I Haz The Dreaded Oil Cooler Leak

[jac04]

Yes sir, the service guy and I were talking about it and I really wanted to go aluminum if it was going to have to be replaced. He said no worry, they had some instock and it would be aluminum.

No i do not have a part number yet. Won't get dropped off till later this week.

Well, I'm curious to see how this plays out. Most service advisors don't have much, if any, real knowledge about the actual parts being used. I would be (pleasantly) surprised if there was an actual Mopar replacement part that has an aluminum housing.

Bonus points if you can talk to the Tech and have them snap you a picture of the label on the box as well as the actual part showing that it is aluminum. This would be big news in the 3.6 Pentastar world.

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[TigerInFL]

knowing my luck this will be me once I show up at the dealer ....

 

[rr11]

Ouch!!

 

[obrianmcc]

Find one of these

Engine Oil Filter Adapter | 926-876 | Upgraded Aluminum Engine Oil Filter Housing | Dorman Products

Dorman quality can be spotty ....

 

[SSinGA]

Dorman quality can be spotty ....

but still better than the OEM plastic POS!

 

[Minty JL]

Dorman quality can be spotty ....

Absolute truth......I always loved working on customer cars that throw the AutoZone/Advance Auto parts cannon at it with the cheap sensors.

......only to pay me to replace all of the "new" parts with the good stuff.

 

[TigerInFL]

The day before I took it to the dealer, I decided to try to see if my leak might be from the filter cap. I purchased another one and checked the filter and O ring which were fine. Installed new oil cap and torqued to 18 ft lbs. Spent the good part of an hour under the truck cleaning it up for the third time in the last few days. I wanted to make sure I reached as much of the old oil as possible.

Took it out for a drive in stop and go traffic for about 45 minutes. Got back home and check the top end and couldn't see any new leak. Had a few more drips on the underside, but nothing like it had been. Cleaned it up again and called it a night.

Checked this morning before making that trip to the dealership and nothing had dripped. So, I decided to postpone my dealership visit. Drove it all day and got home tonight and she was clean as a whistle. Even stopped during the day and double checked the oil level and it stayed perfect.

I had checked the old oil filter cap and could not find any crack or thread wear whatsoever. The one thing I did notice was when installing the new oil filter cap was, it went on easier. The old one would get tight, but not close the the 18 ft lbs needed. No way you could hand tighten it all the way. The new one went on like a charm. Yes, I had put some oil on the oil filter cap threads and the O ring before installing both the old and new cap.

So I am going to chalk it up to the oil cap because it ain't leaking and the cap went on so much easier. I now have the cleanest underside Gladiator within 500 miles.

Maybe this will help someone else in the future.

 

[rr11]

Glad that fixed it for you. The last time I had a dealer oil change my filter cap was gorilla tight. Do not know how tight they had it but I thought I was not getting it off.

 

[Hootbro]

The day before I took it to the dealer, I decided to try to see if my leak might be from the filter cap. I purchased another one and checked the filter and O ring which were fine. Installed new oil cap and torqued to 18 ft lbs. Spent the good part of an hour under the truck cleaning it up for the third time in the last few days. I wanted to make sure I reached as much of the old oil as possible.

Took it out for a drive in stop and go traffic for about 45 minutes. Got back home and check the top end and couldn't see any new leak. Had a few more drips on the underside, but nothing like it had been. Cleaned it up again and called it a night.

Checked this morning before making that trip to the dealership and nothing had dripped. So, I decided to postpone my dealership visit. Drove it all day and got home tonight and she was clean as a whistle. Even stopped during the day and double checked the oil level and it stayed perfect.

I had checked the old oil filter cap and could not find any crack or thread wear whatsoever. The one thing I did notice was when installing the new oil filter cap was, it went on easier. The old one would get tight, but not close the the 18 ft lbs needed. No way you could hand tighten it all the way. The new one went on like a charm. Yes, I had put some oil on the oil filter cap threads and the O ring before installing both the old and new cap.

So I am going to chalk it up to the oil cap because it ain't leaking and the cap went on so much easier. I now have the cleanest underside Gladiator within 500 miles.

Maybe this will help someone else in the future.

Did you use a OEM MOPAR replacement cap?

The reason I ask is some of the Ebay and Amazon non OEM caps are of way dubious quality.

 

[jac04]

The old one would get tight, but not close the the 18 ft lbs needed. No way you could hand tighten it all the way. The new one went on like a charm. Yes, I had put some oil on the oil filter cap threads and the O ring before installing both the old and new cap.

Interesting. Hopefully that was your problem. FWIW, I only use 120 in-lbs (10 ft-lbs) on the caps for both my JK and JT and I have never had any issues.

 

[TigerInFL]

Did you use a OEM MOPAR replacement cap?

The reason I ask is some of the Ebay and Amazon non OEM caps are of way dubious quality.

Yes sir! OEM

 

[HappyGladiator]

I remember there was constant talk about the oil cooler on the JK forum. Constant failures. there was debate if it was the oil cooler or the O rings. My 14 never failed. I thought they had it all worked out on the JL and JT years.

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