Whats the deal with parts purchased and causing malfunction of car?

[conor1n]

So...

Had a real ball of laughs yesterday.. luckily I was able to pull in straight away and hopefully didn't damage engine. I'd say it lost a a litre or two of oil, max.

First inkling of trouble was no assisted steering as aux belt slipped off.

Rear view mirror was all smoke followed by smoke from under bonnet as I slowed down... I had just changed the brake pads, so I thought they had seized up or something.. I opened up the bonnet and there was oil everywhere! I turned the car on again and looked in the engine bay, noticed oil pissing out from the o-ring in oil filter housing (and quickly shut off engine).

Look closely you can see the o ring has burst out for some reason and oil was spraying out there.

I changed the oil and filter about 1k miles ago.

It's not an OEM filter.

Please note that I did this correctly. I absolutely lubed the o ring and placed in the correct groove. Tightened the housing back to 25Nm.. If the o-ring was bulging like that at install time I would have noticed, and it also would not have taken 1k miles to exhibit problems. Filter was identical fitment to the one being replaced.

Today I had a look at it. You can below that the two fleece/rings on the filter broke down and came away from the filter. When I removed the housing, the filter was fallen downwards (gravity) and not stuck into the top of the housing as you do when installing.

Tomorrow I will buy an OEM filter and compare all.

It feels to me like the filter became compromised due to low quality and for some reason the pressure in the housing increased and blew out through the o-ring, weakest point.

Thoughts?

 

[kianok]

Buy genuine parts?

 

[conor1n]

Buy genuine parts?

Yea exactly.. to be honest I bought that from a local auto factors supporting local lol and a mechanic friend said it was fine.

I usually buy Mann filters which are decent and make for some of the OEMs.

 

[Spider10]

You was very lucky id buy a lottery ticket 🎟

 

[Wolfie1]

That o ring looks like its in the wrong place in that pic of it bulging as normally you dont see it at all once the cap is tightened up

 

[markjay]

I would say that any work done DIY gives the part manufacturer a get-out-of-jail card, because they'll claim it was down to poor installation and fitting and you'll have a hard time convicing a judge otherwise, unless you can prove that you are a trained mechanic.

That said, sometimes part manufacturers do agree to cover damages without making a fuss. Also, keeping in mind that you bought the part as a consumer (i.e. not as trade), you have your statutory rights and therefore some leverage that a trade buyer might not have.

So with parts fittes DIY, successfully getting compensation for damage from the shop or manufacturer is a question of luck, mostly... when the fitting is done by a garage it's a different story, the garage is fully liable (and they should in turn sue their parts supplier etc).

 

[markjay]

Also, had the fault caused a crash involving a large cost to your insurer, they would have appointed a forensic expert and then produce a technical report and proceed to sue the shop and the part's manufacturer against the payout they made to you and other parties.

 

[oldguy57]

What a mess Conor. A steam clean required? I'm not sure it will be economical to pursue the matter against the shop, unless you get an independent test on the various seals to prove they are inadequate. Might be an idea to tell the shop though. Hopefully no permanent damage done. What happened is the reason why I don't do mechanical stuff to my cars anymore - that and the Arthur it is!

 

[horatio]

Try proving it wasn’t a DIY error - torque too high, incorrect seal placement or whatever.

What brand was the filter? Fram get a lot of criticism.

 

[grober]

That o ring looks like its in the wrong place in that pic of it bulging as normally you dont see it at all once the cap is tightened

possibly wrong filter/oring---boxed wrong-wrong part no- still got the box? part no may be on that felt washer?

 

[geoffus]

What make was the filter ?

 

[Muckypaps]

Looking at the O-ring having it's leg out of bed you will have a hard job convincing anybody it wasn't your fault.
In your mind it was fitted correctly, unless many more have had the same happen, the odds are against you.

