oil filter housing breakage

[Motoarch]

Dropped my '21 off at the local shop that normally does my oil changes only to get a call from them telling me they wont be liable if the oil filter housing breaks.

Apparently this is a common issue on 3.6 liter and they've broken a couple recently and the cost replace is over a thousand dollars.

I called around to 3 dealers in the area and all 3 deny this is an issue and they've never heard of it. A quick google search says otherwise. It's a seemingly well known issue with the engine across every platform its used in due to the part being plastic and getting brittle over time.

Is anyone failure with this issue and have a suggestion on a fix?

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[Andy29847]

To start with, your 21 would not be old enough to be brittle.

The plastic housing is usually damaged when a tech over tightens the cap. IIRC, the cap opens with a 24mm socket. These sockets are normally on the end of a 1/2" ratchet. The final torque on the cap is only 18 ft/pd. It is very easy to put too much muscle into the job.

There is an aftermarket part to replace the Jeep oil cooler/filter housing. Parts have to be removed from the top of the engine to do this work.

 

[Commodus]

Dropped my '21 off at the local shop that normally does my oil changes only to get a call from them telling me they wont be liable if the oil filter housing breaks.

Apparently this is a common issue on 3.6 liter and they've broken a couple recently and the cost replace is over a thousand dollars.

I called around to 3 dealers in the area and all 3 deny this is an issue and they've never heard of it. A quick google search says otherwise. It's a seemingly well known issue with the engine across every platform its used in due to the part being plastic and getting brittle over time.

Is anyone failure with this issue and have a suggestion on a fix?

This is only a problem if overtightened. I keep a spare filter housing (the plastic part) just in case of breakage. I think it was like $20, no way costing a grand.

 

[TheGreatCO]

If they invested in a torque wrench instead of an impact gun to put it on, it wouldn't break. The torque spec is like just over hand tight, something like 15 or 20 ft-lb.

 

[jeepers29]

This is only a problem if overtightened. I keep a spare filter housing (the plastic part) just in case of breakage. I think it was like $20, no way costing a grand.

At the dealer, the repair can easily get to 1K plus. To the OP, all 3 dealers lied to you unless they just opened for business yesterday. This problem has been around with the wranglers since 2013 or 14 as well as all the other platforms that uses the same crap plastic part.

 

[JTGuy]

If someone told me that I would say stop I'll do it myself. They don't know what they are doing. The older JK's had leaks but the new JT's have had almost no issues not caused by human hands. The JK had many upgrades to the part. I really don't think the oil filter/ cooler is an issue any more. A Gorrila on the wrench can break anything.

 

[Rocksalt]

this is why I have done my own oil changes since day 1

 

[Hootbro]

The only way to know it is torque correctly is to do it yourself 100% of the time and then you can expect a decent service life out of the oil filter/cooler housing assembly. Done by anybody else to include the dealerships, all bets are off and risk grows exponentially of having a cracked housing . Not an inevitability but it is still there as a increased possibility.

Playing Devil's Advocate, the shop might have been bitten by other customers who happen to have their vehicle serviced elsewhere for oil changes stressing the part, and that shop had the bad luck of being the last to touch it when it finally broke and customers point the finger at that shop since they are last to touch it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Dropped my '21 off at the local shop that normally does my oil changes only to get a call from them telling me they wont be liable if the oil filter housing breaks.

Apparently this is a common issue on 3.6 liter and they've broken a couple recently and the cost replace is over a thousand dollars.

I called around to 3 dealers in the area and all 3 deny this is an issue and they've never heard of it. A quick google search says otherwise. It's a seemingly well known issue with the engine across every platform its used in due to the part being plastic and getting brittle over time.

Is anyone failure with this issue and have a suggestion on a fix?

It's not a big issue if you don't gorilla it. And that price is stupid crazy. No way!
You can get replacements online for a small fraction of that.

If the dealers have never heard of this being an issue, then their people are doing it right because it's not normally an issue. It's extremely possible the dealers haven't seen a broken one.
But then who did you talk to? One tech may not have seen it while others have, one service advisor may have never seen it while others have. So when you ask you aren't talking to the whole dealership, you are talking to one person.

 

[GeneralMaximus]

Sadly, this trend of using plastic for the oil housing has been around for a while now, across the automotive industry. I think they do it on purpose, since eventually that housing will crack and then the dealers can make some money off of repairs. VW and BMW also use plastic, and last I heard it cost $3,500 to replace a Beemer oil housing.

 

[GeneralMaximus]

If someone told me that I would say stop I'll do it myself. They don't know what they are doing. The older JK's had leaks but the new JT's have had almost no issues not caused by human hands. The JK had many upgrades to the part. I really don't think the oil filter/ cooler is an issue any more. A Gorrila on the wrench can break anything.

They only started making the JTs 4 years ago. Give it another few years, and you’ll see this issue popping up more frequently. Plastic only lasts so long, especially when it’s frequently overtorqued by a careless techician.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

They only started making the JTs 4 years ago. Give it another few years, and you’ll see this issue popping up more frequently. Plastic only lasts so long, especially when it’s frequently overtorqued by a careless techician.

So no other Jeeps with the 3.6 PUG use that?

 

[JTGuy]

There were several improvements made. The problem pretty much ended with the JL. I had a 14 that never had a problem. But many did. There will always be problems somewhere.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

There were several improvements made. The problem pretty much ended with the JL. I had a 14 that never had a problem. But many did. There will always be problems somewhere.

That's what people have to look at when "Googling" for issues - the Wrangler didn't get the 3.6 upgrade engine until 2018 - the JL/JLU. So anything Wrangler before that may not count.
The Gladiator didn't come out until 2019 for the 2020 model year and yet didn't the JL use the same engine (basically........) for 2018?

 

[Lunentucker]

18 ft pounds is about how much force it takes to open a ziploc bag.
I wouldn't trust any shop that lays down the liability scare, and your dealer is lying too.

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