Hi, new here, stumbled onto the site by some good fortune. I've read up a bit on the oil problems these motors have, and I'm wondering if I fall into one of the known categories.
I have a 304, I ordered it about a year ago and installed it after the junkyard runner I had in my CJ bit it. After moving all the crap over from the old motor to the new one I noticed that the recommended oil filter (Fram PH25) didn't fit onto the oil filter connector properly. The filter spun on, but was quite loose on the threads and oil pressure would push the filter back from the filter adapter and oil went everywhere. The PH8A filter didn't fit on the connector, it was too small to thread on. I ordered a new filter connector from Chrysler so the PH8A would fit on properly, and it does. Tonight I fitted the new connector on, put the new filter on (Fram again, yeah I know about them now), filled up with oil and again there was too much pressure. Enough to bend the filter and allow oil to get on everything in the shop. When spinning off the filter, there was a noticeable wobble to it. Can this be happening just from a non functioning pressure relief valve?
The motor has been damaged somewhat as this originally happened on the highway, however it's still running (whenever there's oil in it). I do need it to get around for a short time, but I'm pretty sure I'll need to replace this motor probably sooner than later. The place I got the new motor from has closed it's doors, so my other question would be what's a good place to order a new motor from? Are the only things available out there long blocks? Does anyone offer turnkey setups? I'm not made of money but I don't mind eating macaroni and cheese to keep my baby running.
Thanks for such a great website.