choochooyado

Can I replace the oil filter without having first drained the oil from the main reservoir? I ask because I had to change my oil last night (put clean oil in) without having replaced my oil filter. It was late at night and I couldn't get the oil filter off and had no way of getting to a store to get a new oil filter wrench so I just filled my oil and said screw it and left the old oil filter on. I just not a new wrench and want to change the oil filter now but obviously don't think that's possible without rechanging the oil again.

Cemlo

Absolutley, no need to change the oil again asuming you haven't run the engine, not ideal if you have. Be prepared for the mess though, probably the worst filter change I've ever had to do, gl

choochooyado

Thank you. I ran the engine for like 2 minutes enough to get the engine warmed up enough to check the oil level (oil sensor wont detect oil level without engine being warmed up). How much oil roughly can I expect to come out from the oil filter valve in comparison to if the oil reservoir were empty?

Cemlo

It's not that much so I'd just swap the filter and warmup and check the lvl again. Less is more on these, good info in this thread (one bar below is good advice) - https://rennlist.com/forums/987-foru...-too-much.html

Zach L

With modern full synthetics, the typical oil will last longer than the typical filter. It's more important to change the filter than actual oil. Most analysis labs will show oil to be good for 20,000 to 25,000 miles with most filters having a 10,000 mile maximum.

Nothing wrong replacing just the filter. The downside is the filter housing stores quite a bit of the old oil, plus the oil pan holds another quart of used oil even after you've "fully" drained it. So for your oil change you probably had about 1.5-2.0 quarts of old oil that mixed with the new oil. This can be remedied by utilizing an aftermarket oil pan.