Fluids Leak. Can't Decide What It Is...

[yarmo]

I've searched through the diesel forums to see if anyone else has had something like this, and I haven't seen anything similar. I've got some kind of fluid leak getting onto my driver's side frame. I don't see anything particularly wet around the engine or above where it's wet on the frame...

I did have an oil change done pretty recently so I'm hoping it's just a lazy tech that didn't clean up excess oil from changing the filter? Not sure... I sprayed it all down with brake cleaner and I'll take it to the dealer if it starts to get wet in that area again. Oil level was on the lower end of the dip stick, but I also checked it cold so I'm assuming that's normal. I've got 17k miles and haven't had any issues before.

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[WhereRU_A-A-Ron]

Looks like oil to me. Don’t know much about the diesel; is the oil filter near that area? If so, based on your photo of the fender liner/frame it looks someone potentially made a huge mess when they changed it. No way you’d get all of that cleaned up enough to not have oil spots on the ground afterward.

 

[yarmo]

Looks like oil to me. Don’t know much about the diesel; is the oil filter near that area? If so, based on your photo of the fender liner/frame it looks someone potentially made a huge mess when they changed it. No way you’d get all of that cleaned up enough to not have oil spots on the ground afterward.

Yeah the oil filter is right above it.. reeeallly banking on that being what it is because I've got a huge month long trip planned for Feb and cannot have this thing in the shop for weeks waiting for parts.

 

[26 confirmed]

Did you use an aftermarket oil filter, some of them have problems leaking.

 

[yarmo]

Did you use an aftermarket oil filter, some of them have problems leaking.

No it's an OEM filter; dealership did it with Jeep wave. It wasn't my usual dealer though because they were out of filters. I don't think I'll go back to the new one because this is super annoying. Never had problems with the old one...

 

[WhereRU_A-A-Ron]

Yeah the oil filter is right above it.. reeeallly banking on that being what it is because I've got a huge month long trip planned for Feb and cannot have this thing in the shop for weeks waiting for parts.

In that case I'd be almost 100% certain that someone probably just made a royal mess when they changed the oil and didn't clean it up or didn't clean it up well. Also, that looks like old oil to me. I wouldn't sweat it at all.

 

[yarmo]

In that case I'd be almost 100% certain that someone probably just made a royal mess when they changed the oil and didn't clean it up or didn't clean it up well. Also, that looks like old oil to me. I wouldn't sweat it at all.

Thanks for giving me some hope! I sprayed it all down with brake cleaner so we'll see if it comes back...

 

[garykk]

Yup, I had the dealer change my oil a few weeks ago, found oil spots on the garage floor, looked underneath and oil was all over the frame, axle etc. cleaned it up and let the dealer know what a lousy job they did….

 

[garykk]

Thanks for giving me some hope! I sprayed it all down with brake cleaner so we'll see if it comes back...

Instead of brake cleaner, get a gallon of Mean Green from the Dollar Store, works great and a helluva lot cheaper than brake cleaner?

 

[JamC12H23]

Same happened to me. I let the dealer do a Wave oil change, got home and was terrified because of all the oil on the ground the next morning. Climbed underneath and saw what a mess they made.

2nd oil change I did, zero mess, no further issues. The dealer can keep my other 2 “free” changes, they are not worth the effort I had to put into cleaning my garage floor.

 

[the_jeepeo]

Waiting for oil to drain down into the filter housing means backing out the filter first and most techs start with draining the pan. They should at least know to stuff a rag underneath the housing before pulling the messy old filter out of the engine compartment.

All in all, I’d agree it doesn’t look like anything serious outside of a cosmetic mess issue.

 

[DMT]

I had similar experience with all 3 oil changes and every time oil underneath all messed up. Diesel filter is tricky to pull out without dripping a lot.
Swipe all clean and observe. Just in case.

 

[grimmjeeper]

When I change my oil I unscrew the filter all the way but leave it sitting in the housing. I open the fumoto valve. Then I do other maintenance like rotating tires and lubricating joints. Once that's done the oil has drained out of the filter assembly and it doesn't really drip.

 

[grostage]

when i do mine i stuff some paper towel around the base of the filter to catch any residual from filter when it comes off and not a drop is spilled.

 

[Antonio]

The way the 3.0 diesel filter housing is it sits on an angle, I’ve seen videos as suggested by other members to basically loosen up the filter but not to take it out completely, just leave it be to drain in the housing while you finish up other tasks, in our diesel case you can drain the water filter separator or even change the fuel filter during the time you wait to let the oil filter drain, keep in mind dealers are just looking to push out this quickly so they can move on to the next vehicle so it’s very likely to have some oil drain on the engine while taking out the filter if proper towels or something hasn’t been put in place prior to removing the filter

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