27 replies to this topic

[mini danny]

Ive filled my oil filter once got it everywhere and never done it again haha. It is good practice to fill it up tho with fresh oil and lubricant the rubber seal to stop it ripping.

[Cambelt]

Okay I will pre fill it after reading that does it matter if I don't fill it all the way don't want to spill any

[Carlos W]

Okay I will pre fill it after reading that does it matter if I don't fill it all the way don't want to spill any

 

fill it as full as you feel comfortable with, remember to oil the seal so it slides when you tighten it.

[cal844]

I dont pre fill the filter, but i do smear the seal, it doesnt take any longer than usual to build pressure!

[Alex_B]

I always prefill the filter, less risk of spinning the engine over without oil pressure, in the past even with filling the oil filter it can take a while just turning it over for oil pressure to come up so not filling the filter would make that worse 

[Sean C]

Every motor I work on (Cars, buses, trucks etc) I always pre-filled the oil canisters 

[cradley-heathen]

i always pre-fill it too, i dont know why you wouldnt on a mini, especially as the majority are spin on type and its the right way up, you shouldnt spill a drop if your even slightly carefull.

 

something else i do is write on the bottom of the filter with a paint pen too, i put the mileage and date, then i know just by looking when it was last done saves me having to remember or write it somewhere i might loose it.

 

if you put the filter on a flat surface, fill it up, then give it a minute, the amount of oil that soaks into it is amazing! fill it again and give it another minute, its like a tardis, where it all goes i dont know! i keep doing that until it stops soaking in and the level doesnt drop again.

[Tamworthbay]

I always pre fill the filter, I fill it, wait a few minutes, fill again and repeat. Its surprising how much is absorbed by the filter element. The only car I have had that the filter was on upside down was the MGB GT and I used to pre fill that to persoak the element material, you didn't lose any in the couple of seconds it took to fit it and even if you had it only drips onto the mount and back into the engine anyway.

[Bungle]

always been told to fill mine

[The Matt]

You can't pre fill MPI ones...well, you can, but it'll run out when you screw it on. Same for a lot of modern engines where the filter is perpendicular to the block. Some of em are even angled downward

[bmtt4]

I always prefill, the canister type one I fitted earlier took about half a litre of oil!! 

[Stevie W]

+1 for filling the filter first.

Then plugs out, fuel pump off (electric pump) and spin over the engine until you get oil pressure.

Plugs out stops compression and therefore putting minimum strain on the big end bearngs.

I know it won't make a great deal of difference, but an oil change every 3000 miles over a long period of time can help the engine by spinning over as described!!

Cheers, Steve.

[Sean C]

 

something else i do is write on the bottom of the filter with a paint pen too, i put the mileage and date, 

 

Snap lol. But this is what we have to do when servicing the buses and coaches at work and I adopted this method for my cars too. Its very handy and my MOT tester usually smiles when he see's that its just been serviced prior to its test lol