Do you pre-fill your oil filter housing?

Don't bother W/a Turd!!!

 

If pre filling the filter was actually important don’t you think that the engineers would have designed the filter location differently? Also if it had a negative effect on the engine then wouldn’t these engines have a shorter life then their sister engine in the 4Runner with the filter on the bottom?

 

In that case you should never start your engine.

 

Why? Isn’t the entire point of this thread to create a discussion? This would be a pretty boring place if everyone just agreed with each other.

 

For horizontal twist on filters I do a partial fill so it can be twisted on without spilling. With the 4R I'm so wrapped up in the time consuming filter process I didn't think to install the housing drain bolt earlier and give it a pre fill.

When it comes to prefilling, that posted youtube video does make a good points.

Even if we would never notice the difference in engine wear with pre filling its something that makes some feel good (myself included). That counts for something. We know it won't hurt to prefill so might as well.

 

yep. My 2007 Sr5 was the same design no prefill possibility. Still running strong at 200,000+.

 

i agree with Turd. If start up was so critical all oil filters designs would be vertical top filled to keep every drop of oil in them so no dry start ups, like Gen 5s, but there are tons of mfgs that dont do that design and everything is still good.

 

Oil does what oil does and leaves a film of itself on surfaces so it’s never completely dry unless it sits for years.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ_Gt0yPlO0

 

Instead of being argumentative, perhaps settle down and see the reasoning. The generations changed as did the design and placement of the filter. Just because other manufacturers have horizontal placement, I would speculate that it doesn't mean they have taken time to evaluate the pros and cons. And the entire point of the conversation is to find merit or not, in filling the filter housing.

 

I just skimmed through the 40 minute video but the basic conclusion is pre filling the oil filter doesn’t matter.
He also says that bearing failure never causes an engine failure. I guess he’s not familiar with the new tundra engines.

 

I watched it more looking for "does it hurt to pre-fill". I came away with, it doesn't. I fill mine just because it's simple and "can't hurt", so why not. YMMV

 

Yep. Just watched it. Doesn't matter a damn bit. I prefer to not make a mess.

 

Part of changing the engine oil involves running the engine for a few minutes before changing the oil. The whole point of that is so that oil goes places, and when you give it your first start after changing your oil, there’s oil to help with that cold start.

 

Warming the engine up also helps any sludge in the oil to flow out.

 

I have seen engines fail due to lack of maintenance. I have yet to see an engine fail due to the failure to pre fill an oil filter.

 

I had this engine on my Tacoma, I wouldn't say I prefilled the entire filter but I did put oil in the filter enough to get all the pleats soaked up with oil.

 

Why?

 

I presume he's never owned a Subaru before

 

Spinning bearings and Hyundai/Kia’s Theta II, name a better duo.

 

Yes, I always pre-fill, even put a little in horizontal filters. This seems intuitive to me.

 

I heard that Hyundai and Kia dealer techs don’t pre-fill their filters.

 

I don't have a reason other than that's how I learned I guess. Doesn't hurt and only takes a few seconds extra.

 

There’s no evidence that following Toyota’s recommended maintenance schedule on these vehicles has resulted in any lack of maintenance failures.

 

I've pre-filled filters before, and also changed oil without pre-filling, so I think it's a matter of how you were taught or personal preference. On my dump truck there are 3 oil filters, they hold 6.6 quarts of oil, the service dept. at Mack says " you can prefill them or not, it doesn't matter". There are 495K miles on the engine, it has good oil pressure, and runs well. Bottom end bearings show normal wear @ a recent oil pan swap. As with the 4Runner oil change, I guess it depends on how I feel that day.. 50/50 pre-fill or not.

 

The best reason to run the engine before an oil change is to "suspend" any micro contaminants in the oil that may settle during engine shut off, thus helping remove them at draining before said contaminants settle again.

 

When I went to Perry Tech for automotive technology, 22 years ago, the two things we were trained to do for every oil change were: (1) Always run the vehicle for several minutes to allow any deposits and contaminants to become suspended prior to draining the fluid. (2) If you can, always fill the new oil filter with oil to minimize the amount of time the engine isn’t be lubricated.

First let me say that I have always done 1 and 2 above since I started working on cars as a teen, but there are a few things worth noting about point 2 above. There are several manufactures who have oriented their oil filters in such a way that you can’t add oil to them prior to installation, most notably is Subaru and they have a good reputation as far as reliability goes. 22 years ago synthetic oils were just starting to become mainstream and they do offer superior protection compared to conventional oils so what I learned and was trained to then may not be as relevant today.

My personal opinion is, even if you don’t pre-fill the oil filter or housing with new oil, your engine will outlast the rest of the vehicle. With that being said it’s easy to pre-fill the housing with oil prior to installing it so why not do it for a little added protection and peace of mind.

 

Lack of maintenance would be failing to follow the OCI outlined by the manufacturer. I am not referring to extended OCI's.

 

When the engine has been off for a while I would think that any particles have settled to the bottom of the pan where they will be drained. Why run the engine to mix and recirculate them and have them possibly cling to the engine innerds? Isn’t the oil filter going to capture these particles anyway?
I thought the logic to pre-warm the oil was to make it drain faster.

 

So your referring to something that had nothing to do with my comment to begin with?

People will change their oil twice as often as necessary because it’s cheap insurance but they won’t pre fill a filter which is free and takes you maybe 15 seconds.

What does engine failures from not performing required maintenance have to do with that?