Loose oil filter

[tidefan1967]

This reminds me of a similar story I had with our car (luckily not the Ram). I do ALL my own oil and fluid changes for exactly what others have said, I trust my work and care. The only time others touch my vehicles involves warranty work.

So we bring the car in due to broken heated seats, the module shorts and refuses to turn on when colder than EXACTLY -26deg. Go figure, too cold for heated seats...

The dealer is a 250mi drive from where we live, I drop it off, they fix the seats, and I drive the 250mi home. The next day I round up my oil change items and crawl under to get started. Well don't I find oil EVERYWHERE and a GIANT hole cut in the plastic skid plate under the oil filter. It's fresh and there's plastic shavings all over mixed in with the oil. I go to unscrew the oil filter and it's held on by maybe 3 full turns and when I first grabbed it was so loose it rattled around. Once off I can tell that whoever used the HOLE SAW to cut the hole in my skid plate went through the skid, up into the oil filter (still under power on the saw) it jammed the oil filter and UNSCREWED it and also scored my oil pan. I drove 250mi home on a deserted highway with an oil filter that barely hung on.

I called the dealer to ask W T F went on with my car because it just needed the SEATS fixed. He says there's a recall and some of the cars came without the access holes cut for the oil filters. I get it, it sucked having to drop the skid to change my oil, but they never asked me or even told me they did this. The shop manager apologized and asked me to bring the filter in as proof. Once he saw it a few weeks later he said the next work order I bring in would be discounted as an apology, I reminded him this is why I don't like other monkeys working on my stuff. I've never been back to that shop since.

Imagine the perfect storm for this screw up:

1) I do all my own oil changes.
2) They never told me they worked on the engine.
3) I drive home on a deserted highway and the oil filter falls off the car.
4) All the oil pukes out and my engine seizes up.
5) I bring it to the dealer and they tell me "well looks like you don't know how to change oil dummy, we aren't covering the engine".

I shudder at the thought of that. Long story short, don't trust shops.

Great post! I’ve only let someone else change my oil a few times (free oil change promotions) and they ****** it up nearly every time. With that I decided to never let anyone change my oil again ever and if/when I get to old to do it myself well then it will be time to quit driving altogether.

 

[Parch07]

Thanks for posting this everyone. I just had the first oil change on my 19 Rebel and I now have oil all over the garage floor. Ugh!!! Glad to know I'm not the only one with an under tightened oil filter. It's a scary thought to have a filter dislodge on a new 50K truck. Guess I'll return to doing my one oil changes again.

 

[HammerHead]

Thanks for posting this everyone. I just had the first oil change on my 19 Rebel and I now have oil all over the garage floor. Ugh!!! Glad to know I'm not the only one with an under tightened oil filter. It's a scary thought to have a filter dislodge on a new 50K truck. Guess I'll return to doing my one oil changes again.

Yep, we all have been there. What oil and filter combo are you going to use when you do it yourself?

 

[Parch07]

The same the shop installed, Mobil 1 Synthetic and filter.

 

[HammerHead]

The same the shop installed, Mobil 1 Synthetic and filter.

M1 does not meet Chrysler warranty specifications. I’d go with Pennzoil Ultra Platinum (PUP). And keep all recipes and detailed maintenance log.

 

[corneileous]

The same the shop installed, Mobil 1 Synthetic and filter.

This was a dealer that used that brand of oil? That’s odd because as Hammer said, Mobil 1 isn’t approved by Chrysler.


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[Parch07]

Thanks for the info, I didn't realize a M1 filter would be an issue. I had the local oil change shop perform the service rather than the dealership. I'll look into the PUP filter. Thanks again for the tip!

 

[whetrick1]

I let the dealership change my oil while under warranty that way if anything goes wrong it's in them. And I have had the oil filter to come loose and leak but the dealership took care of it.


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[Justin79]

Went to a shop and had my new tires put on. They call me in saying my new truck with 5,500 miles on it is leaking oil. I had just had the first oil change done on it about two weeks ago. The oil filter was loose and was leaking out and it had traces of spray all over underneath that area of the truck. Was also told it had too much oil in it but I didn't see that first hand. They said it was about an inch above the good zone on the stick. They tightened up the filter and checked to see if it was still leaking but it stopped. Not sure if any oil was taken out but when I checked it at work today after it had sit for about 6 hours, it was right at the top of the hash marks so it was full at the right level. I just can't believe a vehicle can leave the dealer with a loose oil filter. Over the couple weeks I have driven it, all the oil could have leaked out and I may have had a big problem. Anyways, called the dealer and had them check it out today just incase something else was up and of course all is well. They cleaned up the mess from the dripping oil but other than that nothing was done. I really just went so they could see it and just to have it documented that it happened.

Had the same here. Took mine in for a knocking noise, come to find out an oil leak, broken cv joint, and broken sway bar link, and a rear shock was bad, this was at 2300 miles and I wasn’t the cause, just happened. Two months later/now I’ve taken it back for a tapping noise at idle and AC barely cold (and summer is here in SC!). They are currently tearing apart the whole motor to try to figure out the current tapping/knocking noise :-/

 

[TigreST]

Can’t explain this one at all but.... picked up the 2018 RAM 4x4 Sport CC in mid Jan 18. Come April 6 (2548kms) I start to notice what I think is a small oil spot on the driveway. I looked underneath and could see no sign of a leak or oil spray back on the chassis. Had a bit of a road trip planned two weeks out ( first run of an extended distance ) so bought I’d get it checked before departure. Turns out the oil filter was creased and cracked, from new, but took 3 months to show up as a leak. Dealer as if I’d hit anything, “Nope”, says me. You know how that filter is sorta tucked up in the there...how could I hit anyting with it? They replaced the filter and topped up the oil no problem. The filter was creased down one side about half to 3/4 the height of the filter length, as they showed me the filter. Weird one for sure.

T.