Interesting Pentastar oil filter failure

[dlundblad]

My brother was doing an oil change on his 2016 Jeep Wrangler. When removing the old oil filter, the end with the pyramid-ish structure and small o ring broke off inside the bottom of the housing. He was able to get it after 20 minutes with some needle nose pliers.

My first thought was that he either bumped it or removed it at an odd angle and this caused it to break. He said that wasn’t the case. It’s really not possible to remove it at such an awkward angle that it would break either. Either way, glad he noticed it.

I believe it’s a Dorman filter. He took it to an indy shop last year to have the oil filter housing replaced. (Normally I’m an OE fan and try to convince him of such, but OE in this case would have been the same warp prone plastic part. The Dorman part is metal.) The filter came with the new housing. We’ve used Mopar filters in the past. Hopefully that’s what he used after this.

 

[demarpaint]

That rubber oil ring at the bottom of the 'pyramid" structure might have been installed dry into the new replacement filter housing. That could cause it to bind up a bit when the cap was screwed on, and it broke as a result. Odds are it might have been broken the entire OCI. I always lube that and the O-Ring on the housing cap when I change the oil filter in my Wrangler. All we can do is guess the cause, it could also have been a defect. Next time tell him to turn the filter by hand before putting the cap on to see if it turns freely.

 

[dlundblad]

That rubber oil ring at the bottom of the 'pyramid" structure might have been installed dry into the new replacement filter housing. That could cause it to bind up a bit when the cap was screwed on, and it broke as a result. Odds are it might have been broken the entire OCI. I always lube that and the O-Ring on the housing cap when I change the oil filter in my Wrangler. All we can do is guess the cause, it could also have been a defect. Next time tell him to turn the filter by hand before putting the cap on to see if it turns freely.

I can honestly say we’ve never lubed it before. Granted, that was with the old style joint too. I’ll share this with him for next time.