dulboy32

I just changed the oil on my 2004 grand Cherokee and when I took off the filter, not only was there very little oil coming out, but the filter looked brand new. Usually quite a bit of oil will come out. The engine did sit overnight, rather than driven the same day I have changed it before so maybe it did settle a bit more in the filter, but it really did look un-used. I do about 6,000 miles between changes and use synthetic oil and didn't notice any problems with the engine during this time. Any ideas as to what happened? Should I be worried? Thanks.

Bustedback

What brand filter was it?

bigbadon

If it was not passing oil your "check gages alarm" would have triggered and your engine would not have survived for very long. You cannot see the inlet side of a filter. The center threaded hole is the discharge side so it will be clean. Oil will drain out (a little more than half on a horizontal mounted filter)....there is not a check valve on the discharge side to hold all the oil in. It will drain into the galley, through the bearings and into the pan....after it sits a good while.

dave1123

This is a true thing you have said. Besides that, most filters have a bypass valve the opens when it's plugged so as to not destroy the engine.

dulboy32

It was a K&N filter.

dulboy32

Yeah, the thing that made me think something was wrong was the fact that the filter sits upright (vertical) with the treaded at the top so the oil won't drain out as it sits. Very little oil came out when I turned it over to drain. May have just been a defective filter, the engine seems fine and I'm gonna check the new filter today to see if there is any change. Thanks for your help.