I changed the oil a couple weeks ago, no big deal. I installed a mobile one filter, M1-210 I think. I drive it for 2 weeks no problem. Friday we head to our little place in East Texas and I leave my truck at home. Come back to town on Sunday evening and my wife moves the truck out of the driveway so I can back the trailer in. This morning I walk out to go to work and notice oil spots dotting the driveway with a small puddle under my truck. Yep oil leaking from the filter seal. What??!! Then I notice the trail going into the street and a puddle where my wife had idled while I backed in the trailer. I checked the oil and I'm right between the full/low marks. This is where my oil level sits when I only use 6 qts of oil. Takes me about 1/2qt more to get to the full mark.

I grab a Ford 820s I have extra and a bucket and proceed to switch out filters, the seal on the Mobil looks ok. I drive to the park and ride (about 4 miles) and it looks like the Ford filter may be leaking a bit.

I've never had this problem before. I also never over-tighten the filter. I put it on by hand and can usually twist them off with 2 hands.

Anyone have any ideas? Of course the oil pressure guage is useless. On the diesel engines I worked on I believe there was a bypass in the oil pump. Any ideas?

Thanks, Rob (robsd on the "other one")

 

Hey Rob!

I'm not sure I follow you here but let me see if I got this straight...You put on a Mobil 1 oil filter, run it for two weeks with no problems, then notice that you're leaking around the oil filter seal itself and proceed to change the filter to the FL-820s...after 4 miles it, too, looks like it is leaking. *whew*!

Okay, my two-bit advice...tighten your filters more. Plus, make sure that the seal area on the bypass housing is clean.

I have to use a filter wrench to get mine off. I'd ASSume that the Mobil 1 filter had a "stiffer" seal than the Motorcraft filter.

 

Going to try to tighten more but I've never had to. The unknown here is it was fine until it sat for 2 days. Then it leaks like a sive (sp?).


We'll see....


Rob

 

I think the Motorcraft is a decent filter. Did you just switch to synthetic oil?

-Jim

 

Take the filter off and check to see if the seal from the old filter stayed on the engine.Had this happen to me guy changed the oil and the old seal came off the old filter.Didnt leak for a couple of days then a puddle on the ground. Hope this helpes. Good Luck

 

Rob, it's sieve.

Well keep me (us) posted. I can only make elementary assumptions as to what could be causing it without actually seeing it.

What are you putting on the seal prior to screwing it on?
Is the other surface clean?
What weight oil?

Someone asked about sythetic. Today's synthetics manufacturers have claimed that thier oil will not effect seals the way the old synthetics did. Especially Mobil 1 and their (now-defunct...by marketing terms anyway...) Tri-Synthetic.

I can't imagine synthetics being the cause of a MOBIL 1!! oil filter, of all brands, leaking at the seal...

 

Well I'm going to chalk this one up to a bad filter. This was the first time I tried a mobil 1 filter and I guess the last...not to mention I can buy almost 3 of the motorcraft for the price of one mobil.

When I got to the park and ride what little oil dripped must have been a little spillage from when I removed the mobil 1. I checked and tried to retighten the new one and only got a 1/2" of movement so it's pretty tight. I had to run around a bit before I went home and there was no more leak. So I'm going to call it case closed.

I looked at the mobil filter when I got home and the seal looked ok. It did look a bit compressed. No I don't use mobil 1 oil.

I did notice a small amount of oil (about a 3" circle) where I parked it Friday night before we left. So it was leaking a little bit. But when I cranked it up Sunday night (2 days later) it was leaking like a major sieve (correct?). Where my wife was idling for 2-3 minutes while I backed the trailer the spot had spread out to the size of a pizza box. And there was a steady trail when she pulled back into the driveway. So good thing we took her Suburban. I would have pumped all the oil out before I left the loop. A $10 oil filter could have ruined my weekend, month, year.

Thanks for the input gentlemen,
Rob

 

I've gotten a bad Motorcraft filter before. Guess they can't all be perfect- although I think they should! :-(