Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Oil Filter Leaking?

While draining the radiator today I noticed a light coat of oil on the bottom half of the oil filter. Not only that but it looks like its leaking because on the bottom of the filter there was a little spot of oil waiting to drip off.

This is not the first time I noticed this but I usually see this after I change the oil and put the new filter on, but I always though it was from me over lubricating the seal causing the excess oil around it to drip out. I do loose some oil by the time I change it the next time, 3000 miles, but I always though it was burning it, which I consider normal. The thing that confuses me is that I have no stains on my driveway. I usually park it in the same spot. I always use PureOne filters and my car has 31,500 miles.

What could be the problem here?

i experience the same problem also every once in a while. perhaps tightening the oil filter a little more will take care of it...good luck...

wipe the sealing area when u do the change.i've heard of people having the rubber sealing ring stick on the motor and when u put the filter on it'll leak because it has 2 gaskets on it.probably not the problem but the only thing besides undertightening i can think of

Question??? Do you remove the O-ring seal and coat it with oil "all around" and then put it back on the filter, or do you just coat the top surface of the O-ring on the filter? I make sure I do the whole ring by taking it off the filter and coating it all over. Then tighten it BY HAND ONLY. Do NOT overtighten it with a filter wrench!!!! You can make it as tight as you can with your hand, just don't use some tool. (I use a rubber sleeve slipped on the filter to tighten it because my hands are not very strong.) And yes, clean off the engine's filter seating surface with a paper towel.

Never had the old seal stick because I always check the old oil filter and when I wipe off where the oil filter goes and never fell anything stuck to it.

I just oil the top of the seal. And yes, I only hand tighten the filter, never use a wrench. But I do use a strip of fine sand paper so I can get a good grip.

I definitely don't think I'm under tightening it, nor do I think I am over tightening it.

The filter should be turned 3/4 to 1 turn after the gasket touches the sealing surface. The nice thing about K&N filters is that they have a nut on the bottom of the case for tightening and loosening.

Before everyone gets all nuts, the reason you are not supposed to use a wrench (i.e. filter wrench) to tighten the filter is that you may damage/indent the outer case and give the oil a path past the filtration media. Using the K&N nut prevents that from happening.

right, but if I tighten the filter as tight as I can the filter can wrinkles and I have even stripped threads.

I guess beng able to almost touch thumb to pointer finger while gripping the filter might help a little, and the fact that I'm in my 20s and am single answers the other half.