Has any one had heard of any problems the plastic oil filter housing cracking,we replaced the oil and filter on a 09 1.3 corsa three months ago and has come back to us with a total oil loss through a crack in the top of the housing, we spoke to vauxhall tech, they reconded its was because the houseing had been over tightened.
we were wondering if it could have been a pressure relief valve failure causeing to higher oil pressure and the plastic housing been the weak point for the oil to escape any ideas welcome

Thanks John

Hi

What are your oil pressure test readings ?

Cheers Aidan

What torque setting did you tighten the cap to ?

Regards Mark

Thanks for the reply Aidan unfortunately its a non runner now, siezed up !!!

Regards John

Hello Mark
Would like to say we did torque it down ,but i suspect it was just tightened till it felt tight,do you think this were we have gone wrong,are they that critical to torque setting ?

thanks John

hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I find it hard to believe that the customer could run a car with oil gushing out of the filter housing and not notice a problem, No noise, no knocking, no oil light, no puddle on the floor, no smell or smoke etc. ????

The only way he could manage it would be on a long motorway run and it emptied the sump in a short time on a single run. ??

Could it have overheated and got that hot that the plastic has melted. ?? ( I have a customer with a passat that this happened on, but I think his was because the turbo had self destucted and it drank its own oil. )

Its Easy for a tech to say that you overtightened it, but if they had done the job, then it would just have been caused by a defective cap, If it was overtightened, would it have lasted 3 months. ??

And when was the last time that the customer checked his oil. ?? .... Never. ??

Tony.

Hi John

Is the owner expecting you to stand the cost of the new engine? If so hand it over to your insurance company, this will be covered by the repair / service /supply of goods element of your public liability.

Is the crack in the top of dome, or just above thread ? We always use toque wrench, but not saying that is the cause.

Cheers Aidan

i agree, you would think the driver would have pick up on the tell signs,the vehicle belongs to leaseplan ,we look after a lot of their cars,so we have had to accept resonsibilty,if we start to dispute it we may chance losing a lot of valuable work ,thanks for the advice about insurance we have spoken to our broker shes going to check if our public liability will cover the new engine
Thanks for everyones input on this

Regards John

John

This should be covered by any reputable motor trade policy, it comes under section Injury to persons or damage to property due to defective parts or workmanship. This is exactly why you pay for specific motor trade public liability.

We had a similar claim about 15 years ago when a turbo oil feed pipe failed, almost identical to your circumstances. The insures paid for new engine without batting an eyelid so to speak.

Cheers Aidan

Yes this should be covered with your liability policy. It will not cover you for the damage you have done (allegedly) to the filter housing, but the resultant damage arising from it.