turp_88

My jeep had an oil leak at the oil filter housing, it was the o-ring behind the adapter. I started working on this knowing that it was going to be a dirty job, but i must say i was surprised with just how much trouble it gave me. I will say i probably wouldn't have gotten it done without the much needed help from my brother. I have a 94' XJ so it used the T60 torx bit to remove the housing, on older models ive heard that it just takes a wrench.

To begin you need to drain your engine oil, remove the oil filter and let it sit open for a few minutes to let everything get dry. There's not much space by the housing because it is sitting almost even with the framerail, so i removed the back motor mount bolt (just 1) to get enough room for the bit to fit in there. Now, when i tried to break the bolt holding the housing i ran into alot of trouble. You cant apply heat to this area, its kinda easy to figure out why, so its pretty much all muscle. I broke 2 wrenches, pried with a cheater bar, and finally just got a lil redneck and tied a come-along to the wrench a winched it till it broke. After you do get this loose you may have to work the bolt a small amount by hand because like i said, there's not much of any room to work. The housing pretty much just slides right off, and to replace the o-ring you just clean the housing out and slide it right in place of the old one. To reinstall, just put everything back together exactly the way it came off. My work time was about 4 hours, but that was due to frustrastion of a frozen bolt. I would say if all went well you could do it in about an hour or a little more.

extexbennett

what toll does it take to remove oil filter housing, I have same problem?

extexbennett

shoulda read the whole thing before asking tool question, I'll get my leak fixed tomorrow. thanks

BlueXJ

extex it takes a T-60 Torx socket to get the bolt loose. I used a socket and vice grips on the socket to break mine loose but turp seems to have had more difficulty than I did.

JerryHolguin

I had the same trouble removing the housing but even worse luck putting it back because of the limited clearance. Long story short, I ended up using a socket cap and ratcheting wrench to get the threads to take. Just hoping this might help someone else.
Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4

absoluttorque

Hey guys I'm new to Jeeps and after giving mine a once over this weekend I think I have this same common leak. I was going to perform the fix but just wanted to double check, is there only one o-ring I am supposed to replace? I went to AZ and they said it is just one and from the pictures it looks like just one, but in the technical articles it said there were 3 o-rings and one is only available at the dealer. Was that article describing an older model Cherokee with 3-o-rings because my oil filter set up looks like the one in your pictures.


Thanks for the info too by the way.

UNCC_99XJ

Do your self a favor, and go to the dealer and get the o-ring kit. It will come with all 3 that you need (the main o-ring behind the adapter, and the two that are on the bolt holding the adapter in). When I bought the kit from the dealer last year it cost me about $3 and some change. Make sure you get the kit, as they do sell just the main o-ring.

I didn't drain the engine oil as mentioned above....all you need to do is spin the filter off, take the adapter off (the fun part!), then reverse for install. Don't forget to top off the engine oil when you put a new filter back on!

BlueXJ

4720363 is the dealer part number for the o-ring kit. It does have 3 o rings and if you have never done one you should read up on the procedure before atempting it. If you have an older Jeep with an inverted filter you may want to upgrade to the larger horizontal filter set up. Read MadXJs article HERE He has several good technical articles worth bookmarking.

redkling

i JUST DID THE SAMETHING AND I DON'T EVER WANT TO DO IT AGAIN.................. IT SUCKS

Howler_GT

One thing bothers me here Blue.
Our 91 Laredo has the vertical adapter and Lil Red has the horizontal adapter BUT they use the SAME filter. -->>They both have a yellow sticker on firewall warning about the filter thread diameter.

Am I missing something. You say the horizontal is a larger filter??

Long Island XJ

Anyone looking to this Thread for help might get surprised that T60 torx might not get the job done. I have a 93 4.0 with a stock horizontal oil filter position. I found with the help of FarmFuel that I needed a 9/16 allen key. Good luck.

98 JeepJeep

my 98 also appears to be a Allen key

jeepride

My 98 xj 4.0L doesn't have the oil filter adapater the filter screws directly on to the engine block.I have never saw any other 4.0 with the oil filter mounted this way it makes oil change easy.

98 JeepJeep

i wonder if the previous owner removed it

cherokee4meplz

i just picked up felpro part # 70301, which says oil adapter o-ring, jeep 6, 242 engine, 1971-90. there is one big o-ring in the package.

will I need other orings too or no on my renix engine? I like having all the parts up front.