Technical oil filters fill or install dry?

uh, I let it cool down before changing the oil.

But I still really like the old old engines before they had oil filters. Somehow they're still around, and many of them still run.

 

Too bad the factory early V8 oil filter delete plates are so rare.

 

As to filtering the dirty "new" oil before putting it in the cartridge, do you filter the other 4 or 5 quarts of "new oil" that you pour in?

 

I've seen test where the ran the engine for 30 minutes and it got cleaner. If the engine was ran for a short time the oil may be thick enough to be going through the filter bypass not the filter,

 

The obvious comment is the "dirty" new oil in the pan will go through the filter....and the oil pan is dirty anyway.

 

How is the new oil dirty?

 

I quit changing hot oil years ago. I usually do it when it's completely cool, like overnight. Modern detergent oil does not need to be warmed to keep any particles in suspension anyway, and it's a much nicer job when things are cool. Hot oil changes were for old non detergent oil, and the habit just stuck.
As for filters...I agree with Jim. Lots of no-filter old engines still around. Really, if there's a bunch of engine killing junk in your oil it's coming from something with a real problem and the filter isn't going to save it. Does a filter help? yeah sure...especially after a fresh build that's running for the first time. After that, maybe the filter could be deleted.
Maybe I'll try it. Maybe I'm wrong. By the way, I don't prefill filters either. Seen too many times where an oil pump that's gotten air in it during an oil change can't push the air through the oil wetted paper membrane. Big block Chrysler's with long suction tubes are an example.

 

Never have pre-filled and never had a issue.
Then again I don't clock screws,detail anything or clean the bottom side of a car after driving in the rain.
If pre-filling makes someone happy I say go for it.

 

This was the first change I did since owning it. It also has sat for one year not being started.

Also, who ever maintained to car before never bothered washing out the canister.

 

I've never filled oil filters before installing them. I just smear a bit of oil on the gasket, and send it.

 

Every time you start a car engine it takes some time to get oil to all the lube points (dry start?) not really dry as there is some oil at the lubed points unless the engine has been sitting for a long time. I do believe that most wear occurs on start up. Large industrial gas engines and compressors have a pre lube system most won’t allow a start up until oil pressure is reached. I do add oil to the filter , if it’s side mounted I just don’t fill to top, never had an upside down one looks stupid to me. If a person can’t add oil to the filter without getting dirt in it said person shouldn’t be changing oil.
With all this being said I think not filling an oil filter probably amounts to a few starts worth of wear. A lot of old timey engines didn’t even have filters and managed to run for many miles.
Dan

 

Well said, some cars are easy to prefill others not, I always prefill, if it happens to be a side mounted application, I fill it enough to saturate the filter media & set it & the funnel back on the container to drain it back off to prevent it from running down my arm yet hastens oil delivery at startup.

 

Hopefully it isn't. But how would you know if the bottle it came in was clean before it was filled, perhaps there were plastic shavings there from when the opening was cut?
Contamination tends to get everywhere, and keeping it out for sure (as in anything meant for medical use, where cleanliness is extremely important) comes with a bigger price tag. Clean enough is clean enough, and minor dirt will just end up in the filter in just about all engines.

Then there's the guys that get the oil i 5 gallon pails or bigger containers, and transfer the oil to the engine using an old beer can and a rusty funnel that's left hanging on a nail on the barn wall between uses. I don't think the process of getting dirt in that oil needs any further details to be obvious.

 

Theory being that dirt might fall in the oil in the filter. But in the real world you can get just as much dirt in a dry filter if the dirt is there to fall into it in the first place.

From what I have seen personally most contamination comes from how the oil was handled when it is put in the engine as G-son said in post 43. the years that I worked as the mechanic on a dairy farm I had a hell of a time with the workers who drove the trucks and tractors picking up a dirty container and using it to draw oil from the 55 gallon barrel and top off the oil in the equipment. I kept the gallon jugs from the distilled water my wife used in her C-pap and kept the lids on the jugs just for oil and if I found one missing the lid it got smashed and went in the dumpster. I didn't have a shop or concrete pad to work on on that dairy and had to change oil and filters laying on the dirt and gravel. Not the best conditions.

I was taught to fill the filters if they went in vertically as V8 Chev filters do.
I've put oil in the filters on hundreds of customer rigs over the years. Never had an issue.
On the other hand my filter on my Chevy six is horizontal, my BMW runs a cartridge filter in a can that you remove the top from and pull the filter out and the other two there is no way in hell you would get a filter with oil in them in place without spilling it. That leaves the 454 in the flat bed as the only one on the place that I could do it on.

Do what makes you happy just don't come up with bullshit ideas as to why other should or shouldn't do it.

 

Another Home Run Mr48chev.
After this I may just change my M.O. anyhow
Nobody ever says thanks, Anyhow

 

Have always prefilled oilfilters before install, on some old cars its not so critical, only some of the oil passes the filter so the engine still got lubrication during startup.
Have read some comments and seen some youtube clips sayin its a bad idea, but I have tried installing a dry filter on my dailydriver, that nasty rattle it does when startup i consider is way more harmful than risk of "dirty oil"

 

My opinion.....
It doesn't hurt one thing. Look at all the cars that are on the road,with thousands of miles on the engine. I haven't seen one engine failure do to not pre filling a filter. Have I done it both ways,yes.
I really believe that if not pre filling a oil filter caused harm, we would have known about it years ago.

 

Cranking engine with coil unhooked would still cause damage. bearings and rings are still dry.

 

Unless it sat for a long time there will be some oil at the bearings at least and cranking without plugs and combustion the load on the bearings is minimum. I finished an OT engine a while back during assembly I used a liberal amount of assembly lube assembled and the only way to prelube is remove plugs and crank until oil pressure is indicated at the gauge then fire it up. SOP for this particular engine.
Dan

 

the most important thing is to be sure the rubber gasket from the old filter is not stuck to the block when you install the new filter. when I change oil I look under the car right after start up for leaks. one time in hundreds of oil changes there was a major leak because the rubber gasket was stuck to the block.

I've never filled an oil filter on any car and I drive my daily's until they drop. my S-10 had 205,000 miles when I retired it due to transmission issues. my Volvo before that had close to 300,000 when the head gasket went. it still ran great.

 

Dip a piston in oil, put it on the bench, leave it for an hour. Check to see how dry it is.

And remember that's a piston on it's own, not a piston in a cylinder, where oil will tend to stay in the tight gap. The engine holds on to oil much better than the parts one by one.