Oil filter gasket blew out/Major engine damage

[Adam101]

Car: 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon
Engine: 2.0L H4 Turbocharged
Mileage: 64k

Problem: While driving from Salt Lake City to Moab, Utah my car leaked its oil through the oil filter gasket. It appears that the oil filter gasket blew out. I have pictures that seem to show that. The engine was heavily damaged. The oil filter is a Pentius brand PLB6607. I had about 3500 miles since my last oil change. The oil change was done by a Texaco Xpress quick lube place.

Question: Does anybody know what may have caused this to happen? From searching on the internet I found that it could have been caused by the oil pressure regulating valve being stuck open causing the oil pressure to spike up. Does anybody know what to check for this? Any other possible causes?

The main reason I am asking is that the repair estimate is quite hight right now, and Subaru is blaming the problem on the oil filter and is not honoring my warranty. The filter was sent to Pentius and they concluded that nothing was wrong with the filter, and it is now being examined by a 3rd party lab to confirm it. The technician who removed the filter indicated that the filter was on the engine tight.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[cosynthetics]

Out of curiosity, does the car not have an oil light or pressure gauge?

 

[BuickGN]

I've blown a few out on the Buick with cold starts on straight 60wt. In my experience when the O-ring blows out due to super high pressures, the O-ring is visibly blown out (not broken) in one spot and you lose all the oil in the motor in less than 30 seconds.

The other way mine has failed from high pressure is it will push the filter down a couple threads and the O-ring looks ok but the filter is super loose.

I don't know if this happened to you since a tech would notice a blown O-ring and you said the filter was tight.

Mine runs 80-100psi of pressure when cold. When it's blown the filter off, the guage was pegged past 120psi.

 

[Panzerman]

Ive had a faulty one, but luckily it happened while backing the car off the ramp, the O ring broke. Its possible, Id say its basically the weakest link.

 

[TurboJim]

Maybe someone at the Filter Manufacturer's Council can help you?
http://www.filtercouncil.org/

 

[Adam101]

The car does not have an oil pressure gage. The oil light didn't come on until the engine was dead. Talking to the Subaru technician it has been his experience that the light doesn't come on until the engine is already gone. I found that really nice.

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: Adam101
The car does not have an oil pressure gage. The oil light didn't come on until the engine was dead. Talking to the Subaru technician it has been his experience that the light doesn't come on until the engine is already gone. I found that really nice.


The light is probably set to come on at a low pressure like 5psi or less. At idle this might save your engine but if you're cruising down the freeway with barely above 5psi due to oil blowing out of the O-ring, the light isn't going to come on and you're doing damage to the engine.

 

[alreadygone]

Been servicing engine oil for over thirty years, only gaskets I've ever seen blown out were caused by not removing old gasket before new filter installed. Normally these will blow as soon as ingine is started.

Had a stuck pressure relief valve on a personal '68 Ford years ago,, it actually split the case on a Motorcraft filter. Gasket did not blow.

Unfortunately you sound in the position of being blued, screwed, and tattoed! Since filter mfgr, lube shop, and auto mfgr. are likely to all be able to pass the buck because it doesn't sound like you can nail exact cause.

Best of luck.

Bob

 

[mechtech2]

If the gasket was blown out, how can anyone tell if it was torqued properly originally? Ask them about this.
Bad part or bad installation.
Did the oil change guy use grease? That's a no- no.
Dry? That could be bad. Too loose? Easy to do.

 

[Steve S]

The cost for an engine rebuild is? Talk to an attorney about the problem. Is the engine under warranty? May be you could bring all parties to court at once for the problem?

 

[JustinH]

Why on earth wouldn't you take this car to a mechanic, and use synthetic oil and subaru filters in it (if you didn't want to do the work yourself)


Not to beat you up too bad, but a car like this has no place at a quick-lube place.

 

[MrCritical]

If the car is still in warranty or service contract, I'd recommend using OEM oil filter for sure.

I'd find out who makes that brand oil filter. I won't name any names, but there's one that I don't know of anyone using at dragstrips anymore simply because of a reputation for doing exactly what yours did.

 

[The Critic]

Was the oil pressure relief valve working?

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: MrCritical

I'd find out who makes that brand oil filter.


I was wondering that too, so I googled the name. Evidently they are associated with the distributor of Daewoo cars in this country. I had assumed they were a Chinese manufacturer but with the Daewoo connection they might be Korean.

I dunno, I think I'd stick with OEM if I had this car.

 

[Tosh]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
If the gasket was blown out, how can anyone tell if it was torqued properly originally? Ask them about this.
Bad part or bad installation.
Did the oil change guy use grease? That's a no- no.
Dry? That could be bad. Too loose? Easy to do.

