doodfood pretty much gave me the answer I was looking for...


another concern...suppose you do fill up the filter when doing an oil change. The amount of oil is so minimal (inside the filter) that I would be surprised if it could provide enough lubrication for the engine until the oil in the sump started to circulate

 

Considering many techs/mechanics agree that much of the engine wear occurs at startup, I'm not sure why one would purposely handicap the engine by installing a totally dry filter. Some people enjoy ice skating uphill I suppose.

 

The important thing is not the volume of oil, it's the time required to fill the filter.

If you put the filter on without filling it, the oil being pumped through the engine has to fill the filter before it can start moving on to other parts of the engine. That can take a few seconds, again depending on the temperature and the oil, and during that time your engine is not getting oil. But, when you fill the filter before putting it on, you reduce or eliminate that time: since the filter is already full when you start the car, the oil doesn't waste any time going where it needs to go.

Imagine holding a cup of water under a faucet and trying to fill the sink: the faucet represents your oil pump, the cup is your filter, the sink is your engine, and the water from the faucet is your oil. If the cup is empty, the first few seconds' worth of water flow will have to fill the cup before water starts falling into the sink. If you fill the cup beforehand, there is no delay: any water that goes into the cup immediately overflows into the sink, as though the cup were never there.

 

^^ exactly.

 

Sure. If I can. I understand not doing it if it will all spill out anyway, but why wouldn't you otherwise?

 

Is this english?

 

Yes. Can you not read it?

 

Guess not...

 

It doesn't spill as explained earlier

 

So long as you don't completely fill the filter with new oil -- and you spin it onto the engine fairly fast -- it does not spill motor oil. I was doubtful of this, but found it was the case when I did it the first time. I will now do this at every filter change.

 

I fill oil filters on every car that I feasibly can. If the oil filter is placed where I can't fill it without it spilling everywhere, I only partially fill it.

 

i dont really see the point in making that mess and possibly wasting some oil when you can just install the filter empty and let the new oil seep in there before starting your car. are some of you saying that pouring new oil in the head wont force itself down into the filter until you start the car?

 

1) doesn't make a mess if you have read pages 1) - 3) of this thread

2) Pouring oil in the engine does NOT force anything into the filter. It drains directly into the oil pan

 

Exactly. Until the engine starts and the oil pump starts working, there is no oil forced through the oil filter (or anywhere else in the engine). And it should also be noted that no oil will seep into the oil filter, either. The filter sits higher than the oil in the pan, so gravity will not cause it to flow through the filter -- only the oil pump -- or the person installing the filter pouring oil into the filter before installation.

Before knocking this practice, try it once. I was doubtful, until I did so.

 

learn something new everyday....

 

That is this site's greatest benefit. Learning "best practices" from others who care about their ride.

 

Really? OK, I'll explain fully and in detail.

The thread is entitled "Filling Oil Filter Before Putting It On?"

My response to that question: "Sure. If I can."

Additional commentary to my succinct response: I can understand how one might skip this step if the filter position is such that the oil would spill out of the filter, but otherwise why *wouldn't* someone want to do this (not just on a Maxima, but on any car)? In other words, I don't see why someone would consciously decide that prefilling the filter would be a bad idea.

How's your English?

 

STFU....GTFO>>>>

 

The oil pump fills up the filter so fast that it doesn't matter. I've accidentally left my filter off once (out of the 3.5 million other oil changes i did on customers car i leave my own filter off) when rushing to do an oil change and had the car running for like 5 seconds with the filter off the car and lost about 2qts of oil. If you guys are thinking that starving an engine of oil for all of tenth of a second is going to kill your engine you got to be kidding me. Unfortunately I've seen cars run for minutes with NO OIL in them.

 

If you think that engine didn't just experience a ton of wear, you're nuts

 

I'm not saying that at all. The car already had 200K+ miles on it and the customer happened to be a courier (No it wasn't SuperChris!!) and the transmission failed about 60K later not the engine. All I'm saying is that the oil filter fills up under normal running conditions in less than half a second. Starting a Maxima with no oil in the filter causes as much wear on the engine as it starting up cold after sitting overnight with a full filter.

 

I agree ! Which is why you don't want to race the engine right after starting it up cold after it sat overnight.

But I will continue to partially fill the new filters -- anything to increase the life of this engine, even if it is only minor.

 

 

LOL!

 

If you're not saying it didn't do quite a bit of damage then I don't quite see how that supports your case.

I think the important diff inbetween starting your car in the morning vs new filter w/ no oil is the anti-drainback valve. Also, at least in the case of my VE30DE, the filter is upright. So even if the oil seeps past the anti-drainback valve, it couldn't drain out of the filter as it's upright.

Even if the filter is sideways, there would be more oil in the filter after you turn off the engine/restart vs a bone dry new filter.

Do what you wish, I'm just saying your logic isn't quite correct IMHO

 

Exactly. This isn't about saving an engine from instant destruction. It's just a small step that there's no reason not to take because it involves practically no effort.

 

I think its a good idea but like others said it really should matter much if the filter is horizontal than its just going to make a big mess.

 

this is why i change my own oil

 

Always start with an oiled filter if possible.