oil filter unscrewed & fell off -the Q just won't die

[sandydennis11]

Just had my 96 Q towed to my mechanic after loud clanging noise from engine. Found out there was no oil filter to be found and of course no oil left. Luckily only I drove a few blocks, (actually luckily coasted) most of that , shutting off engine quickly.
Checked under car to find oil dripping profusely and dip stick dry.

Figured that was the last of that Q that I have had since new and of course, just put another thousand$$ getting the wheels stripped of clear coat and refinished and a complete detail last week.

Mechanic is at a loss how this happened, unless Infiniti's last service, the oil change was installed improperly.
My guy replaced filter, added oil, cleaned up the mess and so far their test driving seems ok. Shear LUCK.

[my12by60]

Glad the Q survived the scare. Your title says "broke off". But you probably meant to say it fell off after it unscrewed itself. I can't see how the oil filter could break off since the filter housing is designed to require many turns of the filter to get it to seat all the way. The filter must not have been screwed down well at all in order to vibrate off all of the threads.

[EdBwoy]

Wow, glad the car is still driveable. I have heard of oil change mishaps relating to oil filters such as threads too shallow, threads not matching, etc - not the kind of things I expect from a car-specific dealership though.

Wasn't there anything caught on the engine bay undertray if it fell off? Also, did the oil pressure light come on at any point in time?(if you managed to focus despite the engine ruckus)


I think if your engine goes another 10k mikes with no issues, then this is one of those threads that should lay to rest the old battles of which 4.5 liter Nissan v8 engine is better. (VH45DE versus VK45DE). The latter engines do not like low oil levels at all.



Mod Note.
I'll leave the title as "broke off" for now, until OP confirms that the filter did indeed not shear off and leave some pieces on the engine block.

[sandydennis11]

You are correct . Mechanic said that the only possibility for the missing filter is that it slowly unscrewed itself and fell off on the freeway do to improper installation.
Today the Q ran fine but I will keep an ear to any different engine sounds.
22 years of upkeep almost a total loss.
That will be the last time it goes to an Infiniti dealer.
I called the Infiniti service department yesterday that did the last oil change questioning this recent mishap and the guy said its possible a animal got in there and loosened it, REALLY, he said that!!!!! We must have the smartest raccoons and possums here in San Francisco!!!!

[qship96]

Oh,it was an animal.....the untrained,idiot monkey the Infiniti dealer hired and let change the oil on your car.

[my12by60]

The animal idea is just one small step up from claiming that aliens landed and unscrewed the oil filter. That guy has no shame.

[BCC93QT]

Now now qship. We must play nice in this "politically correct" no harm done society. Assuming a mentally lacking technician caused this is "unacceptable". What would trump do!
Autozone had the jugs of mobil 0w 40 on sale for 26.99 with filter btw. Your own 2 hands are your bestl bet to own this vehicle

[sandydennis11]

Now BCC93QT.... Trump would have grabbed it and given a 'good' twist.

[Skibane]

Hard to believe you wouldn't have noticed a major oil leak before the filter fell completely off.

The filter only needs to be loosened about half a turn to unseat the gasket - at which point there would have been oil gushing out - even though it would have taken many additional turns before the filter fell completely off.

Are you sure you don't have a vengeful neighbor, ex-employee or ex-wife?

[Q451990]

Anyone who has actually taken an oil filter off of a Q, knows that that has to be one hell of a talented animal to get his paws up in there and twist it off. Oil starvation is bad, but I think the whole "cash for clunkers" thing taught us that it takes a while to completely destroy an engine due to oil starvation. There are some youtube videos showing engines running for 20+ minutes if the car had synthetic oil in there... Here's hoping there wasn't much damage done.

[EdBwoy]

I still get a good hearty laugh out of this.
Sandydennis11, please tell us the name & location of the dealership? I keep a personal naughty list and this is gold.

[sandydennis11]

I should have recorded that conversation with the service manager!!

The dealership was 'Infiniti of San Francisco'.

There was no evidence of leaking oil on the street where the car was parked and it had been in the same spot for a few days before I drove it off.

I was not using synthetic oil. I do believe me turning off as soon as I heard the grinding sound and getting off the freeway is what saved the engine.

For the foreseeable future I will take a few extra minutes idling before driving off to minimize any damage that might have been done and resist any extreme speeds.

I have noticed a flock of neighborhood crows stalking and pooping on the Q. Crows are very intelligent and might have been the culprits, which information I will pass on to SF Infiniti to pass on to their clients.

[Q451990]

If you have a road shield on the bottom, I have no idea how a crow could have gotten under your car and unscrew an oil filter. Especially just a little bit, so that it comes off after you leave the house.

Who knows... though, nature is scary.

[EdBwoy]

Sneaky little birds they are. They might attack the oil filter from the smallest gaps in the shield.

From what the OP is saying, the car seems to be driving fine, but you might wanna check to see if they perhaps undid the bolts mating the trans to the engine. Who knows, they might have loosened your lug nuts too.

Can't trust these clever creatures any further than you can throw a 5-pound bag of them. Key is to figure out what brand of oil filter that was and what drew them to it. Gotta think like a crow/ racoon/ skunk/ opossum/ Bigfoot to catch one.