TheSamba.com :: View topic - Want to get a regular oil filter on my engine

Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:06 pm

Cusser wrote: sharkinfested wrote: So if you add an oil filter do you put more oil in your car?

Yes; the amount of oil required to fill the oil filter cannister. Use the existing dipstick mark.

I’m not trying to be combative, I’m just trying to wrap my head around this…

Wouldn’t the regular dipstick mark be accurate only if the oil filter was oriented straight down as in richpin56’s setup?
richpin56 wrote:

When you turn off the engine and let the oil drain back into the bottom of the case richpin’s oil filter will stay full of oil. The dipstick would show that oil is “missing” from the system so adding oil to the mark on the dipstick would compensate for the oil trapped in the filter.
If the filter were oriented on its side then only half the oil would remain in the filter, the other half draining back into the case. So if you filled to the dipstick mark, once you turn the car on and the filter filled back up with oil then you would always be running the engine as if it were a little low on oil. Right?
What am I missing?

Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:53 pm

It just never seems to drain back with the oil pump/filter setup.
Done it over and over. Fill to full line, start engine and shut it back down after a minute or two. Check oil level 15 minutes later, and it will be one quart low. Add back up to fill line and it just never drains back.

Plus the WIX filter has a one way valve built into it.

Have taken up quickly filling up just the center of the oil filter, and then letting it soak into the filter before installing. That way the oil pressure comes up faster.

Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:59 pm

Ahh, I see.
Thanks for the clarification.

Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:17 pm

I looked and I don't think I can put on a side mount oil filter like that, any other ideas? Those one kits are $300, I don't know if I want to go that high :?

Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:12 pm

CB sells a smaller height (actually, a BMW) oil filter with the maxi-pump 2 - I've got one of those in my Baja and have continued to use those BMW filters. (Mahle OC25 and OC84 both work)

As for heat from the exhaust - the first time I tried a remote read dipstick thermometer on my Baja I found it was running quite a bit hotter than I expected. One of the first things I did to see if it made a difference was put some heat wrap on the header around the filter on the pump. Didn't notice any difference. Changed the filter pump out for a stock one, still no real difference. Did a lot of other things later, including installing a permanent oil temp gauge with the sensor in the type 3 oil filler blockoff plate. Earlier this year, went and put the filter pump back on, still noticed no difference. (Actually, I find the wind direction when I'm driving at freeway speeds makes the most noticable difference in engine oil temps, whether or not I had the filter pump on there)

Just my 2cents...

-Andy