Warning to 6.0 PSD Owners with Amsoil System

[John and Dana]

I recently did the first oil change on my SMB and during this discovered that the oil lines to the Amsoil filters were hooked up incorrectly. The lines were reversed so the oil was flowing backwards through the filter. I hope this is an isolated incident but if you have this system I would urge you to check that the hoses are hooked up correctly.

For the following description I will refer to the oil ports as right and left with the right being the passengers side and the left being the drivers side. The oil filters are located under the van directly below the drivers seat. There are two flexible hoses that run from the front of the filter head to an adapter block on the rear left corner of the engine. The hoses should be hooked up as follows on the 6.0 PSD. The hose on the left port of the filter head should be connected to the right port on the adapter block. The right port of the filter head should be connected to the left port on the adapter block.

I discovered the problem when I was changing my oil. I installed the new filters and filled the engine with oil. I then started the van to check for leaks. Since the oil is not supposed to flow to the bypass (larger) filter until the oil temp reaches 160-165 degrees I let the engine warm up to operating temperature. I felt both filters and with the engine at 190 degrees the bypass filter was still cold, indicating that no oil was flowing through it. I called Jim at Amsoil and described the problem and he said it sounded like I had a bad filter head so he overnighted me a new filter head.

Yesterday I removed the old filter head and once I had it on the workbench I could see that it only has one moving part which is the thermostatic valve. This is a simple spring valve the moves a plunger and everything seemed to be working correctly so I decided to check to see that the system was hooked up correctly. I could not find any markings on the adapter block on the engine that indicated the direction of flow so I performed a very low tech test. I put a 5 gallon bucked under the two hoses and cranked the engine over a couple of times a looked to see which hose the oil was coming out of, sure enough it was the hose that had been hooked the output port on the filter head. I called Heber and SMB West and her confirmed that the right port on the adapter block is the oil supply.

I called Jim back and told him what I found and he told me to go ahead and install the new head as it was a new improved design and to return the one off of my van back to him. Jim was great during this and any of you considering using Amsoil I would definitely urge you to contact him. He will definitely go the extra mile to make sure you are happy.

The new filter head is installed and working perfectly and it doesn't appear as if any permanent damage has been done to the engine. Fortunately I have another 95,000 miles left on my engine warranty if there are any problems.

Amsoil is interesting stuff. I have worked on a lot of engines and had my hands covered with oil many times. Usually liquid dish soap and hot water takes oil right off, not Amsoil. I had to wash my hands multiple times and they still felt, not oily, but just slippery.

If you check your filters please post the results along with the year of your van and which Sportsmobile location that it was built so we can determine if this is an isolated incident or a more wide spread problem. My van is an '08 that was built by SMB West between Feb and June of '08.

Heber sent me this diagram, if any of you want a full size copy of this just shoot me an email.

John. :c3:

 

[charlie56]

I just crawled under to take a look.
On mine, the right port on the filters is connected to the right port on the adapter. So you are saying that this is wrong?
My build was Feb '08. SMB West

 

[John and Dana]

YES. The right (passenger side) port on the adapter should be hooked to the left (drivers side) port on the filter head. You should also try starting the engine and warming it up. Then reach under and see if the large filter is hot. If not no oil is flowing through it.

By your address I presume your van was built at SMB West and was probably only a little before ours. Maybe they were hooked up by the same guy. If you want to confirm this you can contact Heber at SMB West, I talked with him a couple of times yesterday about this.

John :c3:

 

[charlie56]

Well this is really disconcerting.

I don't have a scan gauge, so I just ran it for 15 minutes on high idle. The full flow filter was hot while the bi-pass filter was cold.

Is it as simple as unscrewing the lines and swaping them? Wondering if the lines are under any pressure or if I will have much leakage.

Then there is the question of whether SMB owes us Amsoil users an oil change and an analysis. I swapped over to Amsoil at 7,500 and just ordered new filters to install at 15,000. If the bipass wasn't doing anything over the last 7,500 miles those 16 quarts of synthetic might be toast. I ordered a oil analysis test kit last week but it hasn't arrived yet.

