New Metal Oil Filter Housing

[roaniecowpony]

Maybe somone else has posted this, but I thought it should be posted here. Maybe even pinned, since the 3.6 L has a chronic problem with the plastic oil filter housing breaking and leaking, especially as it ages.

Dorman came out with this all metal housing last fall. To replace your plastic housing is a bit more involved than probably most members will want to take on. But some will want to DIY this mod. I haven't looked in my service manual, but I believe it require removing the upper and lower intake manifolds. So, if you're replacing the spark plugs, this would be a good time to consider this part replacement. It's available from Autozone and probably all other Dorman dealers. Best Engine Oil Filter Housing Parts for Cars, Trucks & SUVs (autozone.com)

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[19 JLUR Bright Whit3]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a comprehensive swap. I'll be keeping this in mind as I plan to keep My Jeep to the end. Yeah, maybe when the 100K mark for spark plugs are due.

 

[waypoint]

Proactive replacement during the spark plug change, while the intake is off anyway, is a good idea and I'll likely do it as well. Dorman parts have been hit & miss in my experience, but this piece looks lower-risk than the factory housing.

I'm only at 11K miles on our '21 Sierra so plenty of time to ponder it.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Proactive replacement during the spark plug change, while the intake is off anyway, is a good idea and I'll likely do it as well. Dorman parts have been hit & miss in my experience, but this piece looks lower-risk than the factory housing.

I'm only at 11K miles on our '21 Sierra so plenty of time to ponder it.

The Dorman parts I'm most familiar with are plastic clips, grommets, door handles, etc. . They were known for making those replacement die cast window cranks, back when windows had cranks. I did buy a transmission pan for my 08 Chevy truck that was beautifully made and fit perfectly.

This part is a die cast aluminum, a process which I'm pretty familiar with as I was once a QC manager at a plant where we had die cast machines. In my early career, I worked as a machinist and inspector. So, I'll scrutinize it pretty well before installing. I'm at 20K miles now and not putting on many miles in the past couple years, but I expect that to change since retiring and the pandemic largely behind us. I'll probably change the plugs after 50-60k miles. Overkill, I'm sure. But I get a placebo effect.

I think I'll go ahead and buy this part now. Some of these kinds of parts get discontinued due to low volume sales. Frankly, I'm surprised Dorman developed this part. I would not have guessed the market would support enough sales.

 

[roaniecowpony]

This guy is pretty informative. Worth the time to watch.

 

[sherpaJL]

Thanks for posting. I didn't know this was an issue.

 

[pangmaster]

I'm super careful when I tighten the filter cap, but glad to see there is a fix.

I am curious how many of these have failed on the upgraded pentastar.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Update: Dorman doesn't specifically list our JLs as compatible. I'm pretty sure the interface with the block is identical on all the versions of the 3.6 L. There may be an issue of the temperature and pressure sensors not being the same. It seems that our JLs have a single sensor that does the functions of temp and pressure as opposed to previous versions of the 3.6 filter housings that had two sensors. It may be that there is simply a plug required to plug one of the holes or it could be a different thread size. I'll try to find an answer to the differences.

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

Update: Dorman doesn't specifically list our JLs as compatible. I'm pretty sure the interface with the block is identical on all the versions of the 3.6 L. There may be an issue of the temperature and pressure sensors not being the same. It seems that our JLs have a single sensor that does the functions of temp and pressure as opposed to previous versions of the 3.6 filter housings that had two sensors. It may be that there is simply a plug required to plug one of the holes or it could be a different thread size. I'll try to find an answer to the differences.

Isn’t that what the video you posted addresses between 7:52 - 10:11?

 

[OldBlue]

I never knew this was a problem on the JLs until recently. I must have just missed post/threads talking about this. I had a 3.6L in my WK2 also and never saw any issues with it on that platform, but like I said, I may have just missed it. Good to know an aluminum piece exists as a replacement.

--EDIT--

Ahh...so 926-876 doesn't fit 2016-current Gen 3 3.6L.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Isn’t that what the video you posted addresses between 7:52 - 10:11?

It may be. But when I see pictures of the appropriate OEM part 68308741, it appears to use the same "cooler" (actually an oil pre-heater) as the Gen 2 and the only obvious difference is the single combined pressure-temperature sensor with a 1/8" NPT. The Dorman part has both a 1/4" and 1/8' NPT ports for separate sensors. It may be as simple as that. However, I emailed Motorcity Mechanic and asked if he could provide any further information on compatibility, specific to our JL engines.

 

[roaniecowpony]

...

Ahh...so 926-876 doesn't fit 2016-current Gen 3 3.6L.

It's not clear as to why Dorman doesn't list it as compatible. It appears to have the same cooler and has a 1/8" NPT port for our pressure-temp sensor. I can't find a feature from online sources that would indicate incompatibility. But I asked the Youtube author if he could help.

 

[mwilk012]

Our shop has installed 3 of these on the previous gen 3.6’s before they became back ordered and unavailable.
There is one significant problem. You cannot get the gaskets that mount the oil cooler to the housing separately, and they are very poorly designed. Had to go back with an OEM on a minivan when the leak returned.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Our shop has installed 3 of these on the previous gen 3.6’s before they became back ordered and unavailable.
There is one significant problem. You cannot get the gaskets that mount the oil cooler to the housing separately, and they are very poorly designed. Had to go back with an OEM on a minivan when the leak returned.

That's not a promising outlook for these. But the OEM entire assembly with the sensor and heat exchanger is running less online than the Dorman.

In looking into part numbers for the JL 3.6L, it looks like 2018 model year has a different part number, for the whole assembly, than later model years. Looks like some changes along the way. Maybe another cooler change.

 

[mwilk012]

That's not a promising outlook for these. But the OEM entire assembly with the sensor and heat exchanger is running less online than the Dorman.

In looking into part numbers for the JL 3.6L, it looks like 2018 model year has a different part number, for the whole assembly, than later model years. Looks like some changes along the way. Maybe another cooler change.

You sure you aren’t getting the JK part number on a glitchy Mopar website?There’s no difference in other the block, the intake, or the PCM that would make for a change that I know of.

Don’t get me wrong, the casting itself is a very good idea, and a good part to have. The problem is that they just copy/paste the oem design into aluminum, including the overlapping gasket slots on the top of the housing. That’s where they fold over and fail to seal.

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