DIY Oil Change - Add Oil to Filter or No?
 

Hey Guys,

There's not too many videos on changing the oil for a Z51 (two drain holes) but my question is this...

I've always been told to fill up the Oil Filter (about 1/2 way...maybe a tab more) before screwing it back in (this is of course when changing an old filter out for a new one).

However, the videos never showing anyone doing this... Can someone please let me know what is the correct procedure?

Thanks! :thumbs:

No one in a professional setting does it, but I do on my personal car.
Its something that can only help.

I always do. It can't hurt as the filter doesn't have to take time to fill up. One of the benefits of changing your own oil. I would doubt most shops do this.

I have always been in the habit of filling the filters beforehand, even ones that sit on a funny angle can still benefit from having enough oil put into them to at least soak the media. As mentioned, it can't hurt and could have a very slight benefit.

I always fill it halfway on any car unless the filter is sideways.

Nope... trivial.

#MeToo

Perhaps it has no real, tangible benefit, but it makes me feel better :lol:

I don't know of any auto manufacturer who recommends this...so, my answer is NO.

I had a Chevy S10 pickup with the 4.3 motor blow one of the hoses to the remote mounted oil filter... in the dead of winter... in DC area rush hour traffic jam... in a snow storm... at night. Oil pressure went to zero. It was an old truck and there was nothing I could do so I decided to keep going until it wouldn't go no more... made it all the way, another 10 miles mostly creeping along, maybe total average speed 20 mph. Fixed the hose the next day, filled with oil and it was fine. Drove it for another 2 years before trading. Not that I recommend trying that at home. So do I worry about taking a tenth of a second or so for a filter to fill on startup? No....

Always

The less oil starvation at startup, the better, so it can't hurt to fill it...I do so religiously even though we are only talking seconds to fill the filter once the car starts.

My wife and I were watching the first couple of episodes of Season 8 of the show Shameless tonight, and coincidentally in the show, Flip is working at a motorcycle shop and you can see him changing the oil on one of the bikes and he fills up the oil filter with oil before he installs it! I thought that was quite the coincidence that we saw that scene after this thread showed up today :)

No, as pre-filling the filter will not make even the smallest difference in engine life.
However, if it makes you feel better why not do it?

You can argue that the difference doesn't matter, but it *does* make a small difference in the time it takes to fill the filter and build oil pressure.

Never done it without an issue in five plus decades of car ownership and maintenance, but if you feel the urge, do so...

I don't.

I've done it a few times but not always. I think its more of a feel good thing than a protect your engine thing. I've always felt good when I did it, but never felt bad when I didn't. As mentioned, the engine only takes a few seconds to fill the filter and present full pressure to the internals. And for many of us this is a once-a-year thing. So a few seconds once a year isn't much of a threat in the first place. Even if you're a DD you'll only change oil 2 or 3 times a year. On top of that, the engine is a very oily place inside. If you've ever had the pleasure, and many of you have, of taking an engine apart you'll remember how oily every single surface of every single part is. The engine isn't really oil starved at startup, it just lacks pressure and pressure is soon to come. The manufacturer doesn't recommend it and likely doesn't do it at assembly time, the dealer's mechanics don't do it, the retail oil change industry doesn't do it and the engines keep on turning.

Its likely a good thing in the long run but at a very small margin, like a hundred dollars makes Bill Gates just a little bit richer. That's just a humble opinion, your mileage may vary.

Lol yeah I bet !

Why does this help please explain?
Oil capacity is a fixed amount so if you add more than that amount you could create a problem. you prefill the filter then add the 5 qrts., you have just overfilled your motor, nice. :rock: