Board logo

What do you think is the cause
jollygreengiant - 24/10/04 at 11:27 AM

2 and a bit months ago I had an MOT & and oil & filter change done in a garage (by Mechanics that I have known for about 8 years), on my Vauxall Omega 2.5V6 Petrol CDX Auto Estate. Since then the car has run Faultlessly, not using or loosing any oil.
On Friday morning my wife went out as usual to go to work, started the car, drove straight off, down hill 200 yards, switched off the engine and went to the bank. When she got back in & restarted she noticed a red light with an oil can in it illuminated, so she switched off & rang me. I Said oh blast. As I went round to the vehicle I noticed a large pool of oil, complete with oil filter lying where the car had been. Then a trail of oil leading to the car. When I recovered the oil filter I also found it had a large straight dent in it from a tool. Oh blast said I.
Now then, as per previously mentioned in other posts, I run this car on Castrol magnatec oil and seeing as on this occasion the engine was cold, was only run for a short time and was pulling slowly down hill, I thought I must give it a try. So I got a new oil filter and another gallon of Magnatec, fitted the oil filter & refilled the engine with oil. I started the engine and lo and be hold, I had oil pressure and no rumbling or knocking even when hot. No doubt there will have been some damage, but I think I got away with this one.
However not being a particularly clever or astute person I am somewhat unsure as to the cause of this particular mishap. other factors that might be pertinent are that the vehilce is not garrage and is Kept overnight on a pavement about 75feet away from my house (as close as I can get). I have put up a few suggestions, but if you can think of any others it might be helpful.

Enjoy.

scoobyis2cool - 24/10/04 at 11:39 AM

Personally I don't think it sounds like the work of toe rags, I don't think they would have the mental capacity to figure out that if they loosen the oil filter it could do some damage. They tend to limit themselves to the more obvious things like scratching the paintwork and snapping your wingmirrors off.

The only other thing I can think is that the filter was damaged and worked its way loose.

Pete

Peteff - 24/10/04 at 11:41 AM

Put a new one on and grease it well. If it is anyone messing about they will get something for their trouble. You'll have to screwdriver it to get it back off though.

JoelP - 24/10/04 at 12:02 PM

i hate to blame the garage, but thats my number one suspect. Theres a tool to get the damned things off, from which you can assume its meant to be a tight fit. Blame the apprentice.

mookaloid - 24/10/04 at 01:35 PM

I am suprised that it had fallen off completely, If the filter comes loose would the oil pressure cause it to then spin off? if so then it is probably either that it was not tight enough to start with or it was just one of those things.

Failing that some toe rag........

ray.h. - 24/10/04 at 01:49 PM

If it fell off by natural causes it would be a gradual thing and it would have left a trail of oil for quite some distance.Have you upset one of your neighbours recently?
A work collegue rebuffed an admirer and got nails wedged under the wheels of her Range Rover a few days later causing four slow punctures.The worse thing is she had small kids and used to pick them up and drive them 15 miles down the motorway every day.The mans explanation was coincidance,,,,

Viper - 24/10/04 at 04:52 PM

Toe rags couldn't be bothered to techie for them. (as has been said).

garage: doubt it, would have been leaking for a while, (as has been said)

wifes driving: saying nothing. (probably get a slap of her if i did)

I rekon you have upset some coward sometime.
Tim

stephen_gusterson - 24/10/04 at 05:25 PM

it must have been done by someone.

if its a screw on filter, they take a few turns to get off and your car would have bled to death way before then. Im assuming that the filter can be reached under the car?

atb

steve

or

was your wife off to buy something expensive and had to be stopped at all costs

jollygreengiant - 24/10/04 at 08:14 PM

The weekend before some herbert broke the drivers door mirror off, £260 + vat + paint. I am going to be looking around the breakers for one over the next few days. Fitting a filter is no problem, by trade I am a mechanic. As for the tools for removal yep Ive got them. Yes the filter is easily accesible from under-neath, it's about the only thing that is. Yep I personally do suspect some coward. I had a Rover P5B coupe a few years back, Some Ass-H*le used a syringe repatedly on each tyre sidewall (26 holes + in one). Right now a cunning plan is formulating I will find out who it is.

Thanks for your thoughts. The first thing the cops asked when I reported it was who had I upset.

Enjoy.

Mark Allanson - 24/10/04 at 08:48 PM

I'm with Steve on this one, there must be at least 5 full turns before the filter could have come off. During this time the oil pressure must have been zero.

jollygreengiant - 24/10/04 at 09:12 PM

quote:
Originally posted by stephen_gusterson

was your wife off to buy something expensive and had to be stopped at all costs


The most the wife could spend in one go is £250, but an engine would be nearly £3K fitted so the wife could spend what she likes.


