Is Your Oil Filter Full of Oil?

in real world experience, like me watching the gauge, oil pressure light comes on between 0-2psi. By then, too late....

Just my 2 pennies worth.

 

We're talking about an oil filter "with no oil in it". If his oil pump was so weak that it can't even fill the filter with oil then he's gonna have an engine that sounds like rocks in a can, cel, oil pressure light, the whole works of noise and warning lights. It's been 26k with no issues. I would not send the guy on a goose chase looking for stray pieces of fipg.

You could consider a check valve issue somewhere but that's not something you're going use a pressure gauge to find.

I always let the filter sit for a few minutes and let it drain before I take it off anyway. It kinda nice the way they self drain

 

I just reread this post, you re-used the o-ring on the upper oil pan?

 

I'm meticulous with my Tacoma, a little extra work for peace of mind never bothers me. Oil pressure gauge is under $50. Not pulling the oil pan on a HG replacement is playing with fire, at least pull the lower and make sure nothing fell in during replacement. An hours time $20 for FIPG.

As far as the sounds, not 100% true. Depends on the angle of the truck. If o-ring on the oil pump is bad, with the truck on an incline the oil pressure will decrease, if the truck is on a decline the oil pressure will go back to normal. Hense the above suggestion

When oil pressure drops, oil pump clunks and clangs, (sounds like a deseil truck noise kinda if you lay down under the engine at the front passenger, right side) when oil pressure gets REALLY low, no oil is fed to left Cam chain tensioner, there will be slack in the Cam chain, you will see scarring on the inside of the links of the chain and also wearing on the grooves of the gear, etc... Once damage is done THEN you get noise from damage to bearings that doesn't go away no matter what.

 

I use Mobil 1 oil filters with the A.


I get oil draining out.

You should be able to tell by the weight of the filter if its full of oil or not.

 

Alright, thanks. I do plan to check the oil pressure, I'm curious what I'm getting and more peace of mind would be good. As far as removing the oil pan to check for fpig... nah.. I was very careful when I cleaned everything, like stuffing all holes with paper towels to catch fpig, wiping everything clean including reaching into the oil pan, also poured oil through with the drain bolt out for an extra rinse. There's always a possibility I missed a piece, but I feel pretty confident I kept it clean. I changed oil after about 300 miles of the work, didn't see any extra goodies in the oil.

I tend to agree with you here, no issues after 26k. I don't think my engine is about to blow up or anything, more simply perplexed by why no oil leaks out when I undo the filter anymore. Checking the oil pressure to ensure I am where I'm supposed to be couldn't hurt though, I wouldn't want to be slowly starving any part of the engine. Or perhaps my oil pressure is fine while running, but drains out because the line is not fully sealed, giving me oil starved cold starts??

You say "I always let the filter sit for a few minutes and let it drain before I take it off anyway. It kinda nice the way they self drain".
I believe out of habit I always heat up the oil, loosen the filter, pull the drain bolt, then change filter while oil is draining. I don't think this habit has ever changed. But I always used to get oil leaking out.. Perhaps the filter media was getting clogged up by engine sludge before the hg change, preventing the oil from draining out very fast? And now that I scrubbed the engine clean, the filter is staying cleaner so the oil drains out faster? Something like that possible you think?

I bought a master gasket set and replaced all o-rings and gaskets that I came across, including the o-ring on the upper oil pan. I probably got fpig on it while reinstalling and although I think I got the timing chain cover on without displacing the o-ring, there is always a chance.

None of that would be good! I just tried pulling the oil filter again, no dice. It is not coming off without a wrench. And yes I always put the filter on by hand, fairly tight, although I can usually wrestle them off by hand, but not every time. Since I will likely damage the filter with my wrench and the filter is new, I am going to wait until my next oil change in a month or so. Next time the filter comes off, I will run some experiments:
1) Run the engine, turn off and quickly loosen and remove the filter. Watch for oil spillage, feel weight of filter, and stick screwdriver through flapper to see if oil come spilling out.
2) With engine on, loosen filter a little and see how much oil squirts everywhere.
At some point here or maybe at the same time I'll get a gauge on the oil pressure.

 

You're overthinking the whole situation man.. if you shut the engine off and wait the filter will self drain, this is normal, toyota has been doing this on purpose for years.

 

Yeah you’re probably right. Bugs me though, I haven’t changed habits but the filter spillage amount definitely did. Aww well... I’ll post back when I f—- with it next time I change my oil.

 

Mines full of oil. Mobil 1 209A I believe.

 

when you unscrew the filter, do you get 1/4cup to 1/2cup of oil spilling out before you lift and flip the filter?

 

Hmmm

Maybe 1/4 cup MAX. Probably way less.

 

But you do get some..
I don’t have more than 2 drops anymore.
Interesting, thanks.

 

With oil changes, a little bit of knowledge and some common sense goes a long way. Everybody doesn’t automatically have common sense. If you have it, you will know it.