PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

How do you know when your oil filter is on tight enough?

No more than one complete turn after the seal makes contact with the oil filter adapter.
That can be done by hand, don't use a filter wrench.

Leon

Agreed, do not overtighten. The AC Delco Filter says 3/4 to 1 turn once the seal makes contact with the filter housing

See the Image below

I always put a quick swipe of oil on the rubber seal and never have had a leak on any of my vehicles.

MW

I go hand-tight, which is rarely ever more than 1 turn after the seal has touched. I've never had an oil filter leak doing this, and rarely have to find a filter wrench to remove them.

That clears my concern. I thought it was like 1/4 turn. I was worried when I had to tighten it way past that.

I tighten 3/4 turn with a wrench after hand tight and fill the oil filter up with oil before installing it. 200,000 miles of doing this, never had a leak or problem.

I never thought of filling the filter. Just running it a minute and topping it off should cover that. I don't know how to tell if I am burning oil or leaking it.

It depends on the engine. These are almost horizontal, I pour just enough on the top to dip my finger in and wet the seal. My G8's is vertical, that one makes sense that you can fill.

Old school chevys and stuff go 1/4 turn usually. Newer stuff gets tighter, because of the designs.

spoiledred94 wrote:I never thought of filling the filter. Just running it a minute and topping it off should cover that.

It's not filling the oil to capacity that's the reason for this. If you spin on the filter dry (no oil in it), when you first start the engine, it's going to take "x" number of seconds for the engine to pump oil into the filter, fill it up, then to the bearings and all other parts that need the oil. If you pre-fill the filter, when you start the engine, the oil pump only has to build pressure, instead of fill an empty oil filter before it can build said pressure.

Running your engine 0.5 seconds without oil is a lot better than running it 3-4 seconds without oil.

well that's true. It couldn't hurt. seems like it might get messy though. Lucas oil stabilizer is another player in that game. When I first got serious about my Bonneville I started flushing everyother change. Used Lucas, Castrol GTX conventional and a K&N Filter. It was expensive. You said you fill it at about 1/2 way?

I never pre-filled my filter on my Bonneville, and never had an issue. If you were to do it, hold it at the angle you install the filter at, and fill it till just before the oil spills out. The media tends to soak up some oil, so it sometimes takes a bit to get it "full".