Enjoy.

MikeP - 25/10/04 at 03:08 PM

I've heard a few times of the old oil filter gasket sticking in place, resulting in a double gasket when the new filter is put on - easy to miss. I believe they loosen or blow out under pressure. It's never happened to me, so I don't know if the filter spins off too, or how long it takes.

marktigere1 - 25/10/04 at 03:30 PM

Hi

I had oil leaking from a filter on a Rover once. Thought it was quite serious so gently drove it back and they told me that it wasn't tightened enough

Two points:-

a) I should have checked it so I looked stupid

and

b) Why the feck they never tightened it up properly I'll never know.

Not sure if the filter would have come all the way off before the oil disappeared though?

Cheers

Mark

Peteff - 25/10/04 at 03:43 PM

I only ever fit filters hand tight with a little oil on the rubber gasket but I always have to use a wrench to get them back off. I've never had one leak or loosen itself.

James - 25/10/04 at 03:53 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeP
I've heard a few times of the old oil filter gasket sticking in place, resulting in a double gasket when the new filter is put on - easy to miss. I believe they loosen or blow out under pressure. It's never happened to me, so I don't know if the filter spins off too, or how long it takes.


I've had that happen once on my MKII Golf. Can't really remember how I realised- nothing as dramatic as the above. I think it just didn't 'feel right' when being done up.

JGG,
Doesn't seem too likely for random vandals- as others have said that would be keying or superglue in tyre valves or something equally productive!

Just out of interest where does the filter attach/what angle is it? Only wonder as if it was already mostly undone you'd have thought there'd be oil where car was parked. With my car, as soon as you start undoing it, oil pours out all over your hands.

Was the thread ok on the filter? I just wondering if it came off under pressure having not been put on properly.

James

mackie - 25/10/04 at 04:27 PM

Or possibly more to the point, is the thread in the engine block ok? If they mashed it sufficiently putting it on it could maybe blow off as a result.
</straw grasping>

jollygreengiant - 26/10/04 at 02:45 PM

quote:
Originally posted by James
quote:
Originally posted by MikeP
I've heard a few times of the old oil filter gasket sticking in place, resulting in a double gasket when the new filter is put on - easy to miss. I believe they loosen or blow out under pressure. It's never happened to me, so I don't know if the filter spins off too, or how long it takes.


I've had that happen once on my MKII Golf. Can't really remember how I realised- nothing as dramatic as the above. I think it just didn't 'feel right' when being done up.

JGG,
Doesn't seem too likely for random vandals- as others have said that would be keying or superglue in tyre valves or something equally productive!

Just out of interest where does the filter attach/what angle is it? Only wonder as if it was already mostly undone you'd have thought there'd be oil where car was parked. With my car, as soon as you start undoing it, oil pours out all over your hands.

Was the thread ok on the filter? I just wondering if it came off under pressure having not been put on properly.

James


Double sealing washer - done it once myself in workshop, highly embarasing, sealing rings normaly fail instantly (max 24 hrs) second new filter required + oil + presure wash of engine bay & undertray (drips on customers driveway cause lots of complaints). You get into the habit of checking the filter you take off has its ring & checking seat for any extras.

Car Sits outside on level ground and had been standing over night, so most of oil would have been drained back into sump. The filter its self mounts horizontally on the nearside of the engine block and is the only thing of any import or size that is accesible through the relatively large access area to the rear of the front subframe.

Both the sealing ring was intact, with no signs of distortion and the mounting threads on the block and old filter were OK. The ONLY damage was to the exteranl body of the filter, which was a tool mark consistent with a metal tool (ie, big grips/pipe wrench) being used to slacken/undo the canister.

As for the oil coming out fast, thats to be expected as the oil (especially when cold) will be pumped through oil filter area at normally around about 60-80 psi with a flow rate of somewhere around 3.0 - 5.0 litres per minute with no filter attached.

The only similar thing that I've ever had happen like this was on a 340 Mk2 Jag that I had many years ago. Started it up one morning & reversed out of the drive. As I backed out I noticed a large slick following me. Sealing ring had failed between the metal cover & the block thought I. New filter & 6.5 pint of duckhams Q later I tried again. SPLODGE.
Hmmmm thought I. When to a breakers & relieved another Jag of it complete filter block ass. & fitted it to mine with another new filter AND ANOTHER 6.5 pints of Duckams Q. Turns out that the actual Alloy filter block had distorted.

And I personally think that it is some mindless moron with a grudge. Could be very local to me as there is a bit of a niggle at present with regards to parking in the area at the moment with/due to on-going road works in the area.