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Are you certain the housing is the problem? I assumed you tried using different filter?
I never had this issue, the only thing if you dont tighten oil filter good enough it will leak a bit.
I have taken my filter to the Acura dealership every time for my engine oil and engine oil filter changes and this has never happened to me in 130,000 plus miles. Make sure you always replace the filter gasket and crush washer every time.
Are you sure it's the oil filter housing and not something higher up that's leaking down FROM it..? Could be valve cover gasket, oil pump gasket, VTEC solenoid, etc..
I am not certain where the leak is starting,
No oil on top, sides or front of the engine.
it is not oily inside the oil filter housing or at base of oil filter where it screws in, also no oil on filter itself. The oil seems to be coming out from the block side of the oil filter base.
Also. Only drips if car is running. So needs to be pressure for it to leak.
I struggled. I used about 7 different 10mm wrenches. It took all of them to get the top 2 shorter bolts off. Hardly any room.
Installing it back was even harder! Put the bolts in the housing before you reinstall! You cannot get the upper bolts in if you attach the lower bolts 1st.
after all the work, NO MORE LEAK
hope this helps!
Last edited by Boxster98; 12-01-2018 at 03:08 PM.
Reason: Added pictures
Hey Boxster - as luck would have it, I did this same job on my 07 today. Agreed, it's a PITA to get at the top two bolts. I removed the lower motor mount bracket to gain access to the top outer oil filter housing bolt. (Remove two 17mm bolts from motor mount circled in green, four 17mm bolts from bracket that goes in the red box).
I cut a 10mm combination wrench in half and used the box end to loosen/tighten the top inner bolt.
Too soon to tell if it took care of my oil leak, but my old gaskets looked exactly like yours. Thanks for the thread!
Thanks for posting about this. I think I have a leak from the same housing. Not looking forward to what looks like a tedious repair.
Probably a dumb question, but I'll ask: do you have to support that mount at all if you remove the bolts/bracket to improve access? I've only dealt with upper motor mounts where you have to jack up the engine from removal/replacement.
I have an 08 Acura RDX that started exhibiting this issue a few weeks ago (140k mi). I noticed it while doing my routine oil/filter service. At first glance I thought it was the oil pan seal or possibly the oil filter itself didn't seal properly. I'm glad I found this thread! I created this account simply to thank those that took the pictures and wrote about this! I almost took the RDX into a shop (thinking it was the oil pan) and would have paid hundreds of dollars doing so. To find out it was simply $10 worth of seals was a huge relief.
Removing the lower torque brace mount is a must! It's easy to remove and re-install, just use a block of wood and a jack against the transmission/engine and everything will be good!
Somehow I managed to get the upper 10mm bolts out using only two different 10mm wrenches. DO NOT even attempt this with an open end wrench. Space is very tight, but once the bolts are broken loose, I was lucky enough to be able to spin them out using my finger tips. This is not a hard repair to accomplish, however it is tedious and time consuming if working on your back. Making small 1/8 turns with a 10mm box wrench makes each bolt removed feel like a major milestone. Before re-installing the bolts for both the filter housing and the torque brace, apply a small amount of oil to the threads and clean out the bolt holes with some brake clean and/or compressed air. Steel bolts threading into aluminum dry can easily gall threads. In my case, I discovered one of the brace bolts was rammed in using an impact by someone before me. This made it very difficult to remove. It was obvious they didn't take the time to line up the engine with the mount. Half the threads in the aluminum mount plate were chowdered. I was able to clean up the threads using a thread chaser kit, but still annoying all the same.
I hope others find this thread as helpful as I did! Thanks again!
-Icer
This happened to me too about a year ago... At the dealer while having another oil leak repaired... They covered it because they "assumed" the may have caused it! Funny how this weird seal is leaking on everyone's RDX all of a sudden!
How much of a mess do you want to make Granted a majority of the oil SHOULD go back into the oil pan , but there certainly will be some oil in the oil filter /housing. I'd do this at the same time as an oil change to minimize the mess
No I didn't change the oil. In my case I had just done an oil/filter change a week prior, so it would have been a waste to change the oil again. You just need to be careful while handling the filter/housing. Tipping it will make a mess. I lost a little bit of oil during the removal and cleaning process, but nothing to worry about (maybe a few oz). I did come back and check the dipstick after driving the car and letting it sit overnight. The fill level didn't change in any noticeable way.
Extra care should be taken though to prevent dirt from getting into the filter port holes. I'm not sure which channel is inlet (unfiltered) and which is outlet (filtered). Either way, sandy bits getting in your valve train or rod bearings is never a good thing! Cut of some old cotton t-shirt or something and plug those holes while you work to clean around the gasket and mating surfaces.
I removed the filter housing as well and not so tough removing it and returning it back except I had to replace one of the bolts to a shorter one.
I didn't change the rings in my case though they've dried out and extremely strong. All I did was to use a gasket gum $1.31., made gasket on the existing ring and returned. No more leakage.
09-02-2018, 07:58 PM
Granted a majority of the oil SHOULD go back into the oil pan , but there certainly will be some oil in the oil filter /housing. I'd do this at the same time as an oil change to minimize the mess
