A doubt about oil filter

dgodard · Post by **dgodard** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:16 pm

Hi guys, i was looking how a friend was changing oil engine of his car, when he was installling the oil filter i saw how he applied grease(bearing grease) all around the oring of oil filter, is this normal? Will the grease go inside of engine?

Any inputs?

2k1MotorSport · Post by **2k1MotorSport** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:22 pm

usually people just take some oil and run it around the filter... not sure about grease though.

dgodard · Post by **dgodard** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:26 pm

i meant oil filter seal....i've never seen that only that time, i was like WTF!

Paul56 · Post by **Paul56** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:46 pm

dgodard wrote:Hi guys, i was looking how a friend was changing oil engine of his car, when he was installling the oil filter i saw how he applied grease(bearing grease) all around the oring of oil filter, is this normal? Will the grease go inside of engine?

Any inputs?

It is normal to put a light coating of motor oil on the oil filter gasket and pre-charge the filter with oil.

Grease does not belong in an engine. I'd be concerned that if there were gobs of it rather than a light coating that it may cause internal blockage somewhere the oil runs... which will not result in good things.

hansken_yo · Post by **hansken_yo** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:20 pm

dgodard · Post by **dgodard** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:24 pm

Yes, i saw he applied a lot of grease at what i could see....not a good thing like i supposed then...

matguy · Post by **matguy** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:12 pm

Take this as you may, I'm just an idiot with a web browser....

Most greases are just oils with a thickener, often soap (yes, soap,) or clay. While it sounds like you wouldn't want soap or clay in your engine, it shouldn't be enough to make any difference.

Theoretically moly grease can mess with ball bearings, but probably only if it's directly applied, a little floating in oil shouldn't do anything.

Graphite is messy stuff, it might do similar as moly grease, but again it's just graphite dust suspended in grease/oil, so it should just dissipate in to the oil (no one likes working with graphite grease, so I can't imagine him grabbing it when he didn't absolutely need to.)

Lithium or other petrolum based grease shouldn't matter at all, it'd also just mix in the oil.

In the end, there's probably more "contaminants" knocked in the valve cover when you take the oil cap off than the guy added by a smear of grease on the seal. But, with all of that said I can't see the reason to deliberately grab grease when the old oil is right there, even if it isn't you should still be able to stick your finger in the block and have enough oil on your finger to lube the seal.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:05 pm

The grease will be fine, it won't hurt a thing. He would have to use an excessive amount (like start packing it into the filter) before it caused major issues. Pretty common practice to use oil or grease on new seals/gaskets. Lots of guys on the .org will pack their rebuilt oil pumps full of grease. Don't know if I like that one as much, but it works fine.

Post by **occasional demons** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:15 am

Grease can do some damage, especially if it is cold, it may block oil flow. Remember, some of those clearances are only .0015" If you've tried to pump grease with a grease gun into a tight bushing and know how hard it is to get it to go, that is at over 1000 psi. Your oil pump only makes 200 psi on a good day. Packing the oil pump is to help it prime, but it should be done only with a low melting point grease. Vasoline/assembly lube is the recommeded stuff. I have also read that grease on the oil filter seal can cause it to leak, and some manufacturers even say on the filter not to use grease, at least they used to in the past.

Wenuden · Post by **Wenuden** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:52 am

Grease on the oil filter gasket isnt going to cause prnlems unless he only changes the oil like every 2 years. We use grease (heavy grease and a lot of it) on our emergency generator at work every year. He'll be fine if its general automotive lubracent grease.

dgodard · Post by **dgodard** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:00 pm

Thank you all guys, he used grease for axles that's what i saw, maybe he was trying to impress me i don't know lol....i'm agree with you all, better to use used oil instead of grease i don't see point in using grease

I guess that if grease blocks anything in oil pump or passages in engine the oil light in cluster will go on right?

Swordfish2Cowboy · Post by **Swordfish2Cowboy** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:15 am

Hopefully. Also, it might be a good idea to see what temperature lithium grease melts at. If it's low enough, it might not cause any damage.

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A doubt about oil filter

A doubt about oil filter

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