OH, what have I done?!?!

**italiansedanman** · #1 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 01:34 AM

I've never buggered this one up in 10 years + of oil changing but after a speedy change this afternoon I fired the engine, let it idle and walked around the front to find a puddle of oil with half the filter seal floating in it.

Quickly shut the engine down and the leak stopped. So what I THINK i've done is not seated the seal correctly, torqued the nut on the filter housing and virtually 'cut' the seal in half. Does this sound like a possible act of stupidity in my driveway?

It got dark very quickly after this catastrophe (ofcourse), so i'll have to fix it up in the morning.

One final question - can I happily remove the filter with oil in the sump, or must I drain the lot and start again??

I've never done anything this dumb before... (on a car)

Andrew · #2 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 07:40 AM

You don't say which car, but I presume the 68 GTV (canister vs. spin-on)? Either way it doesn't matter. Yes, you can remove the filter without having all the oil drain out of the sump. Some oil in the filter housing and in the passages there will make a mess, but the oil in the sump will stay there.

Andrew

**101/105guy** · #3 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 04:15 PM

I did this on my Giulia Super......
changed the oil and filter, but didn't line up the filter housing in it's mounting. Same result. Take care that the housing is centered on the o-ring and no problems!
Randy

**Bill S** · #4 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 04:38 PM

It's fairly common for the square cut o-ring to stay lodged in the upper filter housing. Trying to put another seal on in addition to the lodged seal results in big oil puddles! You might want to check the housing to make sure there isn't an extra ring from long ago compressed up in there.

As far as messes go, I like to put doubled or tripled plastic grocery bags around the cannister before I remove it to catch the spillage.

**italiansedanman** · #5 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 05:13 PM

Okay, I've sussed it this morning. As I suspected, the seal became dislodged after I pushed it in (I did remove the old seal BTW...) but I didn't see it fall out. As far as I could feel the seal was in situ and the canister was mating flat.

When I dropped the canister out this morning the other half of the seal was evident almost INSIDE the canister. I cleaned and lubed the old seal and put it back, re-seated the canister and topped up the oil. Running the engine now and everything seems fine.

Now that i've made that mistake its out of the way!