Does anybody clean there oil filters ?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Originally Posted By: Falken


I partake but I only put a paper towel over my finger to clean the metal bits out of the threads in the base plate.


This is what I do as well, you would be surprised at how many metal particles you get out that were left over from the thread cutting process.
 
It is threads like this, and the one about sucking on filters to determine if the bypass valve works correctly, that make me ask myself what the &$%# I am doing on bitog. In fact, it makes me question the validity of everything I have ever read here.



However, an evening on bitog is always good for one thing. If I ever start feeling like I am a little too OCD, that feeling totally goes away after reading a thread like this. Yup, I'm totally normal. Well, that is unless folks like y'all here are the norm. In which case, I guess I am the abnormal.
crazy2.gif
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: JerryBob
Doesn't the filtered oil go up the center tube? So if crud is on the base plate, won't it be filtered anyway? If so, not sure there is much point in cleaning the base plate.


Unfiltered oil flows into the filter through the multiple holes around the outside perimeter. Filtered oil flows out through the center of the filter.

I'm still not cleaning the threads, or blowing on the filter.
 
Originally Posted By: BHopkins
It is threads like this, and the one about sucking on filters to determine if the bypass valve works correctly ...


That test is to checkout the sealing of the ADBV, not the bypass valve. No real "human" test for that ... yet.
grin.gif
 
LOL! This thread is hillarious.

If you think we're weird... well, yeah. That's why we partake on a motor-oil based internet forum. I know of nobody else personally who does this.


Now, OT, I do take a rag/towel and wipe out the threads of a new filter (I generally find stuff in them), and will wipe off the base plate if I see anything questionable. I also look inside a new filter to make sure everything is OK now, too. Last year I had a Quaker State filter that had a hole punched, but the metal wasn't removed. Would it have stayed in it's spot the entire OCI? Maybe. But what if it hadn't?
 
Originally Posted By: gregk24
This is something I have never practiced before, until today. I will be changing the oil on both cars in my sig in the next 300 miles or so. I have some M1 HM 5w30 for the Uplander, and M1 AFE 0w20 for the Accord along with two Fram Ultra's, one for each car. I examined the oil filters as usual (got them off Amazon this time). The XG 7317 looked ok, but the XG 3387a for the Uplander had some oily substance with black particles on the mounting plate. The oil is alright as I am sure they spray the base plate with oil before packaging. However, those black specs should have not been there. So today I cleaned both filters with a Q tip and some isopropyl alcohol. You would be surprised how much dark crud came off of both! This is something I will do from here on out.

I talked to fram about this some time ago and they told me it was left over oil from the manufacturing/machining process and harmless. I wipe mine down though.
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: BHopkins
It is threads like this, and the one about sucking on filters to determine if the bypass valve works correctly ...


That test is to checkout the sealing of the ADBV, not the bypass valve. No real "human" test for that ... yet.
grin.gif



I am glad you clarified that. That makes it all OK.
smirk.gif
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
It's always OK if it's consensual.
laugh.gif



Now you've got me really worried. I'm not sure I want to know, but, exactly how do you know that the filter agrees to the consensual part?

Be careful how you answer. There may be three nice men with a van and a straight jacket on your porch in the morning.
crazy2.gif
 
^^^ It's obviously a joking comment, hence the "
laugh.gif
".

Lighten up, life is too short to get twisted up over people making jokes.
grin.gif
 
How do engines ever go 300,000 miles on Jiffy Lube and Walmart oil changes? How about the guy with the million mile Chevy truck & the one K&N air filter? I'll bet he was wiping all 300 of those oil filters.
 
I've bought a number of OEM Toyota filters over the years which came with a plastic heat shrink over the baseplate one had to pull off. Someone out there is thinking about how to keep filters clean.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: meborder
wow ... 17 years of changing my own oil
with nearly a half-a-million miles accumulated across half a dozen cars
with well over 100 oil changes spread across dozens of vehicles

and in all of that time ...

i thought i was being anal-retentive because i pre-fill my filters with a little oil before i install them, take note of the filter logos so i can get 1/2 to 3/4 turn tight, and wipe the smudges off the outside of the can before i walk away ...

i had no idea people like ya'all existed.
How do you "preoil" a filter which is installed base down?
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Originally Posted By: meborder
wow ... 17 years of changing my own oil
with nearly a half-a-million miles accumulated across half a dozen cars
with well over 100 oil changes spread across dozens of vehicles

and in all of that time ...

i thought i was being anal-retentive because i pre-fill my filters with a little oil before i install them, take note of the filter logos so i can get 1/2 to 3/4 turn tight, and wipe the smudges off the outside of the can before i walk away ...

i had no idea people like ya'all existed.
How do you "preoil" a filter which is installed base down?
I would like to read the answer to that question too. I have that condition on the 1983 John Deere backhoe.

Prefilling oil filters seems to be of little functional value in the real world of normal people.
smile.gif
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top