rico334

I am about due for my scheduled oil change and remembered a comment someone had made on here about doing these that makes me wander why.

Someone commented about when replacing the oil filter with the new one, to make sure you pre-fill the filter with fresh oil before installing it. Whats that all about?

Thanks,

Rick

bhoeffner

The filter is pretty big on these trucks, and pre-filling helps with getting the oil pressure and oil flow up to par quicker on the first start up after the filter and oil change.

blown32

IMHO Any oil filter should be prefilled with clean oil (yes even the sideways ones should be part filled). While your engine oil pump is filling the filter it is not sending oil to the bearings. Granted it is not for a very long time but any time without oil pressure is bad!

Nevada

Amen blown32.

The question is, "how long do you want your valve train to run without any oil?"

Prefill the filter, it's easy and it's good for your top end.

rossn2

Always put fresh oil, half to 3/4 full, into any oil filter, car or truck, gasoline or diesel. The fresh oil saturates the filtering material inside and makes it plyable for when you start the engine. You can damage the filter and your engine by not putting oil in the new filter.

bulabula

C'mon now - thats nonsense. Don't make that guy paranoid for nothing. Does it help to prefill, yes, if its possible to prefill. But you won't kill an engine by not prefilling an oil filter.

Hounddog

Thousands upon thousands are not pre filled every day.Sure if you can but its no biggy if you don't.

Raspy

Pre filling is a nice idea in theory, but, as has been talked about at length in other posts, it's easy to get contaminants into the filter this way and on into the engine. The bearings are not protected at startup by oil pressure but by the presence of oil. Oil pressure is important for cooling and flushing but it's not what keeps the metal surfaces apart under normal conditions. It's the oil "wedge", caused by rotation, that prevents metal to metal wear.
If pre filling is so important what has kept millions of engines from being destroyed by just spinning on the filter and firing them up? It's just not that important.
Have any of you guys seen the demonstations for oil additives at the county fairs (I can't remember what brand it is). Every morning the guy starts an engine (I saw him using a six cylinder Ford gasser) mounted on a stand and warms it up. Then he drains the oil, pulls the pan and starts it up again. He idles the engine ALL day with no oil in it. Next day, same thing. These engines last for years doing this. There are many examples of hard working engines with the absolute minimum amount of oil, or splash oiling with no oil pump at all. Early Harleys, automobiles up into the 50's, farm engines with exposed crankshafts, etc. My friend had a VW diesel Passat. He took it in for an oil change and they didn't put any oil back in after draining (Ooops). He drove several miles toward home and began to notice a loss of power. They towed it back to the shop, added the oil and he drove it for years afterward. I don't recommend this but it's interesting. I used to drain the oil in my Perkins by opening a valve on the oil line to the remote filter and running it till it was empty. Did this for years with no problems.
I don't want to get too carried away, but it's just not necessary to baby these rugged Cummins engines by worrying about 2 or 3 seconds without oil pressure at startup after a filter change. Especially when some contaminants, poured into the wrong side of the filter, could go right to the engine. Now that is a problem!

Wetspirit

Jerry R

I thought the main reason for prefilling the filter was to get oil to the turbo right away. Am I wrong?

abb

Jerry R Thats what I was told for years that if you don't the turbo runs dry and we know we don't want to go there!!! Anyway whats the deal how hard is it to fill the filter before install, you have to put it on only takes a few more minutes to fill her up , don't know about you but why take the chance?

falcondan9570

The only time I "pre-filled" the filter is after rebuilding and engine....It doesn't hurt to refill the filter, but not refilling it is no biggy either..