Keep blowing out oil filter gasket

Got my KZ900 running yesterday after doing a partial engine out mostly cosmetic restoration. The engine was running good before I took it out of the frame and i never opened it. One of the things I did was remove the oil cooler which was connected to the case with two lines at the rear of the cylinders above and to the right of the starter, which I plugged with pipe fittings Everything else on the engine was untouched, never even took off the valve cover. So yesterday I started it up. It started fine but after maybe 30 seconds it blew out the big 4" gasket on the plate that holds the oil filter in and almost a quart of oil ended up on the floor. I took the cover off and saw the rubber o ring gasket was broken. I thought some how it must have gotten pinches when putting the plate on, so luckily I had another one. I installed it, started it up, ran good again for about 20 or 30 seconds and I heard a light pop and oil again came streaming out of the filter cover. One thing I wasn't sure about was the order to put the filter, spring, washer in. I've found the factory manual to be pretty unclear in so many cases, and again, unless I missed something it doesn't address the proper sequence to stack these things on the filter bolt. The order I had was bottom plate with rubber gasket, filter, washer, spring. Looking at the Partzilla exploded view of the area it appears I got this wrong and the washer and spring should sit on top of the filter, not the bottom. Is this correct? The next most obvious culprit is I possibly missed something or did something wrong when removing the external after market oil cooler. Somehow oil is getting into the filter compartment, is not able to return and is building pressure and blowing out that rubber gasket. WTF??? This is driving me nuts, anyone have any ideas I'd greatly appreciate hearing them.

Robb2018 wrote: One of the things I did was remove the oil cooler which was connected to the case with two lines at the rear of the cylinders above and to the right of the starter, which I plugged with pipe fittings

oil needs to circulate between these two lines, remove your plugs and fit a piece steel pipe between and clamp .

bolt, o ring, plate, spring, washer, filter, - washer goes hard up against filter.

washer only there to stop spring flogging out rubber washer enbedded into filter.

probably 80% of Zeds on road won't have a washer as they stick to the rubber washer on filter and are throw out.

Thanks D3. So even though I got the spring on the wrong side of the filter, the problem was in removing the after market oil cooler then. Is there a connection between the two fittings on the stock motor? Also, do you think I damaged anything when I started the motor like this 3 times?

Why did you remove the cooler? Run a hose to the two fittings or get one of these. I doubt you did any damage but don't run it until corrected.
Steve

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationas SWest says, these are the correct stock fitting , oil pressure light switch screws in to, does yours have one? maybe dodggy work by previous owner?

I removed the cooler because I wanted to make the bike as close to stock as I could. Dodgy work by PO would be no great surprise. So I can replace that fitting if I can find one or just run a pipe between the two plugged holes? Here's what I have:

I see what PO did now. Well this all finally makes sense. Ebay has a stock connector pipe for 40 bucks. I'll just order that. Dammit, was really looking to doing a test drive this week. Thanks so much for clearing this up guys.

Best replace with stock housing if you want bike too look stock.

PM sent.

If you still have the barbed fittings run a short piece of hose to them. Those fittings are worth $$. Don't throw them away. You'll need two O rings. You can get them at a auto or hardware store. Depending on where you are you might want to put it back on. IT GETS HOT HERE. :blink:
Steve

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

D3 wrote: as SWest says, these are the correct stock fitting , oil pressure light switch screws in to, does yours have one? maybe dodggy work by previous owner?

RIP OFF SELLER

Right.. some of these ebay whores think they've got the last part on the planet and try to stick it to you. Someone had a stock oem KZ900 seat for 600 bucks a while back.

Digidave, Paidin, Oink and the lot think they have it sewn up. I love giving negative feedback and watch them squirm. Just buried one this morning. :woohoo:
Steve