Posted by Matt Wilson on Saturday, January 29, 2005 at 5:37PM :
This is a re-visit of the topic posted below (way below) a few days ago. Tom Petroff mentioned that his oil pressure went almost to nothing when he changed his oil filter. Tom discovered, as had someone before him, whose name I can't remember, that his new oil filter did not have an o-ring at the top where it slides over the post in the filter housing. When he installed a filter with an o-ring, his pressure went back up to where it should be.
Well, I have had a low oil pressure problem for some time now, and it showed up after an oil change. Although I noticed the low pressure soon after the oil change, I never suspected the oil filter to be the problem. I mean the filter is simple enough, is it not? Then when Tom mentioned it, I realized the new filter I installed did not have o-rings at top or bottom, and I think it should have both, if I remember right. So today I searched around locally, but was unable to find any such filter. So I came home and tried an experiment. I pinched off the rubber inlet line going into the filter housing, and amazingly, the pressure jumped back up to 40 psi with the engine hot and idling, whereas it had been down around 5 psi under the same conditions, but without the line pinched off.
Apparently, having the right filter is critical to maintaining oil pressure and I now have very little doubt that the filter is the trouble, and the most troubling part is, I think I got the filter from VPW. I'll have to call them and find out what they are stocking, as I could be wrong about that. But what concerns me is that if VPW and other specialists don't have the correct filter, then what are the chances I'll be able to find it?
Folks, I'm surprised I haven't seen more about this kind of situation happening to other Chrysler flathead 6 owners. If it has affected me, it's probably going to affect the rest of you sooner or later.
Where do you guys find your correct filters???
Matt
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