Here's a link to the full size photos:
http://gallery.me.com/dpenoff#100266
Here's the deal:
A former neighbor of mine is an engineer who does forensic work for insurance
companies - investigating claims, if you would. His background is in building
systems, specifically HVAC, but in this case, a colleague asked him if he would
look into this particular claim:
A Sprinter van with the inline 5 cylinder diesel went in for an oil change.
Shortly after doing so, the engine failed catastrophically, purportedly due to
a major oil leak resulting from some deficiency from the service provider. In
other words, the engine locked up from a lack of lubrication.
He has not gotten to see the engine, as it has already been repaired, but the
claimant says that the oil filter cover failed and as a result the oil was
forced out of the engine.
The pictures linked above show the original oil filter cover and filter, along
with a current part, which is obviously redesigned to eliminate the "ringed"
yellow part. There is no indication of a failure of the cover or O ring
sealing it.
However, the tube or ringed part of the filter cover is obviously broken in two
pieces. Upon direct inspection, some of the plastic "rings" that made up this
part are gone, that is, if you put the two pieces together it is obvious that
the failure did not occur between these two pieces, that is, there are bits in
between that are missing.
Comparing it to the current part shows a major redesign in this center tube
that failed on the original part.
That being said, from my inspection it appears that even had this center tube
failed, there would be no loss of oil, it would simply fail to be forced
through the filter medium and go back into the housing and return to the engine.
If anyone has any experience with these engines and has any insight into this
filter assembly it would be welcome. I am going to contact my parts buddy at
the local dealership on Monday with the old and current part numbers to see if
there has been any service bulletins or other documentation that would indicate
why the redesign took place.
I don't have the part numbers handy but will post them shortly.
Thanks,
Dan
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