Oil filter housing with a simple(?) twist

[The Wind Breezes]

OK so I got my OFH gasket replaced under warranty almost a year ago at just under 50K miles after it started leaking.

A few weeks ago I noticed some oil on the housing...I wasn't driving the car much and assumed my gasket was leaking again. Well, after cleaning it off a few times and driving, I see the oil is leaking from a totally different place than before--from the damn plastic cap on the lower side!

I changed my oil about 4K miles ago and put a new O-ring in there. Torqued the housing to the green mark with one of those slip band wrenches (with a rag to ensure smooth and safe surface contact) since I don't have a socket for it to use a torque wrench. I used either a mobil or bosch filter, don't remember, but it was a good brand(EDIT it was a damn microguard....took the cap off couldn't find anything obviously wrong but we'll change it tomorrow) ANYWAY, what the hell! So I (safely) torqued the thing a little more thinking maybe it was on too loose, but no, it's still leaking again. I'm good at torquing things by feel and it's not too tight but also definitely not too loose. From the design it really shouldn't need to be tightened very much anyway to not leak, the torque spec is more so it doesn't randomly come unscrewed. Yes, I did lube my O-ring prior to install...

I'm gonna take the cap off and get a new O-ring and filter for it tomorrow. We'll see if that solves the problem. I inspected the cap when I did my oil change so I don't think it's cracked or anything like that.

Anyone else have this issue?

[houtan]

interesting. I was going to say maybe it is the cap, but it sounds like you didn't see anything abnormal.

[bNks334]

I've had the o-ring come out of its groove and get pinched in the threads when I screwed the cap on.

Also, make sure the black cap is actually sitting flush to the housing. The cap gets tight as the o-ring squeezes down, but the cap still needs to be threaded way further down until the lip is contacting the metal housing...

[The Wind Breezes]

OK, I think the problem is the microguard filter I got had a shitty O-ring. Not a lot of tension when I pulled the cap last night and the ring was way compressed. I got a Bosch filter and orings now let's see what that does.

[Gizmo135i]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

OK, I think the problem is the microguard filter I got had a shitty O-ring. Not a lot of tension when I pulled the cap last night and the ring was way compressed. I got a Bosch filter and orings now let's see what that does.

I'm a BMW tech, take it from my experience... only use Bmw or Mann oil filters, anything else your asking for trouble.

[The Wind Breezes]

OK, I put in the Bosch filter with new O-rings...all was well for a while and NOW IT'S LEAKING AGAIN! What in the hell...

I'll try the BMW filter for the hell of it, but my god, this shouldn't be so complicated. I'm not expecting much at this point.

[Gizmo135i]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

OK, I put in the Bosch filter with new O-rings...all was well for a while and NOW IT'S LEAKING AGAIN! What in the hell...

I'll try the BMW filter for the hell of it, but my god, this shouldn't be so complicated. I'm not expecting much at this point.

It's possible the oil filter cap is damaged... maybe it was overtorqued, but day in and day out we see all these "name brand" aftermarket oil filters causing check engine lights, vanos issues, and leaks.... it's worth the extra ten bucks for the BMW one (the Bmw ones are made by Mann and are the same as they're brand filters which might be cheaper).

[The Wind Breezes]

I researched this a little more and went and got a Mann filter. The filter itself looks slightly different...apparently all the other filters that the auto parts stores SAY fit my car DON'T REALLY FIT. 'Kin ell!!! Will put in once I get home and have access tto my slip band wrench.

[dtla1]

If you are torquing till the green dots line up, that's under torqued. The green dot on the cap should go slightly passed the one on the housing. It's about 1/4" if i remember correctly.

[Dackelone]

It sounds like its the oil filter cap(maybe it's cracked ?). This is one of those things that IF you had the $25 socket for the oil filter cap you(or who ever been doing the oil services) wouldn't have damaged the cap.

Btw... I would only use a BMW oil filter or Mahle/Mann filter. All those other suppliers I wouldn't trust.

[The Wind Breezes]

Yeah, when I torqued it to by feel the green lines overlap by about 1/4". My cap is definitely not cracked and I really don't need a torque wrench for it--I have extremely good feel for what appropriate torque is in this light range due to a lot of experience hand tightening fasteners. Furthermore, with the design of the seal the torque on the cap isn't what keeps it from leaking anyway, that's just to keep your cap from coming undone!

ANYWAY, the issue wasn't the tightness of the cap, it was apparently due to using those other filters / orings and the Mann filter / oring hasn't leaked a drop so far. So, while I never would have believed this before, if you want to avoid issues don't use anything but the Mann / BMW filter!

[ShocknAwe]

Mann/BMW filters ftw man.

[Silenus]

Originally Posted by Gizmo135i

I'm a BMW tech, take it from my experience... only use Bmw or Mann oil filters, anything else your asking for trouble.

Yep. Just like you, I've seen this a million times. I cringed when he said "Microguard filter". You get what you pay for.

Also, the green mark is NOT a torque mark and neither is "x distance" after the green mark!! The spec is 25 NM. This helped the leak along for sure.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Silenus

Yep. Just like you, I've seen this a million times. I cringed when he said "Microguard filter". You get what you pay for.

Also, the green mark is NOT a torque mark and neither is "x distance" after the green mark!! The spec is 25 NM. This helped the leak along for sure.

The green mark is done at the factory - as a marker/seal. So when the first oil change is done... the BMW tech will know IF the oil cap has been off the car or not.

After the first oil change these two marks won't line up. They will be spread apart by a few mm's (like 10mm's or so).

25Nm is the correct tq rating for the oil filter cap.

Note: the green dots in this picture are lined up... so the filter cap is under torqued most likely.

[zx10guy]

Yes. The green marks are what I've called and known around my circles as witness marks. As Dackelone said it's only there to show evidence the particular parts have been moved. It's not meant as a reference torque mark.

My Ducati has these marks all over it from the factory. And as part of the first service of the bike, the mechanic is supposed to go through the entire bike and retorque critical fasteners. This is to ensure during the initial break in of the bike that things didn't shake loose as that bike with the V twin vibrates pretty heavily. I've had one fastener shake loose and disappear on the bike; fortunately it was only to hold down a piece of fairing. I've also had reflectors on my license plate hanger vibrate off on that bike.

[The Wind Breezes]

I just use threadlocker on my bike, lol. 2 stroke so it vibrates a hell of a lot more than any duc.

[GMWNashville]

OEM or Mann filters only...the other ones are hunks of shit.

[kirill1221]

The cap/ cover might be damaged. ECS sells a billet aluminum one although its pricey

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by GMWNashville

something we already established

Originally Posted by kirill1221

didn't read thread at all

Try reading the thread guys...my shit's good and there have been zero leaks since I swapped to a Mann filter and o-ring. Also you can completely untorque the cap with a good o-ring and it won't leak...the seal design doesn't rely on the torque of the cap that's just to keep it from coming off.