30 years of tinkering with and doing maintenance on cars, trucks, and Jeeps and I ran into something last night I haven’t had happen before.
My son just got a 2011 Ram 1500 with the 5.7L engine. 169,500 miles and running pretty good. But when we get a used vehicle I like to do all the maintenance and that way I know it’s all been done and I have a baseline to work from going forward.
Previous owner had a Mobil 1 M1-210A oil filter on it. I went to Chinamart to get a filter and some oil. (Oil prices are up 25% across the board…another story for another time.) All they had in stock was the same Mobil 1 M1-210A filter. Typically I’d buy Mopar as my first choice, and Purolator as my second choice, but both were sold out. So I grabbed another Mobil 1 filter even though it was the most pricey.
Later that night we drained the oil and I spun the old filter off. Spun the new filter on. Popped a factory style drain bolt into the pan (the previous owner had put some kind of quick-drain fitting on the oil pan but didn’t give us the tool to attach to it so the oil could be drained) because I had a couple laying in my toolbox from prior vehicles. 7 quarts of fresh oil. I had my son start the truck so I could watch the oil pan to make sure the drain bolt I retrofitted would not leak.
Well, we got a BIG leak……..but not from the drain bolt. The new oil filter looked like a geyser! I had him shut the truck off. Oil was ALL OVER my driveway at this point. I removed the new filter and set it next to the old filter. Same part number. Same o-ring on both. Same threads on both. Internally they looked the same to the naked eye. Put the new one back on and tightened it even more. Started the truck….OIL GEYSER. So I ended up having to put the old filter back on. Now I’m going back to Chinamart today to get a refund on the defective Mobil 1 filter so that I can buy some oil-dry for my driveway!
My son just got a 2011 Ram 1500 with the 5.7L engine. 169,500 miles and running pretty good. But when we get a used vehicle I like to do all the maintenance and that way I know it’s all been done and I have a baseline to work from going forward.
Previous owner had a Mobil 1 M1-210A oil filter on it. I went to Chinamart to get a filter and some oil. (Oil prices are up 25% across the board…another story for another time.) All they had in stock was the same Mobil 1 M1-210A filter. Typically I’d buy Mopar as my first choice, and Purolator as my second choice, but both were sold out. So I grabbed another Mobil 1 filter even though it was the most pricey.
Later that night we drained the oil and I spun the old filter off. Spun the new filter on. Popped a factory style drain bolt into the pan (the previous owner had put some kind of quick-drain fitting on the oil pan but didn’t give us the tool to attach to it so the oil could be drained) because I had a couple laying in my toolbox from prior vehicles. 7 quarts of fresh oil. I had my son start the truck so I could watch the oil pan to make sure the drain bolt I retrofitted would not leak.
Well, we got a BIG leak……..but not from the drain bolt. The new oil filter looked like a geyser! I had him shut the truck off. Oil was ALL OVER my driveway at this point. I removed the new filter and set it next to the old filter. Same part number. Same o-ring on both. Same threads on both. Internally they looked the same to the naked eye. Put the new one back on and tightened it even more. Started the truck….OIL GEYSER. So I ended up having to put the old filter back on. Now I’m going back to Chinamart today to get a refund on the defective Mobil 1 filter so that I can buy some oil-dry for my driveway!
