Catastrophic O ring failure...Almost!

[2002WRXSTi]

I have no idea why on a warmer morning when the oil is thinner it would blow the O ring gasket?! Drove to work with the low oil alert flashing on so I figured I would put a quart in when I got there. Went out for lunch and started the engine to get some AC in the car. Got out and there was a small spot of oil under it. Go to leave at 4 and there is a HUGE puddle under it. Put in a quart and pulled forward to see a trail behind me of oil

Put in on a lift saw it was spewing oil out from between the cooler and the block so went to Ford Lincoln dealership and got a O ring to replace this junk piece

Pulled it off in 2 hours tho so that ain't that bad a O ring swap

 

[Aquabrit]

Yup, they don't give much warning, just blow and make a real mess.

 

[invisiblem0nst3r]

tell me about it it takes a while too if you got fat hands like me

 

[unity]

Be lucky you did not kill the engine! The Mark is not exactly setup for much of a preemptive warning of impending doom. Once you get an oil pressure light its pretty much game over with the 4.6L. So next time you get low oil get some in before you get low oil pressure!

 

[slowmkviii]

that sucks but a leas it didnt blow into the coolant
thats a bitch to clean out

 

[2002WRXSTi]

After putting in the new gasket or O ring as Fomoco calls it I can't believe how the engines life depends on a piece that can blow out like that? It's not captured at all and can just let go and of course let the engine destroy itself as a result

 

[nsjuice]

What gasket is that from again???

 

[Kstills]

^^^^^ What he said.....

 

[chicken]

oil filter adapter gasket, between the piece the oil filter screws onto and the eng block

 

[Kstills]

oil filter adapter gasket, between the piece the oil filter screws onto and the eng block

Oh, great.

It's a pita changing the filter up in there, I can't imagine actually taking anything off in that space.

 

[slowmkviii]

Oh, great.

It's a pita changing the filter up in there, I can't imagine actually taking anything off in that space.

Its not that bad at all I have done a few
Hardest part for me is cleaning the block off

 

[DLF]

Some pics....

 

[Kstills]

Some pics....

Good grief, the bottom of your engine is cleaner then the top of mine.

 

[Kstills]

Its not that bad at all I have done a few
Hardest part for me is cleaning the block off

At 100k, would that be a good preventative maintenance job?

 

[DLF]

At 100k, would that be a good preventative maintenance job?

I don't think I'd touch it, unless I needed to, or had the K-Member down for something else.

 

[2002WRXSTi]

Actually if you take the drivers side tire off and have a looooong extension with a swivel 10mm socket it was pretty fast. Like I said I came out of work and saw that it had let loose

So I got almost all of the bolts out when one of the main mechanics was watching me and looked in from the fenderwell and was like hey I can see em right from here. So I took off the tire and it was a straight shot.

However it kinda was a PITA trying to get the new gasket in and lined up with just one person so I had the mechanic on the air ratchet while I lined it up to get it started. As I said it took 2 hours and thats with me driving to another dealership to get the new gasket too so?

Oh and as someone said it's a pain to clean the block...well if I did maybe it would be but it ain't leakin so :shifty:

 

[laserp viii]

that freking gasket went on me about a month a go park the car facing out and i left for work next morning a few minutes later the wife call and say hey you left some oil behind you what a pita that was but im glad is over.

 

[mmtphoto]

I just did one for a friend who has a 94 with 180,000 miles on it-he was just feeding it and I went to his house, where he parked looked like the Exxon Valdez parked there-a little more difficult than an oil change, just remove the front wheel and use a 'helper' to hold the gasket in place while you get the bolts going, like LIGHTLY coating the adapter with gasket adhesive.

Not like doing an IAC, an O2 sensor, or a EGR (all gen 1 references). On a scale of 1 to 10, it is a 6, maybe a 5 if your having a couple of beers inside your garage while doing it.