Oil Filter Adapter (Is this normal?)

Ok so I just removed my oil filter adapter (which came off super easy BTW) and after cleaning up the mating surface on the engine block, I found something that kind of concerned me. A quick search and reading through a few threads didn't reveal any pics of the area for me so I'm asking, is this normal?

Looking from the bottom:



Looking from the top:



At first I thought it was sludge, but I tried picking at it with a small screwdriver and it was pretty darn solid. Is this just the way this part of the engine block is cast/machined?

I believe you are right.


No use in a factory mass cleaning a surface that:
a. Will never be seen
b. Does not create a seal mating surface
c. Has no function or impairment.

X2, they only bother milling smooth the areas on the casting that matter. From the look of it, that's just a spot where the casting wasn't quite large enough to get machined smooth.

kastein said:

X2, they only bother milling smooth the areas on the casting that matter. From the look of it, that's just a spot where the casting wasn't quite large enough to get machined smooth.

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Agree. Seen some pretty rough surfaces in engines.

Thanks for the replies guys. Just thought it was kind of odd that the interior of the casting would be half machined, half rough. I would think the rough surface would have an ever so slight effect on oil flow and would also provide a nice spot for crud to build up. I'm sure the cost savings during the manufacturing process made it a non-issue though.

As I mentioned earlier, my filter adapter came off quite easily, despite the fact that it was one of the infamous Torx headed ones. No modifying of tools or welding of end wrenches. I just used a 3/8" drive T-55 bit and a breaker bar. The bit was a Lisle from Sears.





Admittedly, I used a cheater after hearing all of the horror stories. It popped so easy, I think it would have come off with just a good firm yank on the breaker bar.



Cleaned adapter parts:



Oil bath for the new o-rings:





You can thread it back in by hand until about the point shown in the following pic. It's still a tight squeeze for the breaker bar at that point, so I used one of those low profile socket adapters and a ratcheting end-wrench to snug it up. It's supposed to get torqued to 50 ft/lbs per the '99 FSM, but my torque wrench wouldn't fit so I just used the breaker bar to get it gudentight.



One oil leak down, two, maybe three or four to go... :repair:

Pretty sure that should be a T-60.

ya so far ive only seen people use a t60 on it but hey he did it with a t55 somehow without killing the screw head. nice job

1990heepxj said:

ya so far ive only seen people use a t60 on it but hey he did it with a t55 somehow without killing the screw head. nice job

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I'm thinking if he got it out with a T-55, and didn't bugger it in the process, that sucker was as loose as my first wife after a bottle of wine.

Morals people--she had loose morals.

I've used a T60 on mine, as well as customers rigs.

You know, I thought T55 sounded wrong when I wrote it. I bought the parts and tools to do this a long time ago and had been putting it off until I was due for my next oil change. T55 is the biggest size you can get in the Lisle bits before it makes the jump to 1/2" drive (which wouldn't fit between the bolt and frame). I guess this explains why I just found a crappy AutoZone Great Neck 3/8" T60 bit buried on my workbench as well. Sure enough, it fit the bolt head perfectly...

The T55 seemed to fit well enough so I didn't even second guess it. It did have a little play in it, but I thought that was due to the tapered shape of the hole it was fitting into. I just made sure to keep it perfectly square to the adapter bolt while I was wrenching on it. As you can see in the earlier pic (which was taken after removal of the adapter), I didn't even screw the bit (or the bolt) up despite it being one size too small. Oh well, good thing it wasn't on there stupid tight! :doh:

fyrfytr1717 said:

You know, I thought T55 sounded wrong when I wrote it. I bought the parts and tools to do this a long time ago and had been putting it off until I was due for my next oil change. T55 is the biggest size you can get in the Lisle bits before it makes the jump to 1/2" drive (which wouldn't fit between the bolt and frame). I guess this explains why I just found a crappy AutoZone Great Neck 3/8" T60 bit buried on my workbench as well. Sure enough, it fit the bolt head perfectly...

The T55 seemed to fit well enough so I didn't even second guess it. It did have a little play in it, but I thought that was due to the tapered shape of the hole it was fitting into. I just made sure to keep it perfectly square to the adapter bolt while I was wrenching on it. As you can see in the earlier pic (which was taken after removal of the adapter), I didn't even screw the bit (or the bolt) up despite it being one size too small. Oh well, good thing it wasn't on there stupid tight! :doh:

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If I was you, I would RUN not walk to the nearest store selling lottery tickets--you are one lucky dude! :yelclap:

Yeah... I boogered up some T25s (on the door latch mechanisms) with a T20 last summer. Of course, a size difference of 5 is probably more significant on a bit that small, unless the Torx size numbers are not linearly related to the actual bit size. You got pretty lucky there, that bolt would SUCK to replace if it got screwed up.