Oil Change Help - Rookie
 

Hey guys I did my first ever oil change myself last week and I noticed today that I have oil drips on the ground. I replaced the drain plug with a new one and also a new crush ring. However, I remember I saw some little rubber like ring in the old oil but then forgot about it.... I am wondering if it was some kind of gasket which is required long with the crush ring or something???? Would oil leak if I over filled the car with oil or something.... any ideas would be helpful... I have to get under the car this weekend to check to see where the oil is coming from. Could be possible I over tightened it? I just tightened it by hand - maybe not tight enough ?

Thanks!

The oil filter housing has an O ring. New filters come with a new ring typically. I have had some that were too small and had a drip. Used different brand after that.

No gasket or O ring on drain plug. Just the crush washer.

Hello DrCactus,

jack up the rear left of the car and remove the wheel. Than take a look below the car and check where the oil is coming from. Yes, it's just that easy. ;) :D

And i hope you've used a torque wrench to wrench everything to specs.

Regards, Markus

As said you need to ID where the oil is dripping from:
Plug or Filter canister
You mentioned rubber 'O' ring in your oil!!

**Did you put the new 'O' ring that came with the new filter on the filter canister???

Hopefully you wiped everything clean so you can see what's the culprit
Check torque on plug and I just hand tighten my filter canister so recheck yours is tight

I don't have the numbers right at hand, but there is a torque spec for both the oil plug and the plastic filter housing. Don't guess with hand tightening.

Factory plastic oil filter cover is 19 FtLbs and the factory drain plug is 37 FtLbs

if you have LN magnetic drain plug, it is also 19 FTLbs

Over the weekend I checked under my car as it was sitting for a couple days in the garage - I placed news paper under the car to give me an idea where the oil drippings are coming from... however, NO OIL dripping anymore. The O-ring was installed. Very odd.... is it possible when the car is running and the oil is hot and under pressure it is leaking from somewhere else ???

Might have been some residual oil from the oil filter area. It can splash onto the side of the engine when removing the filter canister and maybe it dripped down / off and was done.

Could point to RMS. That seal sits above the oil line and only gets splashed with driving. A shift lever leak will act that way too.

Yes, oil drips can come from a number of places. I'd re-torque the oil drain plug and filer housing to the correct values and then continue to monitor for any drips.

Crush Washer ?
 

Did you use a new one ?

One other rookie mistake might be failing to remove the old (original) o ring from the filter housing, such that now you have 2 of them up thar.