I need to change my oil asap, long trip coming up in like 7 hours to Florida from Pennsylvania, is there any special things i need to do while changing the oil? any priming? filling the filter up? anything weird like that, just want to check so i don't hurt my engine

 

Drain the oil, then take off the filter, put filter back on, I don't fill it up I think it is a waste of time and it's not going to hurt your engine. Then after the filter and drain plug are back in it takes 12 quarts or 3 gallons. should take all of 20 minutes to do.

 

I always fill the oil filter...always. The time is worth it...then nothing is running dry. Your turbo is spinning at thousands of RPM's and you don't want it running dry any longer than it has to. The line that feeds the turbo comes off the top of the filter housing...if the filter is dry the turbo is getting nothing. Take the time to fill the filter. It should take a whole quart when you are done.

 

It take about 2 seconds for the truck to fill the oil filter. Your not going to start your truck and then start burning rubber in 2 seconds.

Have you ever drained the oil out of a car and put a brick on the gas pedal and walked away? It takes more then 2 seconds for the car to seize up. you will not do any damage to your turbo by not filling up your oil filter before you put it on. If anybody tells you other wise, I might have to call the MythBusters.

 

I agree with Mr. Earnhardt there.

 

The only thing I do with the filters are lube the new O-ring with new oil and make sure the old O-ring came off with the old filter.

 

I always fill the oil filter too, which takes about 2 seconds. I have always understood that most damage occurs at start-up. I guess it's just preference but that mythbusters isn't a half bad idea. I'd like to know. Some vehicles have their filters pointing down so they can't be filled. I googled it and some recommend it, some don't mention it at all. To each his/her own.

 

I'm with diesel burner, never prefill the filter. Must work ok as both my rigs, bought new, now have close to 250k on them.
Several diesel engine manufacturers no longer recommend prefilling, they say the probability of introducing contamination far outweighs running dry for a few seconds.
Running dry seems to be a myth anyway, I've never taken apart an engine that was dry even if it sat for a couple months, everything is oil coated.
Another thing, if you leave your oil drain overnight during a change you'll find about half the oil drains out of the filter. This indicates to me that every start after an overnight park is a half a so called dry one.

 

any good mechanic will always prime an oil filter when possible. especially on a diesel.

sure its only a few seconds before it fills up. but that few seconds adds to the time it takes for the oil to get to your bearings, turbo, cams, rockers. etc...

 

We always prime our filters at the shop. The only ones we can't prime are the newer Mercedes that all the filters are taken off from the top of the engine. I can see both sides in this discussion, and I guess it's just personal preference and in my case trained to do.

 

Dean Snow,
Hope this helped you out, guess we talked about both sides of the oil filter.

DB

 

so i changed my oil, i drained it out, didnt refill the filter, and no problems.

 

I pulled the valve cover off of an old VW Rabbit engine that has been in out shed for about 20 years , and it still had oil on the cam.

I don't pre-fill my filter either, any of them, especially my fuel filter.

 

I seem to remember at one time someone selling a pre-oiler. Before each start the oil system is pressurized. Seemed like a good idea at the time. We had a new 1976 Toyota Corolla actually run with no oil for a short distance after it's first oil change (filter to loose). My dad thought for sure it was ruined bit the darn thing went well over 300,000 miles before it finally died. All things considered, oil is an amazing thing.

 

my owners manual says to prefill the filter. i've done this anyway since i was 16. to me it's a no-brainer and i have also gotten away with running into a tree a few times without engine damage.