tight now. i can't figure out how oil can be leaking through that seal. hmm [sm=dontgetit.gif]

 

well its hard to say if you used a wrench to install it maybe its too tight? its hard to believe this could cause a leak but for some reason the manufactuer reccomends not tightening the filter more then hand tight.

 

Did you make sure that the old gasket of the old oil filter when you did the oil change came off with it. In other word you don't have two gasket on there do you. That will cause a leak and sometimes the oil filter could blow off.

 

thanks for the thought trailboss, but the old gasket definately came off with the old filter.

 

Good, 20 years ago my brother took his car for an oil change and the old gasket didn't come off with the filter. 200 miles later, all his oil had shot out between the gaskets and he needed a new engine.

Are you sure that the oil is leaking and that it just isn't left-over oil that dripped when you pulled the old filter off. If you are sure this is a fresh leak, try tightening the filter 1/8 turn by hand. Do not use a filter wrench to tighten or you will never get the SOB off.