Some of you may already have read this part... I was driving down the road today and my oil light came on... I wasnt far from home..1/2mile at most... so I turned around and came home, I checked the oil level and it was on low(but the engine sounded horrible.. if you really want to hear those vtcs tick then drain all the oil out) I tried to add oil but it just ran right through the engine on to the ground... I got under the car and my oil filter was so loose that I could unscrew it with my hands(and that was with it covered in oil)... I think the seal broke on the oil filter and thats why it was leaking.. so what is the best oil filter to get? I had a napa silver something on there and I remember seeing a thread about the gold and silver napa oil filters... which one would be better to get?...

I got a Napa Silver 21334 filter... is this the right one? its the one that came off the car so I assumed that it was the right one to go back on... Well anyway I brought it home and put it on filled her up with oil (by the way how many quarts should I have put in? I put in four to start with) and it looked like it was holding oil.. I started the engine up and bam..exxon valdez all over again.. all the oil I put in came gushing out (on my driveway, missed the collecting bucket all together)... when I jacked the car up and the filter was loose again, so I tightened the filter up but if I went past just snug the filter would pop off the threads and be loose again (like the threads were stripped, but they were fine)... Did I just buy the wrong filter(which doesn't make sense because the other filter has been on there for 2000+ miles) or is there something bigger thats wrong with my engine that I'm going to have to pay a mechanic for?

 

check that it hasnt been stripped in the first place. the filter may not be the right one. sometime whenever the dealer sells a car they make sellable, not nessecarily safe. go to a good auto supply shop and dont buy the house brand. i have always used fram oil filters and i never have a problem with them, so far ive had fram on 6 cars.

 

The post to screw the oil filter on does not appear to be stripped, it looks perfectly fine... If its not the right filter than why would it stay on for 2000+ miles? I guess its probably not the right filter because the new one popped off just like the old one.. It doesnt make sense why it would work for so long in my car and then just quit...

Someone suggested that the pcv valve could be going/gone/dead and thats why my filter is popping off when I run the engine...

 

im not an expert, but whenever i bought my old chevy, i replaced the oil and filter(s) the guy who had it originally had equipped it with a tranny cooler. i figured that it used the chevy filters so i bogut those and tried to use them, they popped off, it turns out i was supposed to use ford filters instead, and they work fine.

not saying you need another cars filter, but the dealer may have just slapped something on there, and by chance it stayed on

 

Why did it last 2000 miles before failing, I don't know maybe luck or a defective filter that didn't become appearant until after 2000 miles. I dont think it's a PCV problem, you stated when you tighten it just past that snug fit it pops loose. Sounds like a mechanical failure of the filter. By now I'm sure you have tried another filter and was able to tighten it without it popping loose, correct?

 

I now know I have the wrong filter... The filter I had was a napa silver 21334 but I needed a silver 21361.. but I'm think im going to try the napa gold filter sugested by Mr. Gone.. PN#1361

Thanks for the imput guys...

 

Isnt a Toyota oil filter recommended for the 92-94 SE?

 

ok.. I got the napa filter for now.. It works and the engine holds oil... Now my next question is how many quarts should the VE take to fill up? Im not sure if my dad over filled it and its hard to see the oil level since the oil is so clean and clear...

 

right around 4.1 quarts

 

I use the toyota filter in mine. it is supposed to provide additional pressure to keep the oil at the top of the engine to help alleviate lack of oil to the VTCs. I think mine are too far gone to really help, but I put it on, anyway. I haven't had any leaks from the filter.

 

I got a basic group 7 filter on mine and no leaks, no tick either