Gave my truck its second oil change today and not sure what I am doing wrong. I drained the oil, took off the filter, filler lid, and dip stick. Let it sit while I enjoyed an nice cold beer. I put the plug back in, filled the filter with oil and put it on. Put about 6 litres of oil it. replaced cap and dipstick. Went into the truck (cycled the keys a few times) and started it. When it started it sounded horrible and "low oil pressue" displayed in the message window. I shut it down and started it back up and it sounded perfect. Am I missing something, I have been changing my own oil for a long time and never had anything like this? It was still up on the ramps when I started it the first time but that didn't seem like a big deal.

Thanks

 

what brand oil filter? brand and weight of oil? don't crank the thing... just start her up. The oil pump will do the rest. How many miles on your truck?

 

Motocraft oil filter, 5W20 oil (Castrol GTX). Didnt crank it, just turned the key on and off a couple times since this happened the first time I changed its oil and I wasn't sure if it pressurized or did any pumping/spraying before start. Truck has approx. 90000km on it.

 

turning the ignition on does nothing to the oil. pull the fuel pump fuse and crank it till yo uhave pressure

 

Why do you fill the filter with oil before you install it ???? You don't have to do that . The only filters I've heard of that gets pre-filled is the diesel fuel filters on heavy equipment.

 

is pulling the fuel fuse and cranking really part of a regular oil change? I know that filling the oil filter is not required, just something that I have always done.

 

Please clear up this issue for me. I have read that the oil pump pumps oil into the filter and the oil then flows through the filter into the engine. By filling the filter with oil before installing the filter, the engine doesn't run dry while waiting for the pump to fill the oil filter.

THANKS!

 

My thaughts exactly. All I ever have done is drain the oil, remove filter, install new filter (little oil on the rubber first) and pour in oil. Then I start it normal because as mentioned, unless the engine is turning, the oil pump aint moving. Sure there should maybe be a little extra noise (just from bieng cold and without oil) but nothing drastic.

 

Don't worry about it, there is enough oil on stuff, not like it's going years in which case it would be primed. Besides, if it's like mine where the filter screws on parallel to the ground, filling it up equals one hell of a mess. If you have the ones that screw perpendicular, filling the filter up means it wouldn't flow anyways till oil pump pressure drove it to where it's gotta go ala syphoning effect. Pressure is the keyword here. To say filling it up makes a difference, it would be no different than every morning start up. Yes, a bit of oil is in the filter already, but by the time you hit the key, things are already moving by the time the oil gets to them.

 

220,000 + miles w/great compresion on this motor so far. I don't see anything mentioned anywhere about pre-filling the filter or pulling the fuse and cranking - never heard of that..

I just change while the oils warm - install a new Motorcraft filter and add 6 quarts - done...

That gets it up about 1/4" below the top hash mark on the stick - thats full.

Change every 3000 miles and I don't have to add a drop in between changes.

 

The 3V engines can get VERY noisy at startup after an oil change without pre-filling the filter. Something that never happened with my older 2v trucks. It hurts nothing to pre-fill, and gets oil to the lifters quicker. I put about half a quart in before putting the filter on. They can still get noisy, even with a pre-fill. Noise last 2-3 seconds and goes away once the oil hits the cam.
As far as oil on these engines, they take 7 quarts.

 

Sounds to me like you ran the oil pump dry. All your new oil ran to the back of your oil pan if you had it on ramps, not sure where the pickup is but maybe in the front?? I dont need ramps for my truck, I just crawl under and do it.

 

Yea, I heard the 3valves take 7 quarts , but that's news to me about prefilling - Hell , if I prefilled mine it would end up on the ground by the time I got her tight

My filter installs horizontal..

I suppose it wouldn't hurt pre filling - I would just follow the manufacturers recommendations myself..

 

But what makes the oil go from the filter to the head? Oil pressure that occurs once the engine is running, no? If you want oil to stick or get to the cams better, run synthetic. All these noises are from lots of things, chain tensioners need pressurizing for one, and the engine is for the most part cooled off so any number of things can be making noise. These 3v engines differ slightly than 2v as far as oiling goes, trust me, I've built them for a living.

But not poking fun or nothing, just use this scenario. Letting the truck sit a day and then doing an oil change. The same amount of oil remains in the head that doesn't drain back into the pan in each case. Basically, you have to run the engine to get oil into the head and by that time, the damage of "running dry" would have occurred. How about in the cold when oil thickens?

 

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