STP (AutoZone) filter failure almost blew up a customers Jeep yesterday.

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Was working on a 2018 Jeep Wrangler yesterday, customer wanted an oil change and rotation, I upsold a coolant exchange and brake fluid exchange as well and it probably saved his engine. I began by draining the oil and then looked around the shop for the cartridge filter for the Jeep, didn't have any in stock so had my service advisor order one. While waiting I pulled the hose from the water pump and drained the coolant, took off the tires and flushed the brakes starting at the rear driver's caliper.

Filter comes, so I fill up the oil, change the filter and gasket, fill the coolant, and start the engine to begin bleeding the air out of the cooling system. Everything's going well so far, temps are good, heat's nice and hot, and the system is not taking any more coolant. I let the engine run as I start putting the tires back on and notice that all of the sudden something is leaking A LOT. Check the drain plug, engine is dry. Shut if off and the leaking stops. Check the oil, it's a quart low, add more oil and restart the engine, starts leaking profusely again so I take a look at the filter housing, sure enough that's where it's coming from. Shut the engine off and remove the filter cap and the new gasket I just put on comes out in pieces. Have another filter ordered (this time car quest) and reinstall and everything is good to go.

What's scary is if the customer hadn't approved the coolant exchange I would have never caught the leak, as it took a good 15 minutes of running for it to blow the gasket. Nothing was amiss when installing the new filter. Definitely could have turned out badly.
 
What was the date for the filter/gasket. :unsure:
Not sure, it was a "white box special".
What filter did you end up using? :unsure:

For a Penstatsr, the Wix XP/Napa Platinum seems to be the best choice.
Carquest. Our shop usually carries Ecogard filters, never had an issue with them, just happened to be out of stock on that one.
 
Filter comes, so I fill up the oil, change the filter and gasket, fill the coolant, and start the engine to begin bleeding the air out of the cooling system. Everything's going well so far, temps are good, heat's nice and hot, and the system is not taking any more coolant. I let the engine run as I start putting the tires back on and notice that all of the sudden something is leaking A LOT. Check the drain plug, engine is dry. Shut if off and the leaking stops. Check the oil, it's a quart low, add more oil and restart the engine, starts leaking profusely again so I take a look at the filter housing, sure enough that's where it's coming from. Shut the engine off and remove the filter cap and the new gasket I just put on comes out in pieces. Have another filter ordered (this time car quest) and reinstall and everything is good to go.
Gasket coming apart in pieces is odd. If it was that brittle one would think it would be noticed during installation. The elastomer couldn't cross-link in that short of an interval, so my guess is that it was pinched or otherwise damaged during installation.
 
Sounds like the gasket was installed incorrectly.

If it's put on the threads instead of the seat it will get cut all to pieces when torqued down.

The VW 3.0tdi filter cap has two areas that look like an o-ring seat. Use the wrong one and oil sprays all down into the valley. Good times.
 
You saved that customer some major headaches.
Not really. The incident occurred because of the low quality item installed. Had the shop specified a filter and gasket of greater quality than the cheapest thing they can find then it's most likely that this would have never been a topic of discussion. Remember, you usually get what you pay for and choosing low quality 'jobber' filters is false economy.
 
Scratching my head on this one. I've used STP oil filters numerous times. The gasket always feels as good as any other brand and their red XP one's even better (probably silicone). I can see how on many vehicles it's easy to install on the threads instead of the o-ring groove it belongs in for the catridge filter type.

Glad you got it before any damage occured
 
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Not really. The incident occurred because of the low quality item installed. Had the shop specified a filter and gasket of greater quality than the cheapest thing they can find then it's most likely that this would have never been a topic of discussion. Remember, you usually get what you pay for and choosing low quality 'jobber' filters is false economy.
IMO the STP filters (blue can and cartridge) are on par or better than the ST and EG filters people fawn over here.
 
I don't see the STP as a jobber filter or low quality filter. Hate to say it, my vote is for a poorly placed o-ring or maybe even a dry one hanging up.
Possibly. I know that I can hardly tear the o-ring apart on the Hengst filters I install on my BMW so to have one disintegrate on installation seems to be very unusual.
 
I don't see the STP as a jobber filter or low quality filter. Hate to say it, my vote is for a poorly placed o-ring or maybe even a dry one hanging up.
He claims the filter was a "white box special" so I personally would suspect the quality.
 
Nothing is unusual.... saw a cross threaded aluminum oil cap cartridge installation.... destroy the block threads.... Owner tried to blame a manufacturing issue. People make mistakes. Its even more difficult to admit them.

Thread title says STP. Thread says 'white box'(guessing Autozone shop filter). I say 'oh well', it happens.
 
My vote is most likely O-ring damage, unless there was a bad batch of O-rings made and out on the shelves. Only way to know would be to buy a bunch more of that filter and test the O-rings.
 
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