Hemorrhaging Oil Filter flange

My oil filter flange on my '94 4.0 is leaking progressively more and more. Every time I park the vehicle, I leave at least a golf ball-sized spot on the ground. Needless to say, my driveway is a wreck. And I'm surprised my starter hasn't packed it up from oil fouling.

I bought an allen wrench to fit the big bolt that appears to go through the flange and bolt it to the block; I figured there was an o-ring or similar gasket between the block and the flange that has gone bad. However, for the life of me, I cannot break that bolt loose. Granted, it's a tight fit in there, and I've only been using the wrench itself (about 8 - 10 inches long), but I've been exerting quite a bit of pressure on it, and I just want to make sure I'm going about this the right way.

Am I attacking the correct bolt?? It is an allen head bolt with a large shoulder on it. As it sits, the head of the bolt is pointing at the right front tire. Is this torqued to some crazy spec, or is there Locktite on it?? Thanks in advance for your help.

Andy

i replaced the o-rings in my '90, there were 3. the bolt was not an allen head, but i remember it was very hard to break loose. the '00 fsm shows a regular bolthead, but my '97 has an allen head bolt, with a large flat head. on my '90 i got my o-rings at the stealership because i hadn't pulled the bolt yet, and i didn't know what exactly i was dealing with. it cost 10 bucks and some change for the 3 o-rings, but i think someone else here mentioned they just went to home depot or a hardware store and got the right sizes...

Recent thread

See this recent thread on a similar problem
Filter
I think it will with help your problem.

Thanks Guys, for the advice and the link! It was very helpful!

Andy

Andy,

Good luck...I still can't get that damn bolt off.