Installing a remote oil filter on my Jeep Liberty

Thank you for the feedback from everyone. I wanted to clarify some information to help continue the conversation.

The filter on my Jeep is nearly impossible to reach and when trying to hand tighten I can barely reach and get fingertips only on the filter making it impossible to grasp and hand tighten.

I have had complaints at multiple service locations on reaching the filter. I travel for work thru 8 states so I have had service in multiple locations including Jeep dealers.

When I see oil leaking and go back to tighten the filter is loose and I can turn it with fingertips.

When I use my socket style filter wrench and extensions to tighten I get filter on with fingertip pressure and turn only 3/4 turn.

I am not set on any brand of remote filter and have just begun looking.

My other thought has been to modify the front fascia and create a door to reach in to the filter, but this will require modification of the cooler and radiator supports area from what I can see without beginning to remove front trim. I have worked in the custom and OEM cosmetic plastic parts industry for 20+ yrs so I’m not concerned about ability to make the modification look good cosmetically.

Also forgot to address oil pressure comments. I was considering the dual filter option to reduce resistance to oil flow in a remote filter system and to keep oil pressure higher since adding hoses and fittings would add resistance.

With an oil filter being fingertip loose I would be concerned too. That could leave you with a blown engine and 8 states away too. :frowning:

Personally, I don’t see a problem with running an external mounted oil filter and do not think it will cause the loss of oil pressure at all. There’s no reason to think that oil pressure will drop because of mounting the filter elsewhere.
It would be no different than running an external oil cooler such as SAAB has used in the past, the later generation of Crown Vic police cars, and so on.

I might add that I ran an externally mounted oil filter on one of my old Harleys with zero problems and many forklifts also use externally mounted oil filters as another example.
Matter of fact, the external oil filter adapter on my Harley was removed from a junked out forklift.

@JeepImp,

You make a compelling argument for why installing this kit is probably worth the minimal, if any, risk. I’m convinced you should do it.

With the added info it sounds like you have good reason to consider this and you know what you’re doing. I would just want to look around a bit more, does a shop like Jegs, etc. carry this kind of thing?

Have you searched for a forum dedicated to Jeeps? You would probably find people who own Liberty’s and have faced the same problems. They may have better solutions and if a remote filter is the best choice, they can make recommendations for you.

From Whitey Quote No 1: Owning a Honda Civic with the oil filter on the back of the engine, I’ve considered one of these kits. In the end, I decided that eliminating the hassle of getting to the oil filter wasn’t worth possible oil starvation and the destruction of my engine.

For all I know, the kit might work just fine, but if you install one, you’ll be giving the oil more places to leak from. I prefer to keep it simple so I reduce the odds of massive oil loss.

Quote No. 2: Me either. I’d also like to add that I don’t consider the mating surface of the fittings the weak link in this set-up. I’d be much more worried about the oil lines.

As most cars are setup, the oil travels through passages inside the engine, and through the pump. The only machine I’ve seen recently with exterior oil lines is a custom chopper. There’s a reason for this. Exterior oil lines have all the same failings as coolant hoses and brake lines. They might deteriorate, get pinched, or leak. If your cooling system leaks, you usually get some warning before your engine is toast. If one of your brake lines leaks, two or three of the other brakes will probably still work, but you can still use your parking brake if you have to. If an oil line leaks, by the time the oil light comes on, the damage could easily already done, especially if you are in a situation where you can’t kill the engine and pull over right away.

Will the oil lines on your filter relocation kit leak? Probably not, but is getting to your oil filter really so difficult that it’s worth the risk? Not in my opinion.

Quote No. 3: You make a compelling argument for why installing this kit is probably worth the minimal, if any, risk. I’m convinced you should do it." Unquote

Vote for Romney but not until you think about it at least three times.

There are hundreds of thousands of Jeep Liberty’s on the road and somehow they all get their filters changed without any problems…Remote filters usually introduce more problems than they cure…

Am I taking heat for reconsidering the OP’s assessment of the problem in my responses?

I think the OP is just the candidate to skip oil filter changes every time and alternate. There you go. Problem solved by 1/2.

I’ve installed 3 remote filter kits with an oil cooler on each application . . . yes it can leak, but I think that it’s worth the trouble if your filter is really hard to get at. I’ve installed them and fixed the leaks and I am by no means a master mechanic, you can do it. OTOH . . . I’ve never owned a vehicle with a filter that I couldn’t get my hand on . . . even the behind the engine Civic mentioned
above. If you learn to do it you’ll have no issue. I can spin my Civic filter off in 5 seconds, no problem. Good luck anyway you go with it. Rocketman

If it’s that hard to get to the filter, it doesn’t sound like installing the remote kit will be much fun…