CL350 Oil filter issue

[350CAFE]

Has anyone else had this problem? It is nearly impossible to get the snap ring back into the groove to hold the cover in the oil filter. I replaced the o-ring and cleaned out the filter. Then, the cover woudn't go in far enough to get the snap ring in. I remember it was really difficult to get it in before but that was over a year ago. I ended up sanding down the face of the cover until I could just barely get an edge of the snap ring in and worked it around until it was fully seated. Do people not service these things or is mine just difficult ???

 

[burntblacktoast]

boy that is odd. i don't particularly remember if the cover is keyed in any particular way. is the washer, lock washer and lock nut seated and fastened properly? did you use the Honda specified o-ring with the correct diameter or reuse the one that was previously fitted? some times they can absorb oil and swell up.

 

[350CAFE]

Yes, everything is installed and torqued properly. I didn't use the Honda specific o-ring but it is the same size (2mm x 41mm). The old one was pretty torn up. But, I remember it being difficut the first time I did it. I suppose the cover could have just been a little thicker than normal.

 

[DrJ]

Did you try putting a bit of oil on the o-ring and tapping it with a mallet? If everything is installed correctly there would be nothing in the way to prevent the filter from seating back in.

 

[350CAFE]

Yes, I oiled the o-ring. I checked to see if everything was seating correctly by putting the cover in without the o-ring and then installing the snap ring. The difference was about 1.5mm or 0.5mm less than the thickness of the o-ring. Thus, the options are:

• The shoulder of the filter can was not machined deep enough
• The cover was machined too thick
• The o-ring is too thick
• Honda designed for about 0.5mm of o-ring compression

Given that it has always been difficult to install, I don't think it is the wrong o-ring. 0.5 mm seems like too much compression to expect from a 2.0 mm o-ring. That's 25%.
I did notice that the cover appears to be cast off center leading me to believe that it slipped through QC or it is a mismatched replacement. Given that the tube that fits into the end of the cover is spring loaded, the fact that I removed 0.1mm or whatever shouldn't make a difference. I'm not worried about it, I just wanted to know if it was a common problem or not.