Need Help Settling A Dispute.

slimjim2525 · March 13, 2008

My buddy recently tells me that he changed the oil in his truck at around 4k miles but left the filter on. I told him that was stupid, and if anything close to what he did, I felt he should have changed the filter, kept the oil, and topped it off. His theory was that at 4k miles there's no way the filter could be at the end of its useful life. I say, your putting new oil into a contaminated filter, there by contaminating the oil quickly. I say that if you just change the filter, the oil that's in there will get filtered and will be cleaner oil. He says that the filter is still very useful, and will filter the new oil any way. What do you guys think. We know that the oil and filter should be changed together, so please don't come back with that argument.

alaska511 · March 13, 2008

typically it is the way you mentioned it (with synthetics) you would change the filter, as the oil had more usable life

PhilB · March 13, 2008

Go see BobistheOilGuy. You should be able to find answers to all of your oil and filter questions on that site.

akfireman · March 13, 2008

Go see BobistheOilGuy. You should be able to find answers to all of your oil and filter questions on that site.

bobistheoilguy is an excellent web site, putting clean oil through a dirty filter seems stupid to me........

mitchell87 · March 13, 2008

I have done that before to, not by choice but because i was sold the wrong size filter. I drained the oil and replaced but kept the old filter on. The filter is going to last longer then your typical oil, I would not wait another 3K miles or 3 months to replace the filter, nor would i do that everytime i changed my oil, but if you do it once or twice, nothing is going to happen to your truck.

Guitarstar · March 13, 2008

Why anyone would change oil & not the filter is beyond reasoning.

hubbycap · March 13, 2008

I am using the OLM and am about ready to change my oil now. It has 8K on this oil. It doesn't appear that GM is too concerned about the same filter being on the engine for 6K-10K miles.

I do however recommend changing the acid in the battery anually.

LF Motorsports · March 13, 2008

Contamination wise, yes the filter will still work (in my opinion). Likely you have not clogged or broke the filter element. But you will mix new oil with the old residual oil in the filter. So both sides of this arguement/discussion have some merit. But not necessarily the best practice.

And my opinion isn't really worth the 2 cents of most.

slimjim2525 · March 13, 2008

Why anyone would change oil & not the filter is beyond reasoning.

Great help, did you miss my last sentence? Thanks.

gvbhunt · March 13, 2008

Yea, that is backwards. You would want to change either all of it or just the filter. Just the oil seems backwards.

My method.

Full Oil change. 3000-4000 miles later, spin off filter and replace and top off. 3000-4000 miles later, full oil change. Rinse and repeat.

And the 3000-4000 is just an estimate. I let the DIC get down to about 25-35%.

empirezclub · March 13, 2008

Had a Mitsubishi that recommended a oil change every 3500 miles and a new filter every 7000 miles. That engine went 123,000 miles and never had a problem. I always had the dealer do the service and they followed that routine which was in the owners manual.

MallCrawler · March 13, 2008

how would you change the filter and not the oil?

ps: I think you're right, but just wondered how you could do that.

slimjim2525 · March 13, 2008

how would you change the filter and not the oil?

ps: I think you're right, but just wondered how you could do that.

just unscrew the old one, and screw on the new one, that's it.

cfar · March 13, 2008

The reason we have extended oil intervals today is because of the efficency of the new motors and much less deposits in the oil.(ie carbon,moisture,heavy metals)

Do what ever you feel is good for you-I just change mine every time and always use a SAE spec oil.

IMHO-no flaming

hubbycap · March 13, 2008

Jim,

My smartassed post was meant to illustrate with obsurdity that with the manufacturer's extended oil change intervals, any renewing of oil and/or filter in less than the prescribed period is only overkill. Arguably, the extended interval could be meant to sell vehicles on their low maintenance costs, but with 100K or unlimited mileage, that claim better not be an empty boast or the manufacturer will have to eat the big one. Neither a mid interval oil OR filter change is detrimental IMO, just a waste of money.