Practically Classics Forum

rich. wrote:hot... nothing worse than cold oil running up your sleeve as you undo the sump drain

Messy bugger
Ok,there's always one that has to be different,I prefer do mine cold,because most of the old oil will be in the sump.

i was always taught do it when its hot, all the sludge etc is in suspension... as for oil running down my arm, no matter how hard i try, when removing the bung oil always shoots along my hand & up my sleeve..

Agree with doing the oil when it is warmed up but I nearly always forget to break the seal on the filter whilst it is still cold. When it is hot you can't hold it long enough to twist it

jpsh120 wrote:Agree with doing the oil when it is warmed up but I nearly always forget to break the seal on the filter whilst it is still cold. When it is hot you can't hold it long enough to twist it

That's thae newfangled disposable filters for you, I'd just be happy to have a filter whose draindown valve worked that well.
I fitted kits to both Dolomites - and other folks' TR7s, Saab 99s and Stags with those engines - as it allowed the sandwich piece to be part of the circuit without placing the filter housing somewhere else in an already tight engine bay, but it's not as easy to perform oil changes as simply taking the through bolt out, changing the rubber ring in the filter head and putting the fresh element in which is much cheaper and its canister made of thick steel that won't be penetrated by random rocks in the road. Less messy perhaps, but hands up anyone who never, ever spilled some oil from a disposable filter, especially if it's one mounted off the horizontal such as those fitted to the Marina-style filter head adaptor for A series engines. Now if ever an oil filter needed a Wizard's Sleeve kit for removing safely, that must be it.

I almost like the two more recent Golfs I've owned - they have gone back to a replaceable element, but the housing stays on the engine and you just unscrew a cap to get to the filter and the oil drains off thanks to the "bolt" being part of the cap and the "nut" being a drain hole to the block. It makes life so much easier - the top of the filter is nice and convenient at the front of the engine (as were all my VWs), so the only bugbear is lifting the car to get the undertray off and get at the (sensibly positioned) sump plug - which is at the back of the engine, so at the lowest point when the front is in the air!

On the other hand, the big tractor has a horizontal can filter that sits behind the loader frame and there isn't a lot of space between them (a one-hand only job). The chassis is below the filter and, thoughtfully, David Brown has put a lot of holes in the chassis (it's a sort of box section affair) so the oil goes through the holes and drains out of three or four places (it also ends up running to the front chassis, almost to the battery).

You can see the filter, just below the two white fuel filters. I must change the first fuel filter - and the oil & filter - before long!

tractorman wrote:The chassis is below the filter and, thoughtfully, David Brown has put a lot of holes in the chassis (it's a sort of box section affair) so the oil goes through the holes and drains out of three or four places (it also ends up running to the front chassis, almost to the battery).

Ideal! Automatic rust prevention. I think cars should be fitted with a similar system....

Luxobarge wrote:....I think cars should be fitted with a similar system....

BMC built some that were. Have you ever seen a mini with a terminally rotten front subframe?