Pre-Filling Oil Filter

[DCornelius]

I just changed my oil for the first time on Saturday and thought it was pretty easy. I've changed my own oil in all our other cars (unless I had a good dealer coupon), and the Ram is probably the easiest. The hardest (or messiest that is) is on our 1996 Saturn. When you remove the oil filter, the oil drips down on the frame rail and then proceeds to drip from about 20 different places.



Anyway I digress. I found that for pre-filling the oil filter, an 11. 5 ounce peanut can works great to hold the filter upright (eat all peanuts first. ) It's great for filling as well as holding the filter until you get in just the right position under the truck for putting the filter on.



Anyway, I just thought I'd pass that tip along to anyone who didn't already have a good solution.



Thanks,

David

 

[CROW]

Another neat solution to the problem of prefilling oil filters. My solution to prefilling is to buy two gallons and four quarts of oil. Prefill using one of the quart bottles and there is no worry about getting aluminum foil from a gallon container in the oil filter.

 

[y-knot]

Allow the truck to sit over night and change the filter first thing in the mourning, all the oil has drained down and it comes out without spilling a drop. I have got use to the awkward position of the oil filter, I change mine every 2000 miles, so it is a 2-3 minuet job any more. Whats funny is after all these years of standing on my head, twisted up like a pretzel, so I can reach in and remove the filter, i finally went to the remote dual-pass filter set-up from Amsoil. With a few modifications and a bracket, I can now simple kneel by my right front fender and change my filters which are located behind the bumper. Should have done this years ago.

 

[Bertram65]

The filter on the 3rd gens hang straight down unless there is a vacume on the oil filter it will remain full indefinetly. Plus it is better to change the oil warm while any particles are in suspension.

 

[BRuppel]

i don't see the point in prefilling the filter. why not just start the truck up and then shut it off and recheck your oil level and add what is needed? running it for a minute 1 quart low won't kill the motor.

 

[dan.poitras]

Every 2000 miles?

 

[Nick2]

The reason to prefill the filter is to save the engine from running oil-less for a couple seconds while the air from the filter is pumped to the engine. Oil goes pump to filter to engine, so the lack of oil in the filter will become a lack of oil in the engine if only for a few seconds.



hope this is clear,



Nick

 

[mberry]

Nick2,



That is true, but it absolutely will not hurt the engine at all.

 

[Nick2]

I agree completely

 

[klenger]

Dito



Let's look at some numbers.

Assume an oil change every 5000 miles (somewhere between conservative and careless).

Assume that your average speed is 50 MPH (very hard to do for most of us).

Assume that your engine is run for 100 hours over the life of the oil change (5000 miles/50 MPH).

Assume that there are 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute (that part isn't too hard).

Assume that the engine has no oil pressure for 5 seconds after an oil change (seems reasonable).



Of the 360,000 seconds that the engine is running on that oil change, 5 of those seconds are with no load and no oil pressure. During those 5 seconds, the engine components are lubricated by oil that has impregnated their surfaces for hundreds of hours.



I prefer to take my chances w/o the prefill as opposed to trahsing out the engine with the foil from the oil container.



YMMV

 

[nkiewel]

When you remove the oil filter, the oil drips down on the frame rail and then proceeds to drip from about 20 different places.

This has been discussed here before. An easy solution is to use a 1 gallon zip lock bag. Break the filter loose and then put the bag over the filter. Unscrew the filter until oil comes out and hold the bag in place. When the oil finishes dripping, continue to unscrew the filter and catch it in the bag. After a few oil changes, I can do it without spilling a drop.

 

[Rosco]

My last few oil changes I have done with the engine warm and I just unscrew and remove the filter. The filter has not leaked one bit using method.

 

[DanDee]

Just did my truck's first oil change yesterday... . Tried an idea from a fellow member about using a paint filter when filling the filter, it worked great!!!!



(amazing how thick 15-40 premium blue is at 50deg... guess it shows it's important to let her idle a few seconds before blasting off in the mornings!)



Anyway I used a medium mesh paper paint filter (HomeDepot) and plastic funnel. (. 20 cents, probably cheaper in bulk. )



Otherwise... if I can't filter the oil going into the pre-fill, I'm just going to install empty. After finding contamination in TWO bottles of oil a few weeks ago, I'll never blindly trust any brand of oil to go directly thru my engine again!!!

(Yes, I know it was probably a once in a million occurance, still it happened & I didn't notice until after I had poured the oil into my car & filter... too late at that point!)



Oh yea... and I loved how easy it was to do an oil change on these trucks! All the years I've done oil changes on my vehicles... . this was the best by far!

No jacks, nospills, no scraped knuckles!

(And thanks to Geno's for the fast service on the filter pack!!!)



DanDee

 

[DieselTweaker]

I've always prefilled my filters on everything I own, for the amount of time it takes to do it i cant see a reason to stop doing it,I wont take a chance of something happening to my rig.

 

[DPelletier]

I can certainly see that there are two sides to this;



- With no prefilling of the filter the engine runs without oil for a few seconds after the oil is changed. Is this enough time to hurt anything, probably not. Its a wear issue at most, but there is no doubt that its better for the filter to have oil in it.



- The downside to prefilling the filter is potential contamination by foil or other "stuff". This may or may not be likely depending on what kind of oil you use and how careful you are, but a problem here wouldn't be a wear issue, but more likely a serious problem.



I've decided to keep pre-filling, but now I use a funnel with a fine mesh screen in it. The paint filters sound like a good idea too.



my 2cents



Dave

 

[DanDee]

Not saying that the few seconds it takes for the engine to fill a dry filter causes excessive wear, (I wouldn't know one way or another) BUT... .



My owner's manual says to pre-fill the filter, so someone must think its a good idea at Dodge. (And note it also says to prevent foreign material from falling into the filter!!!)

And if I was NOT pre-filling my filter's AND I had an "oil-related" warranty problem, I would hope that my dealer wouldn't suddenly refuse to honor my warranty because I didn't follow the factory recommendations for oil changes! (if the "pre-fill" question should somehow arise... . )



DanDee

 

[Cattletrkr]

I prefill the filter just 'cause. I then proceed to remove the "fuel system relay" and crank the starter until the oil pres. guage moves. It really doesn't matter how you do it, just as long as you change the oil when you should. Don't know if what I'm doing is right, but I don't care either. It works. Like Nike says, "just do it".