What I really want to know is if doing this would hurt the oil filter gasket’s ability to seal, if I wanted to drain the oil out, before putting that same filter back onto the engine block.
I read a bit about cold flow, and how the elastomer material in the gasket might deform (or conform to any irregularities), but I went out and looked at the gasket on one used oil filter (waiting for a trip to the local household hazardous waste), and another one on a new oil filter, and the gasket on the used oil filter actually looked flatter than the new one did. In other words, I’m not seeing any gross deformities that might make the old gasket bad to use, if I wanted to use that filter for a second OCI.
I'd rather not leave 6-plus ounces of oil in my filters (which would be the case if I were to drain the oil, but leave the filter on), but I'm thinking about draining the oil out of the filter, and then re-using it. However, I'd sure as heck hate to splatter oil gradually over 50-100 miles because of a leaking gasket.
I read a bit about cold flow, and how the elastomer material in the gasket might deform (or conform to any irregularities), but I went out and looked at the gasket on one used oil filter (waiting for a trip to the local household hazardous waste), and another one on a new oil filter, and the gasket on the used oil filter actually looked flatter than the new one did. In other words, I’m not seeing any gross deformities that might make the old gasket bad to use, if I wanted to use that filter for a second OCI.
I'd rather not leave 6-plus ounces of oil in my filters (which would be the case if I were to drain the oil, but leave the filter on), but I'm thinking about draining the oil out of the filter, and then re-using it. However, I'd sure as heck hate to splatter oil gradually over 50-100 miles because of a leaking gasket.
Last edited: