Mysterious oil leak

[miltonbland]

I had a check engine light on my 2013 Ram 1500, pentastar 114,000 miles. Oil pressure stuck at over 100 psi even when the engine was not running . I replaced the oil filter housing , cooler, fuel rails, injectors, and all related sending units with Dorman components. Everything checked fine for about 1,000 miles until I noticed what appears to be engine oil on my garage floor. I crawled under the truck and the engine oil pan has some oil around the gasket but the transmission pan was a lot worse. The engine oil dipstick still shows full. The engine bay sure looks clean when looking from the top. I taped a bit of paper towel to end of a 3 foot length of solid copper wire and prodded various openings around the oil filter housing. The paper towel didn't pick up any oil so it doesn't appear to be pooling anywhere. So what should I do? live with it and see if it gets worse?

As a side note, I did service the transmission about a year ago and installed a new pan. However I have never noticed a transmission leak and this oil sure looks like engine oil.

 

[EdGs]

Oil psi stuck high with not running sounds like a faulty oil pressure sender.

Oil filter housing known to leak across intake manifold and run down rear of engine.

 

[fix it dave]

My 2015 pentastar been doing that for a year. Small leak in the valley where the oil filter and cooler are. Could be the grommets where the cooler is attached. Any way Ive never noticed a oil level decrease between oil changes every 5k. If I were you just live with it. A little oil goes a long way.
Some claim the oil filter housing cracks. It could if torqued enough. The "O" ring is the seal not how tight the lid is torqued.

 

[miltonbland]

I had a check engine light on my 2013 Ram 1500, pentastar 114,000 miles. Oil pressure stuck at over 100 psi even when the engine was not running . I replaced the oil filter housing , cooler, fuel rails, injectors, and all related sending units with Dorman components. Everything checked fine for about 1,000 miles until I noticed what appears to be engine oil on my garage floor. I crawled under the truck and the engine oil pan has some oil around the gasket but the transmission pan was a lot worse. The engine oil dipstick still shows full. The engine bay sure looks clean when looking from the top. I taped a bit of paper towel to end of a 3 foot length of solid copper wire and prodded various openings around the oil filter housing. The paper towel didn't pick up any oil so it doesn't appear to be pooling anywhere. So what should I do? live with it and see if it gets worse?

As a side note, I did service the transmission about a year ago and installed a new pan. However I have never noticed a transmission leak and this oil sure looks like engine oil.

The leak continues! Here is an update on my leaky 2013 Ram with the Pentastar v6.
I personally replaced the original oil cooler/filter housing with a Dorman 926-959 Aluminum unit in March, 2026. Still leaking so I thought maybe my age (80) was catching up with me and maybe I made a mistake with the installation--possible I did not get all the seals installed properly or did not get the bolts torqued properly.
I took the truck to a highly regarded independent shop and they agreed to inspect the oil leak and fix it. I mentioned to them I had read about a problem with some of the seals used with the Dorman and suggested replacing all seals with Felpro. The shop agreed and ordered and installed Fel-pro ES73779 seals. Still had the leak and the shop removed, inspected, and replaced the cooler . They found no obvious reason for the seals to be leaking so I took the truck and drove it for about 50 miles. Still leaking.

I thought it must be a defective oil cooler so I called Dorman (866-933-2911). The technician explained their cooler must be installed with their seals. The machined areas where the seals fit are deeper than the OEM cooler and no other brand of seals other than Dorman will work. Not Mopar nor Felpro, and only Dorman part number 926-959G will seal properly.

I decided to talk with Felpro. The technician there was very interested in my situation and explained he had replaced the oil cooler-housing in his Cherokee last weekend. He was not aware of the Dorman unit being machined differently but did not seem surprised. To my surprise he mentioned that Felpro has developed and are now making available their own oil cooler-housing, Felpro part number OFHA1001. I checked OReillys and they do not show it available but Amazon does $235.00.

So the shop that has been working on the problem has generously offered to install a new set of Dorman seals (on the existing Dorman unit) at no additional charge if I will provide them. I plan on doing so tomorrow.

I will provide a follow up in a fewdays.