3.8 oil leak at oil filter

[Jitsujeeper]

Hey everyone. I've been dealing with an oil leak that I noticed in the beginning of the fall. It appeared to be either the pan or the rear main. So with the cold weather behind us I got to work on it yesterday. I dropped the pan and thankfully the rear main was not leaking. The flywheel and bellhousing were dry and clean. I dropped the pan down replace the upper gasket and even resealed the lower pan. Obviously new oil and filter at same time. I let it sit overnight to cure. Today, I did about 70 miles and when I got home I crawled underneath to check it out. Since it was all clean as of yestersay. So to my surprise I had oil on along the upper part of the pan right between the motor mount and the oil filter. I saw drip of oil come from the filter! It was not loose. I have 130k+ on it. Use the oem filter and have done every oil change myself. I'd upload a pic but, either I can't or just haven't figured out how to lol. I am 100% its coming from oil filter. As I drive it blows the oil back along pan and onto bellhousing. Has anyone dealt with this? A Google search came up with dozens of this complaint but, no answers..

 

[Jitsujeeper]

Here's the leak. This was spotless before this afternoon. The circled spot is where it was dripping from. I wiped it clean before I took the pic.

 

[Jitsujeeper]

Another view here you can see where it gets wet. The second screw seems to get dripped on when the jeep is in motion

 

[Pyro1415]

I don't mean to insult your mechanical ability but did you clean the surface and properly tighten the filter?

I only ask because I made this mistake on a girlfriends Camry a couple years ago.

 

[joeymac]

You may have 2 rubber gaskets on this filter. Occasionally the old oil filter gasket will stick to the sealing surface. When installing the new oil filter, the 2 gaskets together will cause the oil to leak from this area.

 

[scull20]

I don't mean to insult your mechanical ability but did you clean the surface and properly tighten the filter?

I only ask because I made this mistake on a girlfriends Camry a couple years ago.

Just to piggyback on this...maybe the rubber seal was still stuck to the block when you pulled the old filter off?

 

[Pyro1415]

Exactly what happened to me.

 

[Drdiesel1]

That filter looks deformed ???

 

[Jitsujeeper]

No insult taken. But, yeah.. checked all the obvious double gasket, cleaned oil filter mating surface. Even put another filter on it. After sleeping on it I believe I came up with the problem.