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Just a heads up for anyone running or ever considering buying a K&N oil filter for a LS1, after warming up my car for a short drive and parking I discovered a massive oil leak in my driveway, it was down over a quart in about an hour parked. I had a K&N put on with my last oil change 2 weeks ago, it was not over tightened but yesterday it decided start leaking from the fitting at the bottom of the filter used for removal of the filter . This unnecessary "feature" is a huge failure point apparently. it could have been worse though had I not noticed and that POS destroyed my engine....back to AC delco filters from now on...
Are you 100% sure it was that nut? I would take a close look at it if you didn't.
You sure it was on tight enough?
Take the filter apart and take some pics to confirm.
This happened to me and all I did was put it on too loose and when I tightened it, it was fine
It was on very tight when I checked, but it had failed and was leaking like crazy from that stupid nut at the bottom of it. It's a know issue apparently with these filters: http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28220
Not worth the risk when there's plenty of oil filters available without nuts at the bottom of them that are prone to leaking!
The whole point of that filter over the rest is ease of removing it cause of the nut. I've used at least 50 of them with no issues. All filters can be faulty regardless of there being a nut or not.
The whole point of that filter over the rest is ease of removing it cause of the nut. I've used at least 50 of them with no issues. All filters can be faulty regardless of there being a nut or not.
And to your point, I've used 51+ AC delco filters with no issues either
Are you 100% sure it was that nut? I would take a close look at it if you didn't.
You sure it was on tight enough?
Take the filter apart and take some pics to confirm.
It was on very tight when I checked....I had it towed to a shop thinking it was the RMS (170K); there was oil everywhere underneath the car. The mechanic says the filter failed internally; there's a tiny "safety wire attachment" hole drilled into that 1" nut at the bottom of the filter....that is where oil was pissing out like no tomorrow.
Here's yet another thread from some subuaru guy about this known issue with their shoddy spot welds inside the filters causing huge leaks from the 1" nut .
I am sorry but this is not reason to put out a warning for a part failure. All parts can fail and all can have a defect from time to time. Its mass produced and its going to happen. I would bet that you can do a google search and find that every oil filter brand has had failures. 1% of millions sold isn't an epidemic. I myself have fun FRAM for over 25 years on my DD cars and my race engines making over 1000hp and have never had one fail. But that doesn't mean that others haven't had issues with the same filters I am running. I am sure I will get a bad filter one day too.
I am sorry but this is not reason to put out a warning for a part failure. All parts can fail and all can have a defect from time to time. Its mass produced and its going to happen. I would bet that you can do a google search and find that every oil filter brand has had failures. 1% of millions sold isn't an epidemic. I myself have fun FRAM for over 25 years on my DD cars and my race engines making over 1000hp and have never had one fail. But that doesn't mean that others haven't had issues with the same filters I am running. I am sure I will get a bad filter one day too.
I am sorry, but this was the first and last time I'll ever use a K&N oil filter due to this issue....end of story! First of all, it cost like twice as much as other filters so one expects a certain level of quality for shelling out the extra clams. I never said it was an epidemic; it's simply a known issue specific to ONLY K&N oil filters. I'm simply giving my first hand experience with their product for everyone else to make their own informed decisions. I used their filter ONCE for 2 weeks while using AC delco or Bosch filters for over 20 years and only this one time with the K&N did I ever have an oil filter failure. That is a FACT. Had this been a one out of 100 occurrence then maybe I might see things differently.
that nut is cast into the housing, i dont see how that could have leaked, can you post some pictures?
No the nut isn't cast into it...it's spot welded onto the housing...every now and then the spot burns through the canister too much by the welder apparently. As for pics, no I don't have them, the shop threw that POS in the trash after briefly inspecting the filter on the lift with the car running and not running; I don't think they were too interested in dissecting a defective oil filter or taking glamour shots. This was at a GM dealership so they just laugh and point the finger at aftermarket junk part failures.
On the positive side, my RMS is leak free and I got my filthy, probably decade old brake fluid bled while at the shop!
No the nut isn't cast into it...it's spot welded onto the housing...every now and then the spot burns through the canister too much by the welder apparently. As for pics, no I don't have them, the shop threw that POS in the trash after briefly inspecting the filter on the lift with the car running and not running; I don't think they were too interested in dissecting a defective oil filter or taking glamour shots. This was at a GM dealership so they just laugh and point the finger at aftermarket junk part failures.
On the positive side, my RMS is leak free and I got my filthy, probably decade old brake fluid bled while at the shop!
Your getting oil changes done at the car dealership and you want us to take your word for it that it was leaking through the housing because of a "burned through weld" and not at the gasket or from an improper install? lol
Wtf has happened to LS1Tech? Empty oil
filter alerts, starting build threads for the sole purpose of whining, ...
This is a technical site, not a preschool or a bar.
To your point if you've got nothing technical to add to the thread other than whining yourself too then you can just...
Originally Posted by jrpimp00
Im just wondering why it didnt leak for the first 2 weeks? Not saying it wasnt the nut, but why all of a sudden?
No idea other than it was 20 degrees first thing in the AM and I warmed it up for 5 mins before a 5 min drive....it was on tight as could be by hand confirmed by myself and the mechanic. It was not leaking out the gasket as the shop confirmed. I'm guessing the rapid temp change had something to do with it because it was completely leak free for several hundred miles before it completely failed on the coldest AM in a while.
No the nut isn't cast into it...it's spot welded onto the housing...every now and then the spot burns through the canister too much by the welder apparently. As for pics, no I don't have them, the shop threw that POS in the trash after briefly inspecting the filter on the lift with the car running and not running; I don't think they were too interested in dissecting a defective oil filter or taking glamour shots. This was at a GM dealership so they just laugh and point the finger at aftermarket junk part failures.
On the positive side, my RMS is leak free and I got my filthy, probably decade old brake fluid bled while at the shop!
I believe that EVEN the high priced K&N Gold fiters (the one you had the failure on) are now made in China, so that may explain the shoddy workmanship/welding and lack of Q.C.
I use either; Amsoil EaOs, Mobil 1 M1s, Fram Ultras, or Wix Golds (or NAPA, same thing), and have NEVER EVER had a failure, but I can say the same thing for the OLD, made in the good ol' USA K&N Golds when I used to use them.
01-12-2016, 04:01 PM
K&N oil filter failure...beware 
. This unnecessary "feature" is a huge failure point apparently. 
it could have been worse though had I not noticed and that POS destroyed my engine....back to AC delco filters from now on...
This was at a GM dealership so they just laugh and point the finger at aftermarket junk part failures. 
