Hey everyone, I'm having a little trouble tracking an oil leak in my Duster.
The engine is a 1979 360 4 barrel. It was cleaned and painted before we installed it. The engine has developed an oil leak at the oil filter area. When running, there is oil streaming off of the filter and onto the exhaust pipe. It will also leak after the engine is shut off. Looking at it, it just seems like oil is getting past the gasket on the filter. The engine is clean enough to see where the oil is coming from.
I tried using another filter, thinking that maybe the rubber gasket was damaged in the first filter. The leak persisted. My Brother in Law thought maybe the oil filter plate wasn't seated properly so I pulled it and replaced the gasket. Still leaked. I tried a different oil filter plate and again, it still leaked. I have seen those 90 degree oil filter adapters that mount using that fat hollow bolt. Those use a round gasket somewhere so I wondered if that round gasket is (In the case of a traditional setup) supposed to go in between the block and oil filter plate.
Anyhow, as it sits this moment, it has a different oil filter plate with a new gasket, the threaded fastener is tightened down nicely and the leak seems to have stopped. I am concerned because this leak just started without any known reason and then stopped in almost the same demonic logic.I am wondering if anyone had this happen before and what I can do to prevent it from occurring again. Thanks, Jeff.

Gasket on the block and then the plate. No others needed. Was the block completely clean on the old gasket before putting on the new one? Did you use a mopar gasket or a Felpro? Some gaskets are a little thicker. If the leak has stopped you should be good. The old plate may have been bent a little.

Everything Mopars4ever said, if it leaks again (I don't think it will) I would get the felpro gasket 70078 (IIRC) which is a C hair thicker than the one that comes in the 3 piece MP kit (+ you dont need the other 2 gaskets). #1 make sure the circular recess is squeaky clean & first cement the gasket up in place on the block & make sure it stays in place as you lift the plate up in place.

Thanks guys. Today I looked at a few different small block engines and when I took the filters off, I noticed some differences. Every one of them had the big gasket around the outside but none of them had the smaller gasket around the center bolt. Maybe the more experienced members here have seen these before. I saw one with multiple holes around the inner perimeter. I am guessing this is to improve flow?
Also, the center threaded fastener on one had a 1" six sided hex while the others had a 3/8" square hole in the middle. That style is what I had in my car. I used a 3/8" ratchet extension to remove and install it because there was no hex where it seated against the plate, it was just round and smooth.
I figure that both fasteners perform the same function. That plate with more holes seems like a good idea though. Another question: What path does the oil take through the filter? Does it go in through the 4 holes and out through the center?
Thanks again.

There are 2 styles of the small center fastener for the flat plate. yes either some plates have more holes or someone has added them (a good plan). oil goes into the filter in the smaller holes closer to the perimeter then is filtered in toward the center & exits the center threaded port.

Thank you, Robert!

Anytime bro

Make sure there isn't an old filter gasket stuck to the plate. I actually had that happen once.

There was a TSB on that on my sisters Honda CRV. They had a rep from oil leaking and engine fires because of that.

I feel like suck a dork.
I think that the dang oil filter was just not tight enough before. I hesitate to over tighten them since they can be so hard to remove. Who thought it was smart to make these things so smooth? They get oily and it only makes things worse.
I see that Fram filters have a textured surface on the end of their filters but I have been advised against using them. Something like that sure would make things easier, especially when clearance is tight for removal.
Thanks to those that helped.

"suck a dork." LOL!!
I know what you meant.

Don't the boxes give instructions, like "turn 1/2 to 3/4 turns after snug"?

Advance Auto lists eight pages of oil filter wrenches.

I'm attaching a picture from Harbor Freight.They are big shallow sockets that fit on the end of the filter.

R.

Yes there has been alot of complaints on Fram. don't forget to grease the black neoprene O ring & a smidge of oil on the center threads but likely the thread in nipple already has some residual oil on it. One of the other sites (FABO iirc) has a group buy on filters & the price was good.