The following were above the universal averages: Iron, Copper, Silicon, and Calcium. The rest of the results were average or below. The viscosity readings were also a little low. I will definitely continue to do these tests.

Perhaps this is why sdwindansea's readings were above normal.

Speaking of toast, Here's to you John for finding and reporting the problem. :b5:
Something else to be thankful for today.

(I did send you an email asking for the diagram.)

 

[daveb-SMB]

OK mine is the same. I tested after a 10 min warm up (cold start & 10 min run time = cold large filter and warm small filter). Before I do anything I want to discuss this with SMB but this pisses me off! Even if there is some mis-communication here shows why site is worth gold. I'll call Peter on Friday to confirm and maybe make a call to Jim. At least I have been told that the small filter is equal or better than OME filters Ford supplies (I hope).
Thanks for the info!!!
DaveB

 

[Skywagon-SMB]

I have a 2008 diesel that I bought new from SMB 2 months ago. As per discussion, I just checked mine and it is plumbed backwards as well.
How much oil do you loose if you switch lines?
I have about 3000 miles and was planning to switch to Amsoil oil at 7500 or so. can switching lines wait 'till then?
I would expect that we should be hearing from SMB about this screwup pretty instantly now that it has been aired on the Forum.
NOT a good situation in my opinion.
Bill

 

[jage]

Believe it or not, they (Sportsmobile) are not beholden to the forum- the fact that you heard about it here first is the power of the forum, whatever they do or don't choose to do about it is not.

Look at it this way, the forum is not responsible for your lines being attached backwards in the first place, but only for you knowing to go look, in which you had a big part by paying attention, reading, and believing.

If Sportsmobile decides to say, give everybody a new engine and a coupon for an ice cream cone because of this, should the forum then get the credit for that? No- because it is no more the forum's doing than the initial hookup of the lines.

 

[Skywagon-SMB]

I only meant that SMB must monitor the Forum, and should, as a result, inform owners of potential problem vehicles of the situation.
Bill

 

[daveb-SMB]

I just got off the phone with Jim at AMSOIL and I came away with the feeling that the lines being backwards (if in fact they are) doesn't spell doom for the engine. In fact he said that the temp test by feeling the filters might not indicate a problem. Jim said the only true way to test this was to pull the hoses and crank the engine to confirm which hose is the output hose as John did. SMB did my first oil change at 24K and up until then I did filter changes using stock Ford motor oil about every 3-5K miles. One thing SMB should have done at my 1st AMSOIL change was to remove the check valve to add better flow through the bypass filter. Jim said this was a common practice that SMB should have been doing lately. I need to make contact with SMB to confirm this. I think they are closed today.
Another problem I have encountered was the filter part numbers. My local parts store tried to sell me an Ea026 full flow filter. The Donaldson P553411 is the correct filter as well as the EaBP100 bypass filter.

Jim also said the they are making a new adaptor head that will replace the ones SMB is using. I want to look into this and will talk with Heber at SMB about switching it out.

For now I'm going to run the van as is until SMB gets back to me. I have access to a shop and will test it next week. I prefer to work on the rig when it's on a lift.
Dave

 

[Skywagon-SMB]

I just went out and switched the hoses; ( so that right goes to left and left goes to right.) Warmed up the engine and now both filters equally warm.
Now that I've done that I guess I should check with Jim or SMB to make sure that that's how it's supposed to be ) !
Bill

 

[Skywagon-SMB]

By the way, I swapped hoses with the engine cold and only lost about a quarter of an ounce of oil. ( Mostly down my sleeve)!
Bill

 

[John and Dana]

Wow! It appears that this isn't an isolated case.

When you disconnect the lines all you will get is the oil that is in the lines and maybe a little that is in the filter headt. It will probably be less than a quart. You will want to have a drip pan under the connections when you break them though.

I did drive my van on a short trip yesterday and I don't know whether it was the Amsoil or switching the oil lines but the engine was noticeably quieter. At 60 mph the engine was barely audible over the road noise.

