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Pentastar engine oil filter

23K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  andyg 
#1 ·
How messy is it to change the "canister-free" filter for the new 3.6L engine? Since it sits mostly vertical on top of the engine I wonder what precaution to take.
 
#2 ·
I'd imagine waiting a few minutes after turning the engine off allows the oil to drain back out of the filter. Maybe you should loosen the retaining bolt and let it sit for a few minutes. That'd be my guess. Does the owner's manual have any tips?
 
#4 ·
Both of my BMWs had this type of arrangement for the oil filter and it was a snap. I'd pop the cap off, use my oil extractor to drain the filter cavity, move the extractor to the dip stick to pull the oil out of the pan while the filter drained a bit, returned the extractor to the filter cavity to do any clean-up work, swapped out the filter element, put the cap back on and poured in the clean oil. Total time was no more than fifteen minutes. :)
 
#5 ·
Are you describing changing the filter only without changing the oil?

Seems to me if you are changing the oil, you need not use an oil extractor, just drain the oil by unscrewing the plug, and then as it drains, replace the filter, just like with a "spin-on" oil filter. Am I missing something?
 
#6 ·
An oil extractor simply means that changing the oil can be done without crawling under the vehicle - everything is done from the engine bay.

While I don't use an oil extractor (yet), it seems, faster, easier and less messy. Now that the oil filter is positioned on the top of the engine, it seems like it would be the ideal time to also use an oil extractor! I still need to do some more research first though!
 
#12 ·
why do you have dirt in your oil? - no drain plug pulling is going to save an engine that is self-destructing..
a good filter should take care of all particulate contaminants..
condensate/sludge is not an issue if using synthetic oil...(even with decent dino, should not be an issue..)
 
#11 ·
You shouldn't be having metal filings in your oil in the first place. The topside extractor is such a simple and clean way to do things. Several people on the Mercedes side of the internet have done several tests removing oil via the drain plug and via extraction and found that both methods removed the exact same amount of oil each time.
 
#14 ·
I did a couple of such tests when I first started using the oil extractor on my BMWs back in the late 1990s and found the difference in the volume of oil removed to be immeasurable.
 
#17 ·
I like my oil extractor as its necessary for changing the oil on our boat, but never use it on the car. I can fit under the bumper on the van and drain the oil faster that getting out the extractor and having to clean it before putting it away. Have to get at the filter from the bottom anyways.
 
#18 ·
damm guys dont go cheap on a oil change drain the dam thing thru the plug. let me think a car manufactor puts the dam thing there for a reason NO? i think they would not go to that trouble if it was not necessory. now if you use the extractor works for u fine but like i said i like to see the stuff come out of engine. like metal (hope not) and anything else so i can see how my engine is doing.
 
#19 ·
Utter nonsense, using an oil extractor is not going to shorten the life of an engine even one mile; in fact, an argument can be made to the effect that the use of an extractor will extend engine life. Why? Believe it or not, like it or don't, anecdotal reports from oil extractor users suggests that the extractor pulls out a much higher percentage of the population of metallic debris that lives in the bottom of the oil pan.

In my own experience, when I bought the oil extractor I used it on my (then) new car as well as my wife's minivan which had roughly 45,000 miles on the clock at the time. As I was transferring the oil out of the extractor cavity following the minivan's first oil change via extractor I was stunned at how much metallic debris poured out. For the next two or three changes the minivan yielded lower and lower amounts of debris, and after roughly the 65,000 mile mark never yielded much of anything glittery; this dynamic held true until we traded the old van in at the 180,000 mile mark.

The above said, do I believe the argument which suggests longer engine life from the use of oil extractors? Nope. As I said in a previous post, the metallic debris that lives in the bottom of oil pans is for all intents and purposes inert and will never damage your engine; if it wasn't inert, it would have been pulled up by the oil pick-up and trapped in the oil filter and subsequently disposed of. Either way, your bearings, cylinder walls, cam lobes and cam followers are all safe from the evil lurking in the bottom of the pan. :)
 
#20 ·
I can vouch for the extractor being fine. The boat I mentioned before, has 2 ford 302 engines in it. It was made in 1977 and both engines had many many hours of run time on them at full throttle. We pulled them a couple weeks ago for rebuilds as the rings were getting tired. Both engines had great oil pressure and were super clean inside though. Plus they only got conventional oil their whole life with fram filters, nothing special used.
 
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