High oil pressure

TNVANDUSEN

MEMBER
2004 DODGE STRATUS
2.4L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
173,000 MILES

The oil light had came on there is no oil gauge in this car. I drove it and it started chugging like it didn't like that gear in the transmission had to get on it to gain speed and get where I was going. I parked it and noticed oil leaking from the oil filter. I bought a new oil filter and when I noticed the seals for the oil filter was pinched so I put the new oil filter on and 5 quarts of oil into the car. Everything seemed okay so I started the engine and oil gushed out of the oil filter probably all five quarts back onto the ground.

6 Replies

SCGRANTURISMO

MECHANIC
4,897 POSTS

Hello,

When doing an oil change it is very important to ensure that the old gasket from the old oil filter is removed before the new oil filter is installed. When it is not a condition called double gasketing happens in which the oil filter gasket will not seal causing the oil to leak out. You will need to redo your oil filter, correctly, tightening it hand tight plus a quarter turn, and ensuring that the oil is at the proper level with dipstick readings. Please get back to us with how everything turns out.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros

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Wednesday, November 6th, 2019 AT 3:54 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
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There's a pressure relief valve in the oil pump, so high pressure is not likely to be the cause. Instead, the two most common reasons for oil to be leaking from the filter is it is not tightened sufficiently, or the rubber o-ring seal from the previous filter stuck to the engine and is wedged under the seal on the new filter. We call that "double-gasketing", and every mechanic will do that at least once in their career, although some won't admit it.

There is always a lip on the filter that prevents the seal from squirting out from the oil pressure, but that lip isn't deep enough to cover a second seal that got overlooked. Oil pressure will push that seal out as soon as you restart the engine.

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Wednesday, November 6th, 2019 AT 3:58 PM

TNVANDUSEN

MEMBER
3 POSTS

I saw the old seal on the old oil filter, so that's not the issue. It was having problems starting again and threw a code for camshaft position sensor. I bought the sensor and haven't gotten to putting it in. Hopefully this solves the issues. I drove the car this morning and noticed it starting to not give me power so I put in neutral thinking I'd just let the cam go back around to starting position. I do not know. Seemed to work though.

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Thursday, November 7th, 2019 AT 9:23 AM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
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You have only a 50 percent chance of being right. Diagnostic fault codes never say to replace a part or that one is bad. They only indicate the circuit or system that needs further diagnosis. When a sensor or other part is referenced in a fault code, it is actually the cause of that code about half of the time. First we have to rule out wiring and connector terminal problems associated with that circuit.

Starting around 2002 models, the engine may not start if the camshaft position sensor or the crankshaft position sensor aren't sending their signals, but if the problem first occurs after the engine has been running, it will continue to run with one failed sensor until the engine is stopped. The Engine Computer has other back-up strategies to "inject" an approximate default signal to run on, but that signal is usually not perfect. That might explain the poor performance. In some instances, even if the intermittent problem stops acting up momentarily, the computer will remain in the default state and ignore the sensor's signal until you turn the ignition switch off, then restart the engine.

Did you solve the oil leak?

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Thursday, November 7th, 2019 AT 3:35 PM

TNVANDUSEN

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Yes the oil leak was solved someone threaded the new filter wrong.

The car had the same electrical issues today, since I assume the issue is with the camshaft position. I drove it today and when I felt the engine over rev up with no power behind it. I threw in neutral for a couple seconds, put it back in drive and the car continued to drive fine. It has all its get up and go it had before. It didn't throw codes today, even though I still haven't had the camshaft position sensor put on. So whatever I'm doing is allowing the cam to go to its starting position. But obviously I still need to resolve the problem.

Also this car has other electrical problems and I'm starting to wonder if there's a short somewhere. Maybe even going to the "brain" computer box.

The power windows don't work but the window motor is fine, I ran a hot off the battery to it to get them up. The HVAC system works intermittently [mostly not] but I've seen it blow hot & cold. Fuses have been checked.

This car was given to me a few days ago, and it's all I have to get my kids around. But I don't have money to pour into it trying to fix it and if I had money to take it to a shop I would. So I'm really praying it's a silly issue that were overlooking.