John :c3:

 

[Skywagon-SMB]

John,
Thanks for the heads-up on this problem. As long as we spent all that money on the Amsoil system, it might as well work!
Bill

 

[sdwindansea]

After swapping the lines, does the bypass filter now become hot/warm to the touch? Did you swap the lines by the filters or by the engine? Any pictures?

 

[EMrider]

Very interesting info, thanks for posting!

I'm very interested to learn what SMB says about this.

My van was built in April 06, has 29k miles, and the hoses are connected right to right and left to left. Backwards according to John's findings. My guess is that if this were a source of motor trouble, I'd have found out by now. Nevertheless, I'd like to get everything setup properly.

I'm a bit puzzled because after warning the motor up for 10min in the driveway, the large bypass filter remains cool to the touch and the small filter is warm/hot. But after driving at highway speeds for 15-20 miles, the bypass filter is warm/hot too. In the driveway, my tranny temp never got above 120, so I'm not sure I reached full operating temp. After driving on the highway, my tranny temp was up to the normal 160-165. If the bypass does not function until higher motor temps, then that may be consistent with my experience and my setup is OK. Hmmmm.

Rob

 

[charlie56]

Its a little tough to get good photos, but here are a few.

1. Side view of adapter block that is mounted on the oil pan.

2. Rear view of adapter plate
As I understand it, the adapter block is a custom made part for SMB's. It does not show up in any of Amsoil's literature that I can find.

3. View of oil filter block. The black filter is the bipass filter. The white one is the full flow filter. The hoses in the front lead to the adapter block. The filter block is stamped on top (need a mirror to see) for which way the oil flows. The adapter block is not marked, which is probably why things got messed up.

Rear view of Filter Block.
This is where the check-valve is located. The plug was too tight for me to remove so removing the check valve will have to wait for another day.

After talking to Jim today, and confirming with a pressure test, I swapped out the hoses. I swapped them at the adapter block end. They were really stubborn to get off. Jim recommended using teflon tape on the fitting threads and a dab of grease on the ball of the fitting to make future removal possible. He also recommended a full oil and both filter change at my next PM. Both filters are now warm to the touch.

I mentioned to him that the bipass filter works its way loose after awhile. He said the bipass filter gasket is the culprit. It doesn't set like gaskets typically do. He said to use a fabric type filter wrench at the top of the filter and tighten it as hard as I could.

I have an email into Peter at SMB West. I look forward to their explanation and resolution.

Thanks again John for this discovery.

 

[Greg In Austin]

Question:

Are there any adverse possibilities that could come along with switching the direction of flow by reversing the hoses?

It seems that we would be reversing the flow through the filters, or am I misunderstanding something?

If we are reversing the flow through the filters, it seems there would be a risk of flowing a concentration of particulates back into the engine....

 

[Skywagon-SMB]

sdwindansea-
After swapping, all now warm/hot to the touch. I swapped at the engine end as there were fuel lines in the way at the filter end.
I too am looking forward to hearing how any of this might affect any thing else. Having said that, it seems to me that with the hoses hooked up backwards, the worst scenario is that we have the equivalent of stock filtration. (unless there is something that I'm missing); no small possibility!!
Bill

 

[jage]

If you reverse the flow, enabling the bypass valve aren't you also reversing the flow in the filters, e.g. all that particulate(*):

=====>*\\---->
=====>*//---->
=====>*\\---->
=flow=>*//---->
=====>*\\---->
=====>*//---->
=====>*\\---->
=====>*//---->

<----*\\<=====
<----*//<=====
<----*\\<=====
<----*//<=new flow
<----*\\<=====
<----*//<=====
<----*\\<=====
<----*//<=====

* is old particulate.
// is the filter.
I wonder what happens to a filter if the oil is run backwards. I can't imagine the designers worrying too much about "what if" since most applications are manufacturer fool proof- although obviously no ones engine has fallen out.

 

[Jeffrey-SMB]

Right, Greg. I thought about that. Isn't an oil filter designed to work more properly with the oil flowing in a particular direction? Doesn't oil go into the outside of the filter, through the filter material and then out the center (or the reverse>? Wouldn't switching lines without changing the filter potentially cause the filtered sediment already in the can to backflow to the engine?

I'm not swapping lines without new filters installed.