I just changed my oil and now I have a small leak that is dripping from the front of the tranny. I checked the back of the manifold and it seems fine. I do remember tightening the filter pretty good, just curious if the seal may have messed up and that is causing the leak. Thank you for any help!

 

Yes you can, you can over tighten it and push the gasket out, also the tighter it is on the harder it is coming off next time. I usually put mine back on by hand.

 

Thanks for the reply, can I just change the oil filter again or do I need to drain all of the oil?

 

You can just rechange the filter if the gasket bulged, if not I would just look at it while the car is running (all 4 wheels in the air , and run it to see if it leaks any. But if it is bulging I would replace it, yo umay get 2 or 2000 miles and it blows all your oil on the ground.

 

agree I only tighten mine as tight as I can by hand. I've had lube places do it before and I've had to stick a screw driver through it just to turn it! Longest oil change ever!

 

yes, should only be finger tight.

 

Another thing to look out for is if you over tighten the filter, when you go to change it out, often times you can loosen the oil cooler as well and start a leak. I had this happen once and had to pull the whole cooler out to remove the filter. Very dirty job at best
If you have an oil coller, just remember to retighten the large nut on it before putting on a new filter. This maybe where your oil lieak is coming from.



http://community.webshots.com/album/33786390mmhudJ?888

 

If you dont drain the oil before putting the new filter on, I beleive your asking for a oil bath and a big mess.

 

You can change the filter without changing the oil. The oil that comes out will be the oil in the passage and the filter, not the pan.