So, I'm leaking oil very slowly from around the oil filter. The filter is on tight. I've changed the oil and filter, and it's still leaking. Any thoughts?
Define tight.
beyond hand tight. I have a strap wrench, and it's about as tight as I can get it with that.
It's a ducati filter, so it's nice and slippery. None of that lovely gritty stuff Fram puts on theirs.
Quote from: 4DoorSi on January 10, 2012, 06:49:02 PM
beyond hand tight. I have a strap wrench, and it's about as tight as I can get it with that.
It's a ducati filter, so it's nice and slippery. None of that lovely gritty stuff Fram puts on theirs.
That 'should' be tight enough.
Try making it absolutely as tight as you can get it. ;D
If that doesn't work maybe you actually have a bad seal on the filter.
I don't think it's the filter. It's brand new, and the last one leaked too.
Is it possible something cracked down there?
Remove the filter, clean and inspect. With a strap wrench, 7/8 turn after contact should do it. I assume you are cleaning the mating surface and coating the gasket with oil.
Quote from: 4DoorSi on January 10, 2012, 07:07:09 PM
I don't think it's the filter. It's brand new, and the last one leaked too.
Is it possible something cracked down there?
Only one way to find out, drop the oil.
Check to make sure you don't have two seals stacked on top of one another trying to seal it, sometimes when you do an oil change & pull the old filter the seal sticks to the engine and if you're not paying attention you will have a doppelganger seal situation which will then leak. Watch out tightening with a strap wrench, they will dent the filter. Better to use a fitted oil filter socket or some rubber gloves.
Oil filters seal quite well at hand tight. Make sure the sealing surface is kosher, sounds like it isn't. I've never heard of a crack but anything can happen.
Clean area where filter makes contact with bike... Could be some old gasket or other crud that is caked on and preventing a tight seal...
If you see anything take a razor and scrape it off.....
Quote from: booger on January 10, 2012, 09:28:52 PM
Only one way to find out, drop the oil.
Oil filters seal quite well at hand tight. Make sure the sealing surface is kosher, sounds like it isn't. I've never heard of a crack but anything can happen.
I disagree for some reason you have to wrench the crap out of Ducati filters to get them not to leak. I've changed the oil on every type of vehicle and I've never seen anything like it. I tighten mine about twice as much as I think should be good and they finally don't leak.
I've had issues with Ducati filters leaking at only hand tight...never had a problem with a K&N though. Not sure why, but I just always use K&N...plus they have the nut on the bottom for safety wiring and easy filter removal. [thumbsup]
I had similar issues with the OEM filter, it seemed to require an inordinate amount of torque to properly seal. The easiest fix, find another brand. I know K&N, Baldwin, Napa, and a host of others make decent filters which fit properly and won't leak. If you google "UFI 23.105.00", you should find a link to a file with the specs on the stock filter.
If you are feeling more adventurous, do what I did and install an adapter to modify the thread size from 16M to 3/4-16, then you have about 50 more choices...
Quote from: howie on January 10, 2012, 09:23:47 PM
I assume you are cleaning the mating surface and coating the gasket with used oil.
Coating with used oil actually prevents it from sticking due to the dirt in it.
Sounds like he's got an oring stuck in there.
well I did drop the oil once already. I felt around the mating surface, and didn't feel anything. Unfortunately, I can't fit my head under there to look. Maybe I'll have to risk getting oil on my wifes hand mirror to look. Def didn't double stack the gaskets either. Maybe I'll try another brand filter.
have to get a clean pan so I can reuse the oil....too expensive to keep wasting brand new oil.
I guess teh conclusion is the filter still isn't tight enough, so I'll go at it again.
Thanks guys
Quote from: 4DoorSi on January 11, 2012, 08:21:46 PMhave to get a clean pan so I can reuse the oil....too expensive to keep wasting brand new oil.
Yeah, just get a clean pan & pour the oil back in. You just want to find out why your filter keeps leaking.
I think some engines just are like that. Not very satisfactory as an explanation, but after all they are Ducati engines [roll].
My M900 does the same, no matter how hard I tighten the filter, after a few 1000 km there will be a drop of oil on the ground. Each time, I tighten a little more (using a band type wrench) and it stops, maybe for the summer, maybe not.
Just to make sure I don't loose the filter, I have made a hose clamp that fits around the filter, safety wiring that to the oil plug so I have some security on both.
Quote from: MonsterHPD on January 12, 2012, 01:35:46 PM
I think some engines just are like that. Not very satisfactory as an explanation, but after all they are Ducati engines [roll].
I have several Ducatis in my garage and the only one that leaked was the 1977 and that was a bad crankcase gasket... I don't think they leak any more than any other.
Quote from: MonsterHPD on January 12, 2012, 01:35:46 PM
I think some engines just are like that. Not very satisfactory as an explanation, but after all they are Ducati engines [roll].
My M900 does the same, no matter how hard I tighten the filter, after a few 1000 km there will be a drop of oil on the ground. Each time, I tighten a little more (using a band type wrench) and it stops, maybe for the summer, maybe not.
Just to make sure I don't loose the filter, I have made a hose clamp that fits around the filter, safety wiring that to the oil plug so I have some security on both.
