[BrianTee]

Do you pre-fill oil filters? Some say it causes more contamination then problems associated with being empty.



Diesel same thing - but you have to fill them, so do you use a filtered source to fill them? Or plug the center and fill from the outside of element?

 

[Grainline]

Oil filters no mainly because buy the time you get them on you end up wearing most of the oil. Fuel yes if it's possible to do. Use a clean supply from shop.

 

[Licensed to kill]

Oil filters no. I change my oil when the engine is hot and there is plenty of oil on the bearings and other surfaces on start up. Fuel filters yes (except on the sprayer as it has an electric fuel pump and will fill them for me for start up). On my trucks, I pre-fill the fuel filters with 2 stroke oil because it is clean right out of a freshly opened bottle. My brother, who is a HD mechanic for 30 years, fills his fuel filters with ATF. I prefer 2 stroke as it is designed to be burned where ATF is not and ATF is high in detergents. Opportunity for contamination is too high filling with diesel fuel IMO because of it's bulk handling. You could use 1 or 4 litre bottles of kerosene though.

 

[SouthernSK]

Absolutley. The same oil that is being poured in the engine goes down the center of the filter. If you wipe off your pail or have a clean source of oil and do it your self instead of having a carless person do it how could it do anything but good.

 

[Northern Farmer]

Typically I don't fill oil filters with oil and for that reason of an awkward filter location and spilling as a large oil filter filled with oil is a heavy brute to hang onto and get threaded on, and if it was such an issue with oil starvation there would have been all sorts of problems through the years with blown engines as a result of damaged bearings. Cold weather and oil not suited viscosity wise for the conditions is something to be far more concerned about.

Diesel filters, yes if I can put fuel into the filter I will and from a filtered supply before installing. In some cases its an absolute must do since some engines have no way of manually priming or being able to crank and replenish the filter. Again there are situation with awkward filter locations that I spin it on empty and then rely on the manual primer or in the case of an electric primer helper pump ( JD 9600 combine for example ) to fill the filter for me as I manually prime as well ... do all one can before ever turning that key to crank the engine as I've regretted the few times I didn't do this and struggled and struggled to get the engine started.

 

[Daner]

Yes. I fill it up to a level that won't spill when installing. Usually throw a magnet on the side too. Quite cheap and harmless if it works or not.

Diesel I fill out of a filtered service tank.

 

[bsigg]

If your prefill them pour the oil in the outside holes, it takes patience but that way the oil gets filtered. I usually only prefill the monster oil filters on the 13.5L engine. I have so many engines that use a cartridge style filter that you can't prefill so I don't think it matters all that much.

 

[Slashnburn2]

If your prefill them pour the oil in the outside holes, it takes patience but that way the oil gets filtered. I usually only prefill the monster oil filters on the 13.5L engine. I have so many engines that use a cartridge style filter that you can't prefill so I don't think it matters all that much.

Whoever came up with those cartridge style filters are f**king aholes. Gotta pay CNH 100$ for the oil filter cartridge now instead of 30 bucks for the fleetguard or whatever.

 

[361turbo]

Cartridge filters used to be popular. Then everybody switched in the late 60s-early70s to canister. And now back again.... haha

 

[shmiffy]

With a cat you put the filter on and use the prime pump to fill the filter. New cummins come with a plug for the Center of the filter so when fill them with diesel it goes in the outside of the filter

 

[BrianTee]

Usually throw a magnet on the side too. Quite cheap and harmless if it works or not.

That's a really really good idea!

 

[meskie]

Some oil filters I fill some I don’t. Fuel filters I fill if it doesn’t have a way of priming them. Cummins you have to and it says so in the book to do.

I have yet to hear of any engine getting rebuilt as a result of filling or not filling an oil filter as the main cause. Be carful and should be fine.

I’ve seen guys get more dirt in a filter trying to get it on an awkward spot and not having it clean and the engines are still going.

 

[1972RedNeck]

Cummins service manual says to fill the oil filter, some engines you can't because the oil filters or horizontal or upside down.



As long as the fuel system has a good primer, I am too lazy to walk to the diesel tank to fill the filters - that, and most of our tractors have horizontal fuel filters.

 

[crash5291]

Filled if and when possible.

 

[SWFarmService]

Oil filters? I dont fill them but won't say not too but keep in mind oil is on average 7 times cleaner coming out of the engine than going in. Yes, that stuff on the bottom of your oil jug is dirt.

I never fill a fuel filter and highly recommend not doing it. Years ago you could get by with it because at the low pressures and relatively large holes in injectors you could just about run a corn cob through.
These days, especially since the advent of common rail injection pressures are many times higher and if a particle of the right size makes it through the system it can actually do piston damage! Unbelievable I am aware but imagine the velocity of the particles coming out of that little hole with injection pressures approaching 40,000 psi with a aluminum piston headed it's way at however many feet per second

 

[tswanson]

I've never filled an oil filter with oil. If I can I'll shut the fuel off and turn the engine over until the oil pressure comes up before starting it. I've had to put fuel in filters because they would not prime otherwise. If the engine has some kind of primer pump, I never do.

 

[hihi962]

I can't remember for the life of me, but one of my units says not to fill fuel filter.. I think it was a Deere sprayer?

Anyway, I never prefill anything, always ends up a mess, and even with an empty fuel filter, the engines never get airlocked, I guess there is plenty enough fuel in the lines to keep it going until filter is full. Also with the advent of the low pressure hv pumps to precharge the hp fuel rails, no need anymore.

 

[AnviL]

Filling fuel filters with ATF or 2 stroke oil may have been ok 30 years ago but do not do that on modern diesel engines..... as it was mentioned earlier the injector holes are much finer and more precise than that of an old 2 stroke slobbering Jimmy.

 

[RunninREDharD]

I pre-fill everything I can. Maybe not the top 1 inch of the filter - except fuel filters. They get filled to the brim and overflow onto my hands - big deal! All fuel on our farm is pre-filtered before going into an engine. We have filters on the bulk tank and filters on slip tanks. So when a filter is filled, it is already with filtered fuel. I have had too much time playing with nonworking manual prime pumps and cracking injectors and making messes all over the engines than to not pre-prime and rely on unreliable systems!



I believe oil filters should be pre-filled when they can be. I believe the time of initial startup is a time when metal to metal contact in engines occur and engine life is decreased when this occurs. A rule of thumb is that an engine which is running all the time generally last longer between rebuilds than engines that are started and stopped often - especially in cold climates.



I think a much bigger consideration is overworking an engine. If you turn up pumps and use engines harder than their design specifications, you will have to rebuild the engine more often than if it is allowed to run at lets say 3/4 of its full power load. In these cases the load placed on an air filter can also cause an engine to ingest more dirt IMO when it is sucking harder and struggles to get air into the combustion process - a dirty burn!

 

[YHMARK]

Always fill oil filters if you can. You don't need to fill by pass filters though, like the LF777.
Don't fill fuel filters if you can pump them up. Remember to use grease on the fuel filter gaskets.