Spin on adapter leak

[rejeep]

well when it rains it pours...
aside from a rear main im now looking at a leak from the spin on housing..

after lunch today notice a larger puddle under the rover than usual..
seems the oil filter adapter is now leaking...
What would cause this to start leaking so rapidly all of a sudden..?

[Les Parker]

RN had some issues with the "spin-on" adaptors severall years ago, they were found to be made of a porous alloy, somewhat disturbing. We stopped selling them just after this

[rejeep]

do these need to be fitted with a paper gasket or is sealer good enough?
I might remove and refit if I can get away with sealer alone.

[TedW]

Which adapter do you have?

I have the Rocky Mountain one and have had no issues. IIRC it came with a gasket.

Is the leak coming from the joint between the filter / adapter or between the adapter / engine?

[rejeep]

hard to tell in a suit and tie... and 90 deg heat..
but the drip obviously is coming from the lowest point.. (bottom of the filter)
won’t be able to get a good look till I’m home..
at this point, I assume a tight filter and tight adapter..

[rejeep]

just a thought...

but i added some Lucas engine oil stop leak over the weekend to try and help my leaking valve stems.. my filter adapter didnt start leaking until after that..
could by some cosmic instance my oil pressure have been boosted enought to cause a leak?

[SafeAirOne]

just a thought...

but i added some Lucas engine oil stop leak over the weekend to try and help my leaking valve stems.. my filter adapter didnt start leaking until after that..
could by some cosmic instance my oil pressure have been boosted enought to cause a leak?

Hmm...

High oil pressure can blow seals. Same thing with excessive air pressure.
Also, some synthetic oils can leak through gaps that non-synthetic oils can't squeeze through.

Just wondering--If the Lucas additive seals the valve-to-valve guide gaps, what prevents it from sealing the similar-sized (desirable) gaps between all the other plain bearings and their associated rotating parts?

[rejeep]

Yeah... I have never been one for engine oil additives... I had a customer use it in a 350 and he swears it stopped a slight timing cover leak..
Figured it wouldmt hurt to experiment with, obviously I might have been wrong..
Adapter gasket and oil change tomorrow with regular ole dinosaur juice...

[rejeep]

removed and replaced the adapter yesterday with a new gasket.. low and behold.. its still leaks..
any ideas on where to go from here?

[bkreutz]

You need to find the source of the leak (obviously), an old trick I use is to clean off everything in the area (I use brake clean), then lightly powder the area with baby powder (or something similar). start it up and shut it off immediately, go look at the suspected area, the leak will show up as a dark stain on the powder, if you don't see anything, repeat the procedure until you do. The reason not to leave it running for a while is that if it's a bad leak, the whole area will be dark and you won't be able to tell where it starts. At the point where you know the origin of the leak, then you can take the appropriate measures. (could be porous metal like Les mentioned or a crack or a bad gasket or.......)

[siiirhd88]

My spin on adapter leaked after it was installed. I replaced the gasket several times, but then noted that oil was leaking out of the threaded screw hole that is covered by the gasket and getting past the very narrow gasket section to one of the mounting holes. I sealed up the threads on the screw using a spot of "Right Stuff" gasket maker and reinstalled the adapter and gasket with a very thin layer of "Right Stuff" on the gasket. No leaks since. Of course it will start leaking now that I discussed it....

Bob

[rejeep]

your talking about the screw in the adapter itself or the mounting bolts?

[siiirhd88]

The screw that was leaking threads into the block, and would be located under the gasket. It is not the mounting bolts or on the adapter, but is on the block. I'll try to check one of the junk blocks tomorrow for some pics.

Bob

[rejeep]

that would be awesome..
I can’t seem to picture or recall anything being under there.

[TJR]

Sounds like you are referring tothe "grub" screw used to hold the oil pump drive assembly into the blocks bore.