I think a dry gasket would explain what happened here, and perhaps the photos will support this. Can we see these photos?
The technician who first examined the oil filter and how tight it was on, who does he work for? Was a report generated for this inspection, and can we see it or can you tell us what it said? Was there evidence of prior oil seepage, or was this one sudden event?

 

[Johnny]

I've never heard of any problem with Subaru having oil pressure relief valve problems but it could happen. The first thing I use to look for was how tight was the filter installed. If they are over tightened (which most lube centers do) it will split the rubber gasket. It's probably a square cut gasket like on most aftermarket filters, not an o-ring. I would get an attorney involved in this one due to cost. Someone is at fault and a good attorney can find out who it is. No since in you paying for someone else's mistake.

 

[Quest]

Originally Posted By: Adam101
Car: 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon
Engine: 2.0L H4 Turbocharged
Mileage: 64k

Problem: While driving from Salt Lake City to Moab, Utah my car leaked its oil through the oil filter gasket. It appears that the oil filter gasket blew out. I have pictures that seem to show that. The engine was heavily damaged. The oil filter is a Pentius brand PLB6607. I had about 3500 miles since my last oil change. The oil change was done by a Texaco Xpress quick lube place.

Question: Does anybody know what may have caused this to happen? From searching on the internet I found that it could have been caused by the oil pressure regulating valve being stuck open causing the oil pressure to spike up. Does anybody know what to check for this? Any other possible causes?

The main reason I am asking is that the repair estimate is quite hight right now, and Subaru is blaming the problem on the oil filter and is not honoring my warranty. The filter was sent to Pentius and they concluded that nothing was wrong with the filter, and it is now being examined by a 3rd party lab to confirm it. The technician who removed the filter indicated that the filter was on the engine tight.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.


Sorry to hear that man.

Truth is, why would you go outside and have oil change done by quick lube place?

What may have caused the problem? My hunch is a defective filter of some sort, but then again, with quicky lube place anything could be possible so no definitive conclusion can be drawn.

Indeed, Subaru has every single rights to not honour your warranty in this case, citing non-OEM filter by quickie lube place. Your best option was to go after that quickie lube place to the best of your ability and then go from there.

Q.

 

[Adam101]

I went to the quick lube place because it was convenient and a lot faster than the dealer. In hindsight that wasn't the smartest thing to have done. I now realize that.

Here are some pictures of the oil filter before it was removed (I hope the link works):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ylozkse.7kz04dzm&x=0&y=-vzuoss

The technician who first inspected it works for a Subaru dealer. His initial guess was that it was a double gasket situation, but that seemed odd considering the miles I had put on since the last oil change. He reported that the oil filter seemed to feel like the typical tightness when he removed it, but that was just his feel so it is now impossible to know if it was on too tight or too loose. No visible damage was seen on the filter gasket, and it was just the one gasket.

I checked my oil before leaving Seattle for Salt Lake and it was at the correct level. All indications are that it was a sudden leak occurring sometime between Salt Lake city and Moab. Oil marks were seen on the engine indicating that it shot out of the filter at high pressure.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Wow, What was the time span from the oil service to the failure? How many miles etc... I have seen new gaskets fail to seat properly even though they looked fine twice in my life. I have never had the double gasket situation since I always checkthe filter mount and I check the old filter. I had a problem with some Peak Hard Drivers filters doing this a few year's ago so I tossed a case of them away. I did not have time for unreliable gaskets! If the filter was not tight it could easily leak. If the filter had the wrong size threads or diameter it could also leak.It only takes a small leak at pressure to empty the oil out of the engine rather fast.This is why I change my own oil no matter what! SOme day I might not be able to change it myself but until then I am going to keep doing it myself! If you would have checked the oil like when gasing up or just randomly before you go some place you might have caught this. One thing I learned driveing commercial and when learning to fly is always do a pre check/pre flight!!!! If their going to be a problem better you catch it at home then on the road.

Case in point I was working on the wifes brakes yesterday so i checked uder the hood when I was done. The radiator resovoir was dry, the washer solvent dry, oil was a quart low,trany fluid was a pint or two low etc......If I did not check she would drive the car dry! I check my car everytime I get fuel and sometimes I just randomly pop the hood for the heck of it.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Quest

Sorry to hear that man.

Truth is, why would you go outside and have oil change done by quick lube place?

What may have caused the problem? My hunch is a defective filter of some sort, but then again, with quicky lube place anything could be possible so no definitive conclusion can be drawn.

Indeed, Subaru has every single rights to not honour your warranty in this case, citing non-OEM filter by quickie lube place. Your best option was to go after that quickie lube place to the best of your ability and then go from there.

Q.

I'm afraid that the quick lube is going to say that since it had been more than 3mo/3k miles since the last oil change, it is no longer their problem.