If you find it doesn't leak after installation, but leaks after a few miles perhaps it was not tight enough the first time. There is a torque spec for the filter, 16 Nm, which is notably tighter than hand tight unless you are Magilla Gorilla. As I said before, 7/8 turn after contact will work fine. I would estimate somewhere between 10 and 15 OEM filters have been on my bike since it has over 60K on it and I use mostly OEM filters. One dripper, which was installed by the dealer.
I never go beyond hand tight with oil filters on any of my vehicles and it has never once given m a problem. I always clean the mating surface, coat the new filter o-ring with oil and hand-tighten. I get a pretty good grip on it but never crank it as far as I possibly can.
I've really tightened down on it before with my hands and it seems that whenever I do that, it makes it very hard to get off thereafter.
Maybe I'm just unusually strong for a 185 lb. hippie art freak 8)
Quote from: lazyjinglin717 on January 13, 2012, 05:55:01 AM
I never go beyond hand tight with oil filters on any of my vehicles and it has never once given m a problem. I always clean the mating surface, coat the new filter o-ring with oil and hand-tighten. I get a pretty good grip on it but never crank it as far as I possibly can.
I've really tightened down on it before with my hands and it seems that whenever I do that, it makes it very hard to get off thereafter.
Maybe I'm just unusually strong for a 185 lb. hippie art freak 8)
Most vehicles are hand tight, but not all, including some very common cars like Honda.
Quote
If you find it doesn't leak after installation, but leaks after a few miles perhaps it was not tight enough the first time. There is a torque spec for the filter, 16 Nm, which is notably tighter than hand tight unless you are Magilla Gorilla. As I said before, 7/8 turn after contact will work fine. I would estimate somewhere between 10 and 15 OEM filters have been on my bike since it has over 60K on it and I use mostly OEM filters. One dripper, which was installed by the dealer.
In my case, it only happened first time after I'd had the bike for 3 or 4 years, halfway through the season. Since we were in Nürburg at the time, waiting for the Nordschleife to open, I went to the dealer to have a new filter installed. Did not help, it only became tight when I "tightened 'til tight", so to speak. My wife's 800 has never leaked a drop.
I don't understand why it's like that, but since tightening helps, that's what I do ???
I have an 04 M1000 and the filter must be more than hand tight or it will leak.
some good comments in here, but they don't help me.
I'm more than hand tight, and still leaking.
I guess at this point I'll wait until spring, drop the oil and filter, and try a new brand of filter.
Updates to come in the spring.
Left field here but are you 100% that its' coming from the filter?
It's pretty hard to get those filters to leak, in my experience, even if you are not tightening it enough.
Have you made sure the Oring is there? they come out. My first guess was an old oring is stuck up inside, but it's possible the new one doesn't have one. very strange.
It's *possible* that the case is cracked, I recall seeing a pic of one that was cracked.
But that's over a span of nearly 9 years on Monster forums... so it's pretty damn rare.
And, you don't have to drain the oil to swap a filter.
I had a filter that I never got to stop an occasional dripping, next oil change and no problems.
I've got a 2012 M796 and it's filter is leaking. I checked tightness and it seemed OK. I may change the oil and replace the oem filter to see if that fixes it. It's hit or miss whether it will leak or not. Seems that sometimes I get a few drips and sometimes I don't. Actually being that it's under warranty I may take it to the dealer to get it looked at just in case.
I'd say quit using the Ducati filter and if you want to experiment, tty a Scott Performance filter. They are nullity aluminum with a removable stainless steel filter with magnet. You can disassemble them, clean them and reuse them as well as easily checking the magnet for debris. I've never had trouble with my Scott filter, so I'd say try it.
A shot in the dark, cross or bad threads on the filter stem, so the filter is sitting eccentric to the base plate
If it is leaking, give it a quarter turn and check. As long as you can get it off, tightening it will not hurt anything. A little tighter is all that is probably needed to stop it from leaking. Not too tight so you will not have trouble getting it off.
I took my bike to the dealer and their master mechanic fixed it by tightening the filter with what looked to be a breaker bar and steel filter socket. Told me that you need to tighten the filters down real tight or they'll leak. He said that hand tightening would not be enough and it was ok to do it. Just said it can be a pain to get off.
jam a screwdriver through it for leverage when you remove ;D
Quote from: corey on July 26, 2012, 07:42:27 PM
jam a screwdriver through it for leverage when you remove ;D
do the same for tightening the new one [thumbsup]
seriously though, 7/8 of a turn after it first makes contact is perfect. if it still leaks when set like that, then something else is wrong.
could possibly be old oil that is still dripping down the case from the last time the filter was removed.
or it could just possibly be that YOU TIGHTENED IT TOO DAMN MUCH THE FIRST TIME AND DESTROYED THE GASKET!! rubber gaskets TEAR when they get compressed too far. stop tightening so darn tight and you wont have issues
buy k&n filters from now on. they even have markings on them so you know how far exactly 7/8 of a turn is
and yes, you can remove/replace the filter without draining any oil. you'll just have to top off the oil to replace what was in the old filter. NEVER reuse oil that came from a filter