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Major oil leak on 3.6L (Pacifica, not Durango)

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cwilly8

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
(This isn't a Durango issue, but it's the same engine, and I value your thoughts!)
Daughter and son-in-law bought a used 2020 Pacifica Limited (3.6L with 75K miles) last night at a dealership about 60 miles from home. When he went out this morning to move the kids' car seats to the Pacifica, he noticed a large puddle of oil coming out from under the car. Note that it was pointed nose-down on their rather steep driveway.
Here's what he has checked so far: No evidence of oil leakage at the drain plug. No oil showing on the dipstick. His initial internet search indicates that it could be a cracked oil filter housing or a bad seal.
They declined extended warranty coverage during the purchasing process.
I'd love to hear your suggestions. Thanks!
 
#2 · (Edited)
The Pentastars (in all models) are notorious for getting oil leaks where the oil filter housing mates to the engine. The oil filter housing is made of composite plastic and, typically depending on your climate, prone to warping and leaking at the matting surface. The best way to see if that's what it is, is looking down at the oil filter location and see if oil is pooling up on top of the engine. Here's an example from someone else looking for info on what was an oil filter housing leak:
Image

If oil is pooled up there, it's most likely that leak source. There's actually cavities for oil to build up in before it's enough to spill over. With parking on a steep driveway, it likely looks worse because a lot of oil that was already pooled up, and would have stayed in the cavities on top of the engine on a relatively level surface, the steep incline likely gave a lot a path to run out. Here's what my old 2011 DD looked like with pooled up oil, and the leaking mating surface:
Image
Image


Dorman makes an aluminum oil filter housing that is designed to address this specific issue of plastic degradation and warping. There's also option of another OEM plastic composite housing. In another thread, it's been identified that the Durango has a redesigned OEM housing (not sure it that's also comparable for the Pacifica, but I would suspect so as these actually seem the same across models) available that addresses a potential for coolant to oil bypass, but that housing is still the plastic composite material and, with everything I see online and in person, this oil leak from the bottom of the plastic housing is far more prevalent.
 
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#3 ·
They should have a 30 day warranty at least that the dealer should be held to.
 
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#4 · (Edited)
CW8:
Was this bought from a Dodge or other related dealer? I'd like to think there would be some level of basic warranty, maybe 30 days or something long those lines. Check out the paperwork. If they are any sort of a real business, they should help you.

Don
 
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#7 ·
CW8:
That is excellent news! Sounds like they are a decent place after all.
Thanks for returning to share the remedy with us.

Don
 
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#8 ·
hello,

I am the son in law CW8 is referring to. Slight correction to the above mentioned resolution. Yes the dealership offered to replace the housing if that indeed was the issue, however, after inspecting the problem the mechanic determined it was a "rolled O ring". So the housing wasn't replaced and it doesn't sound like the housing was fully accessed. My question is - do you think fixing a "rolled O ring" is possible without fully accessing / removing the housing?
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
My random thoughts: If the o-ring was actually rolled, it was either (1) installed incorrectly at manufacture, or (2) installed incorrectly during a maintenance activity (such as replacing the filter housing). If (1), the oil should have leaked before now, I would think. Or perhaps the housing had been previously replaced, but not tightened correctly, and the o-ring is getting the blame.
 
#10 ·
Gents:
If the O ring in question was the one that installs on the oil filter housing cap, I sure do! I'll bet that whomever did the recent oil service did not properly install said O ring, which caused the leak. It does surprise me though that the leak was not evident right away.

At any rate, as long as they have taken care of you and all is well, you re good right?

Don
 
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#11 ·
I checked the o ring that is attached to the cap, it looked fine and not rolled. Also, there were no signs of oil leaking down from the cap. The amount was substantial so I would assume it would be evident if the leak was coming from the cap. It was clear though, that a decent amount of oil was visible at the base of the housing (left side, below the filter).
 
#12 ·
I'm going to pick the vehicle up here in a bit. Feel free to share any questions I should ask the mechanic.
#1 on my list is (assuming the rolled o ring is not the cap one) How did you fix the o ring w/ out removing the housing assembly or removing the intake.
 
#13 · (Edited)
So the first question should be exactly what o-ring it was. If it's the oil ring show a #4 in this diagram, the oil filter cap, yep, no requirement to remove the assembly. There are oil & coolant seals between the oil cooler (#9) and the housing (#12), if it was one of those, it can be done without removing the housing. If it's one of the seals under the housing (#13), the housing has to be removed to replace it.

I will say one of the issues with this specific leak from an oil/warped housing, is that it doesn't always leak. It's when the conditions are right like a cold engine, and especially when a cold weather snap or drastic temp changes, that it leaks, but it can seal up after reaching operating temps. That's the way mine was, a sudden cold snap and it leaked out, but then the weather warmed up and it was ok, which was lucky for me as everything was backordered and took a few weeks to arrive.
Image



Regardless, if they are doing the work to fix it for free to you, they have no obligation to change it to any other. I'll admit, if it is the bottom oil seal, a new seal will fix the leak. But if that's all that was changed, it's likely to have a much shorter span of time before it leaks again in comparison to the seal with a new OEM or the Dorman housing.

In light of that, I would definitely keep an eye on it. As mentioned, it actually takes time to fill the cavities on top of the engine with oil before it can run over and show up as a leak. So you'll want to watch in that visible cavity by the oil filter location.
 
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#14 ·
BlueRidge04 said:
I checked the o ring that is attached to the cap, it looked fine and not rolled. Also, there were no signs of oil leaking down from the cap. The amount was substantial so I would assume it would be evident if the leak was coming from the cap. It was clear though, that a decent amount of oil was visible at the base of the housing (left side, below the filter).
Click to expand...
The O-ring on the oil filler cap needs to go in the correct slot. It's tempting to place it in the wrong slot, which could cause the oil to leak out. Perhaps when they said the O-ring had rolled, they meant that it was in the upper false slot, and not in the proper lower slot?
 
#15 ·
Thanks Norge.
Long story short - the service manager was referring to the o ring in the cap (#4). We had a conversation about that and how it would be obvious if the leak was coming from the cap (oil residue on the side, stains etc) and I had already checked the o ring in the cap. He played dumb / confused and he finally grabbed the tech who actually did the work.
The tech actually said to the manager “the leak was coming from the bottom of the housing, that’s what I was trying to tell you”… smh 🤦🏼‍♂️
The manager apologized for the misunderstanding and offered to replace it with the aluminum housing… stay tuned to see if it actually goes down!
 
#16 ·
Radar1 said:
The O-ring on the oil filler cap needs to go in the correct slot. It's tempting to place it in the wrong slot, which could cause the oil to leak out. Perhaps when they said the O-ring had rolled, they meant that it was in the upper false slot, and not in the proper lower slot?
Click to expand...
Thanks for that - I did notice there were two similar looking slots. I brought that up to the service manager when he was attempting to “explain the issue” and that’s when he bailed to go get the service tech who actually worked on it. (See my next post)
 
#18 ·
I have a 2024 Durango that I bought as a demo. Had 5090 miles on it. After 800 miles it lost 2 quarts of oil. My driveway looked like a firehouse dalmatian. A dealership replaced a seal and it was fine for 2 weeks when the leak re appeared. This time it was the oil pan gasket.
 
#19 ·
Good Friday morning irnwrk127:
Which engine is in your '24? Both the 5.7L and 3.6L have their oil leak quirks, but they leak from different places.

Don
 
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