and spin the filter on about as tight as you can get it by hand and then if your not satisfied with that, putt he wrench on it and don't go no more than 1/4 turn. it's plenty tight, if you tighten it too much, it will be HELL to get off next time. always make sure theres no leak around the filter seal and let it idle for about 10 mins. and check again. on a side note, i swore off rotella T after it made the seals on all my dozers start leaking after i bought a drum of it because i needed it and the lace i was at didn't sell MOBIL, that was back in the day when you could still buy mobil by the drum. exxon is still good enough for me tho.

 

I had that accident once.....and only once. Man did it hurt!!!!!

Since then I've gotten into the habit of taking a punch and piercing the bottom of the filter to let it drain before I remove it. It makes the whole oil change much easier.

Jeff

 

I tried the old standard 1/4 turn after hand tight on my 2000 cornbinder the first 2 times I changed the oil and both times the filter worked loose enough to leak significant amount of oil within about 2500 miles. I now carefully take it down as tight as I can get it with my nylon strap filter wrench that has about a 4" handle, and havn't had any problems with it leaking or getting the old filters off.
Not saying I am right or wrong, just my experience.

 

It's not what's in the oil that I am concerned about, but what could get in the filter before I get it on the housing. The underside of my pickup it typically coated with dried mud, I can't go under it on a creeper without getting dirt in my eyes, and the top of the filter is MUCH larger than my eyes. So I don't take the filter out of the box until I am in position to install it. I take it out of the box, turn it over, and put it on. Just my .02.

 

Same thing happened to me! I even took it into the dealer to complain of an oil leak and that's what they found. Talk about oil on my face!

Crank it down! It is a large enough filter that you can get some good leverage on it to get it off.

 

Take it from a racing engine builder...The guys that fille the filter with oil, as full as possible and oil the gasket are doing the least damage to the engine bearings. The possibilities of contaminants from unfiltered oil is less than the wear damage done to a dry bearing.

You oil the gasket for two reasons. One is for better sealing and the second is so it will unscrew at the next oil change. If you have ever had to drive a screw driver through a filter to get it off...just remember, it was probably put on dry.

If you think ther is no damage done to bearings, they why do we builders always precharge the oil system even though the bearings and surfaces are coated with engine breakin lube? That lube is good for quite a few revolutions...

The oil between the surfaces also is part of the bearing clearance. Dry changes that and will elongate the bearing slightly and every time this is done, it is elongated a little more. Finally the clearance is too greate to hold the oil and the bearing begins to overheat and finally sieze and spin.

 

i top mine off with oil, the bypass set up makes changin filters soooo much easier and cleaner....

 

I am convinced this is why it was so infamously hard to get the first filter off a new 7.3L truck: they were put on dry at the Navistar plant. On two different trucks the only time I ever had to use a screwdriver was on the first oil change. And I crank down pretty hard on those suckers with a wrench when reinstalling them too! (If you read the instructions it says 1-1/4 turns after contact, and I can't do that without the assistance of a wrench. Any less, and i get oil seeping out and down the filter housing.)

Of course that particular issue will never come up again, now that you can't get a new 7.3L truck... but people should make sure not to recreate those conditions by installing their own filters dry.

Duncan

 

A local diesel mechanic says the filter should always be filled. The area jiffy lube has bought 10+ turbo's because they didn't fill the filters and the air bubble to the turbo every time you change the oil will eventually lock it up.

 

Don't know that I agree with that. I would much, much, much rather have my engine not pump oil for a couple of seconds than have grit get put directly into the mains. It is guaranteed that damage is going to occur should grit happen to get in there.

I don't know, but I think it could be to make sure the pump and galleys are primed and starts moving oil within a few seconds? Comparing the first startup of an engine is not at all analogous to what happens at startup after an oil change.


An engine within spec clearances should retain oil in the mains and in the crank galleys during an oil change unless you let it drain for a few days.

Sounds like an urban legend to me. First, regardless of how full you get the filter you are still going to have a considerable air bubble on the clean oil side. In addition I think that anyone would have a hard time proving in court (which is where you would wind up with a jiffy lube, they don't just fix things because you say it is thier fault) that air bubbles were the cause of a turbo failure. Engines, turbos, etc whose bearings are in proper clearances just don't drain dry in the amount of time it takes to change your oil.

 

[/QUOTE]Sounds like an urban legend to me. First, regardless of how full you get the filter you are still going to have a considerable air bubble on the clean oil side. .[/QUOTE]
not true for powerstroke or idi filters. they do not have a check valve made into the filter, and you should be able to lean the filter to one side just a little and the oil will run into the pre filter side and fill that part up as well. or if you wait long enough, it will eventually run through the filter and fill that, or you can pour oil REAL EASY into one of the holes till it fills up the outside, then fill the inside quickly. i do this every oil change. just because it makes me feel better to watch my o.p. guage climb like it normally does. and if you listen real close to the motor when you don't put any oil in the filter, it clangs and clatters before your o.p. climbs. it takes pretty good ears to hear it, very subtle, but you can tell a difference when the oil hits.

 

So you're telling me that you can make oil run up the clean oil tube into the block from the filter without the engine running? Because if you can't, there is still going to be a considerable air bubble up in there.
I've heard that the followers of Brigham Young down in Utah can make water run up hill, but never heard of anyone making motor oil do it......???

And as I said previously, I have tried it both ways and my oil pressure guage takes about the same amount of time to come up regardless of whether the filter is full or empty. So it just makes me feel better to know there is no grit going directly into my mains. Guess I'm just funny that way.

 

The oil you put in the filter is clean, or you would not put it in the engine. If there is something in the filter your going to get it if you fill the filter or not. Why not fill the filter and prevent the extra wear on the engine.

 

mech, i wouldn't worry about clux, he is the one in the bunch that just has to argue with everyone. i, myself think that if his truck is that dirty to begin with, obviously he doesn't know how to take care of the truck anyways. if worst comes to worst, wash under your truck before you change the oil. simple. and the time that i didn't put oil in the filter, it was one of those big huge mobil one filters that hold like 2-1/2 qts or so, and it took a good 5-7 seconds before the oil started pumping. i will never do that again. and on a side note, if you want to save a quart of oil at every oil change, just get a filter for a 6.9 or 7.3 idi. the filters are smaller and may save a few dollars. some people like the big filters, kool, whatever you prefer, they aren't "suposed to get dirty" i have enver seen any oil filter clogged with dirt. and if it's clogged with metal shavings, it's probably too late anyways.

 

I coat the seal with oil to get a good seal on the filter, then I just turn on the ignition and cycle my electric oil pre-luber until the oil pressure gauge shows oil pressure, and I start the truck with oil pressure, every time. No dry starts, ever. Plus it runs cooling oil over the turbo at shutdown to keep the hot oil from coking up the turbo bearings.