Hey guys, I'm just getting ready to change to O-rings in the oil filter mount as it's leaking a good bit. I just bought the Jeep (89 Cherokee) off of a guy a few weeks ago, and he said that he recently changed the oil - it's pretty clean looking. I don't really want to drain out all the good oil...and do I even have to? I know you can take off the oil filter w/o all your oil dumping, but is it the same for taking the mount off also?

 

personally, i dont care where i get any of my vehicles from, i change the oil and do a good tune up. i do this for several reasons. One, i start my binder of records from day one. I know exactly what mile i changed my oil at or what date i did this. Second, i dont always trust what people say. Most of the time, they are playing the salesperson game.

Oil isnt that expensive and a filter is even cheaper. Id say drain it, start fresh, and now you have an exact point. not the number that the guy MAY have thrown out there.

Im pretty OCD about my cars though. I have EVERY reciept in plastic sleeves, i have the date and milage for every bit of maintenance for every car.

 

I agree. im completly OCD about my rig. especially when it comes to fluids, trans, diff's, engine,P/S, etc. i also have a notebook on my fluid changes and at what milage they were done. if you want your rig to stay in tip top shape. drain it.! dont trust wat the seller told you because its YOUR rig now. dont take any chances as small as oil.

 

I agree with both of those guys ^^^

I bought mine 3 weeks ago, drove it for 2 days then was out of the country for 2 weeks. Now I'm back and this weekend I'm changing all my fluids. I asked the guy I bought it from twice about the oil, in different times throughout our conversation... First time he told me he had it changed yesterday, second time he told me last week.

Think he really knows or cares? Nope, which means it probably hasn't been done in a long time. He wasn't even sure what differential fluid was......nice.

 

Those are good points, and I might drain it. The oil on the dipstick does look very fresh though, so it would seem that he did change it.

Regardless, would it be possible to pull the mount off without draining the oil?

 

You could but its going to have oil in there. It will leak out and make a mess, so you might as well drain it.

 

All right, you guys convinced me, I'll change the oil
I'll probably do the front diff while I'm at it...already drained half the fluid anyway out the right axle tube while the axle shaft was out replacing u-joints

I was just looking at Autozone's website to find the o-rings because the local Autozone employees are largely clueless...and I didn't see anything listed. O'Reilly's had just the large O-ring for sale, but it wasn't the complete kit of three...shouldn't they have this stuff?

 

Probably better off going to the stealership for these small things. I go there for my filters and things like this. i dont remember the price of the rings, but the oil filter at the dealership are only a buck or two more than at pepboys/autozone.

I dont trust those guys at all at those places...their hiring procedure must be totally half assed or something. I had a buddy go in to get an alignment at pepboys and came out with a boost leak.

 

AutoZone website is useless for these sort of things.

Is your local A/Z close?
Go there and look in thier "HELP" section.
The O-ring kit is in there.

And NO I can't remember the number...my brain got fried since the time I did both of my Cherokees.

You dont HAVE TO drain the oil to replace the O-rings, it wont all leak out. Just the oil inside the adapter will....so keep a drain pan handy.

Afterward...it would not hurt to give it an oil change.
Use YOUR fav oil and YOUR fav filter.

 

If it really came down to it you COULD do all that with out draining the oil. you weould prob lose half a quart or something... then top it off... if the oil is golden then ride it out a couple more miles and make sure all your leaks are fixed THEN change it to some good stuff