Giulietta QV (1750) major oil leak after oil change

[ae]

Hi all,
I was doing an oil and filter change on my 2011 Giulietta QV today, and all was going well until I started the car after refilling with new oil. This a maintenance job I have done before without any major issues (apart from the ridiculously awkward filter housing removal!)

However, today, after starting the car to check for any leaks, it started spitting out oil through a small pipe that is right under the filter housing. I attach a photo with the said pipe circled in red. I would be eternally grateful if anyone could give me some advice on why oil might be jettisoning out of this pipe. Needless to say, I turned off the engine straight away. This stopped the leak.

Thanks so much in advance!

[105gta]

That little tube is meant to be so you can party loosen the filter cap and drain the housing, doesn't really work though. Takes forever and still makes a stupid mess.. sounds like you either forgot to fit the new o'ring, didn't lubricate the new one and it grabbed and ripped, fitted it to the wrong section of the cap or by dumb luck the new lubricated o'ring grabbed and ripped.
Only way for oil to come out there is if it gets past the o'ring and by the sounds of it a lot is.

Start again unfortunately

[bazzbazz]

It's either one of two things -

A/ Oil filter incorrectly fitted or wrong filter fitted, or Filter O Ring damaged as above.

    We're not talking about the O Ring on the Filter Cover/Housing either, if you've stuffed that up it will just leak around the
    Cover/Housing.

B/ You should connect a hose over that pipe when doing oil change and have it go into a container, other wise it will just let oil pour
    out onto the drive shaft boot & sub frame. Are you sure it's just not oil that has escaped out the pipe and has filled up the sub
    frame which will then continue to drip oil out for some time.

[ae]

Thanks so much, 105gta and bazzbazz! Very useful to know the purpose of that tube. genuinely appreciate your responses!

From bazzbazz's response, I assume that the (big) o-ring on the cap is correctly installed. (as there is no leak whatsoever from the housing).

I did switch back to the old filter (with all its used o-rings) in my second attempt at the job (before posting my question). And the tube was still spewing then. So I suspect that rules out incorrect filter and damaged (new) o-ring as culprits?

There is a possibility that I have fitted the filter incorrectly (maybe back to front?), but I suspect this is unlikely as the filter wouldn't fit in the opposite direction.

Could it be that the filter cap is not tight enough?
Thanks so much again for your help!

[ae]

Bazzbazz, only just saw your option B in your reply. Fitting a hose is a great suggestion! I have already done three clean ups today! Not looking forward to another one
I am sure it is spewing out from that tube -- I got my wife to crank the engine while I watched the tube. Oil was spitting out.
Cheers!

[ae]

Update:

Much to my relief, I managed to solve the problem.

This is what I did: I went out and bought a new filter cartridge, and redid the filter change. This time, I took extra care in lubricating all the new o-rings, checking and double-checking that the rings were sitting in the right places, and tightening the filter cap sufficiently. And on restarting the car, oil no longer spewed through the small pipe.

I think, as 105gta and buzzbuzz have commented earlier, the culprit was the small o-ring on the nose of the filter cartridge. It was probably not seated correctly. And I think the reason for this was I hadn't sufficiently tightened the filter cap onto the housing. Best to be sure about this next time by using a torque wrench (if I can get one in the narrow space there).

Another two humble suggestions for anyone attempting an oil filter change:

(1) As buzzbuzz has said, best to attach a hose to the small pipe under the filter housing. Massively saves on any spills

(2) remove the small section of plastic that forms a curtain in front of the accessory belt. It is two torx bolts on the left of the piece, one screw on the right, and a bolt at the top that can be accessed from the engine bay. Removing this plastic curtain makes access to the oil filter area much easier!

[bonno]

Great news AE and thanks for providing us the outcome, which is what the forum is all about.
Happy New Year
bonno

[ae]

Thanks, bonno. Happy new year to you too!