In December, my car developed a relatively large but somehow intermittent oil leak around the front of the engine, passenger side. The car has never leaked any oil, so this was super surprising to me. Couldn't find any wet spots on the engine. Couldn't find any wet spots on the bottom. Oil pan looked clean.

I got some UV oil dye, put it in, ran car, etc. No dice. Couldn't find the leak. I said "whatever" and just ordered a bunch of gaskets. Figured I'd need them sooner or later.

I got under the car again, and noticed some slight moisture around the oil filter. I grabbed the filter, and it turned out to be loose. Tightened the filter, and voila oil leak gone.

Not sure how it came loose to begin with. I've come across a lot of oil filters that are way too tight, but never one that was too loose. I've changed the filter on this car (and others) a bunch of times, always hand tight, but I'd never leave it loose, and I've never had this happen or even seen it happen. Bizarre stuff.

 

Glad you caught it early!

 

I had that happen to me once back in the early 1980s on my 1974 Datsun 260Z using a fresh NAPA oil filter. I have a tendency to overtighten everything I work on so it really surprised me. Fortunately, I discovered the issue as soon as I started the engine after the oil & filter change so no more than a quart of oil seeped out. That incident caused me to always double-check my work whenever installing fresh oil filters on any vehicle. It has never happened again....

 

Glad you got it before it became destructive.

What brand filter?

 

I think it was an OEM Jaguar filter. If not, probably a Mann one.

 

Yeah, the weird thing to me is that this presented 2500 miles after I installed the filter. Not sure what to make of it, but the car's in storage now. Hopefully, not in a pool of oil...

 

I have owned several airplanes and they use safety wire on the oil filters. I have never seen this on a car but always wondered why not? It is a simple process and is easy to remove.

 

I noticed a spot on the floor under mine last month and it was the filter. I installed it myself and thought it was tight enough, never had a problem in the past.

 

I had that happen on my 72 240z and it was my fault. It's a car I seldom drive, trying to keep the miles down. After changing the filter and oil it sat for about a month and decided to take it for a drive to the store, about a half mile away. After getting back, I parked it. Next day I noticed oil on the garage floor, and saw it was coming from the filter. Reached into the engine compartment and tightened by hand again and thought that would fix it. A couple of days went by and still there was oil leaking. Decided to pull the filter and take a look at it. Discovered that there was actually two gaskets on the filter. Apparently when I removed the old one the gasket remained attached to the block. It was leaking between the two gaskets. So if you find your filter leaking that is something you might want to check.

 

^^ Good point. Whenever I unscrew an existing oil filter, I always make certain its rubber gasket is still properly in place. There have been a couple of instances over the decades where that gasket stayed stuck to the oil filter housing on the vehicle and I had to peel them off and scrape the area carefully before screwing on the new oil filter....

 

Funnily enough I've heard enough horror stories about the double gasket that it's made me pretty careful about checking the old filters, too (I think I probably still have it, for some reason). Haven't run into that issue yet, but I'm sure given time I inevitably will.

 

A while back, after dealing with a leaking VW oil cooler/filter housing leak, I started consciously tightening my Jaguar oil filter a lot more than I used to. Still considered "hand tight", but pretty much as tight as I could get it by hand. So much so that, on the next filter change, the thread adapter came off the pan, with the filter. Took me a couple of changes to properly tighten this adapter back onto the pan, with the help of a bolt (internal hex). Of course, the filter side of the adapter has these nice course threads that look pretty much indestructible. The other side has these nice fine threads that look like they would no take over-tightening too kindly. So, standard mechanic's conundrum here, have the course thread on the side of the $5 filter, and the fine thread on the side of the $500 pan. Sigh...

In other words, tighten the oil filter as tight as practical, but know the adapter might come off the pan at the next change...

 

It is indeed a delicate balance between too loose / just right / too tight (and every vehicle is different). I always wind up reaching back in there with my trusty old rubber jar lid opener and cranking the new oil filter down just one more eighth of a turn after I thought I was done....

 

There are two mentions of owning a Datsun 240Z in this short thread. I had a 240Z and 280Z as well. Makes me wonder how many former (or current) owners of this legendary poor man's sports car now drive Jaguars.

 

I miss my 1974 260Z. It was my first new car. I kept it for nearly 13 years and more than 200,000 miles before finally selling it to the son of a colleague of mine....

 

I still have my 72 240z. It's now the poor mans collector car. Parts are still fairly cheap and readily available. Only 65,000 miles and drive it just a couple of times a year.

 

The early Z-cars were built with inferior-quality steel and tended to rust away after less than a decade. A desert climate would certainly be the ideal location for Z-car ownership and is perhaps the primary reason why yours is still in operable condition....

 

You're right about the steel. When I purchased the car in 1980 I was living in Seattle. I got a good deal on it due to the front frame being rusted out. The steel had been eaten away due to the battery leaking on the battery tray. Apparently it was a common problem as I was able to purchase new frame rails from J.C. Whitney. Replaced the rails and the battery tray. The car is still in Seattle, garaged at my brothers place. He has a 6 car garage so has room for it. When I moved down to California I left it there as I only have a 3 car garage and no room for it. I usually go back up there once or twice a year and drive it. It now has no rust issues. Another common problem was the dash cracking. Fortunately mine is still intact.

 

i owned one of the first 240z’s . Serial number 882.

It was very reliable, it would reliably lose a hubcap every time a turn was taken at speed......

Z

PS my next car was a ‘67 e type followed by a ‘70

 

Don't recall ever seeing one with hubcaps. That would have been a keeper. Wonder if it's still on the road or been scrapped.