 

[colinallcars]

That o ring looks like its in the wrong place in that pic of it bulging as normally you dont see it at all once the cap is tightened up

I agree. Looks like the ring has been fitted at the top of the housing rather than in the groove. This would prevent the filter from seating properly and lead to its disintegration.

 

[conor1n]

Thanks guys. I see what you are saying on the o-ring but I cannot stress enough that this was all done correctly. When I say properly I mean I clean down the housing with brake cleaner before adding new rings, I lube the rings before adding and torque to the 25Nm.. dry threads. My friend is always slagging me for following torque specs.

I have serviced cars multiple times and never had an issue. The car also did 1k miles and i've driven it hard at points from time to time. If the o ring was squished out it wouldn't have lasted that long.

I also would have totally noticed the o ring protruding at install time.. I mean I am a complete stickler for things in general, and tbh, when you screwing something on with an oring, where else are you going to be looking as it's screwed on?

Why isn't anybody commenting on the fact that the filter fell apart in the housing? I mean you can see the two felt rings have come off the filter. And as a result the filter was bobbing around in the housing and not where it should have been when I removed.

I can't find anything online on the theory behind filter design etc.. but I would imagine when the filter is in place and covering the inflow to the housing it will catch and reduce a the pressure on the housing.

I would surmise that if the filter housing did not have a filter in it, the same thing might happen.

 

[grober]

All points to wrong dimensions filter and / or O ring ---- WHAT MAKE AND PART NO OF FILTER?

 

[conor1n]

All points to wrong dimensions filter and / or O ring ---- WHAT MAKE AND PART NO OF FILTER?

They were all the same size as the one I was replacing. I checked them all.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Did you replace all of the o rings on the long plastic part that pushes into the housing . This is a generic picture but I think there are 3 smaller rings on my M113 along with the large one for the cap

BTW if you had pinched the O ring during the oil change you would not have gone 1000 miles before it leaked , more like 1 mile.....ask me how I know

 

[colinallcars]

All points to wrong dimensions filter and / or O ring ---- WHAT MAKE AND PART NO OF FILTER?

I disagree, an issue with fitting. I remember doing something similar on a mini 850 many years ago, I didn’t get the seal into the groove properly resulting in oil all over the drive!

Thanks guys. I see what you are saying on the o-ring but I cannot stress enough that this was all done correctly. When I say properly I mean I clean down the housing with brake cleaner before adding new rings, I lube the rings before adding and torque to the 25Nm.. dry threads. My friend is always slagging me for following torque specs.

I have serviced cars multiple times and never had an issue. The car also did 1k miles and i've driven it hard at points from time to time. If the o ring was squished out it wouldn't have lasted that long.

I also would have totally noticed the o ring protruding at install time.. I mean I am a complete stickler for things in general, and tbh, when you screwing something on with an oring, where else are you going to be looking as it's screwed on?

Why isn't anybody commenting on the fact that the filter fell apart in the housing? I mean you can see the two felt rings have come off the filter. And as a result the filter was bobbing around in the housing and not where it should have been when I removed.

I can't find anything online on the theory behind filter design etc.. but I would imagine when the filter is in place and covering the inflow to the housing it will catch and reduce a the pressure on the housing.

I would surmise that if the filter housing did not have a filter in it, the same thing might happen.

I commented on it falling apart. It wasn’t held in place properly so oil under pressure forced it apart.

 

[geoffus]

Can you remember the make, I use Bosch, not the same engine but similar filter although mine don’t have any felt washers.

 

[Muckypaps]

As for how long it lasted, oil viscosity changes the hotter it gets, it might have been a slow leak, which only became apparent when it worked it's way onto the exhaust causing the smoke.
Nobody is perfect, I once dropped a bollock 36 years ago with a Gearbox oil filter leaking after I fitted it and it lost it's oil, I never thought for one minute the parts were faulty, I took my bollocking on the chin and it never happened again with the many thousands I fitted after that.

It isn't the only mistake I've made, just the same one as your's only happened once.