Hi folks,
Just thought I'd pass on an observation that I made today while getting
Lazarus (52TD) out of his winter slumber and ready to start some serious
motoring. One of the items on the list was a change of oil and filter. The
engine is a later version than the car (Engine # 29939) and has the Tecalamit
Oil Filter. I've changed the filter cartridge (NAPA #1300) quite a few times,
so I'm quite familiar with the 'look and feel' of the operation. When I went to
reinstall the filter, something didn't feel right. The bolt was tightening up
too soon and I knew that I had removed the old gasket, so that couldn't be it.
Just to be safe, I took the filter back off and had a look.
Down inside the filter can there is a spring-loaded 'platform' that presses
against the end of the filter cartridge. The spring action wasn't there! It
took a bit of effort to release the circlip that held the mechanism together,
but eventually I got it apart. There is the large circular disk that presses
against the filter, a soft washer, a flat washer and a coil spring. These fit
around a central tube through which the mounting bolt passes. A burr had
developed on the inside edge of the large disk so that it was binding on the
central tube and preventing the spring action that would normally allow the disk
to move. The effect was to give a false sense of having the filter bolted into
place when it was still away from the sealing gasket.
There would have been one very unhappy engine in a few miles if I hadn't
spotted this and fixed it with a bit of emery cloth. Just thought I'd share
it. YMMV.
--
Bud Krueger
http://home.ici.net/~bkrueger/
52TD
77MGB
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