I wasn't taught to pre-fill the filter, but it makes perfect sense. Good write up for those who may have never tackled changing their oil.

 

The first oil change I did on my JK, the filter was a pain in the ass to get off.

Did the ole' screwdriver through the filter for leverage trick and it worked like a charm.

 

Nice write up and great advise...

 

Pre-filling your filter just lessens strain on your valvetrain.

 

Well, got everything ready for tommorrow before lunch. Taking the dog to the groomer, daughters soccer game, then oil change. Got a 5qrt jug of Mobil 1 5w20 full synthetic at wal mart for $22. Forgot it took 6 quarts, got my Fram tough guard filter, filter wrench, used oil catch basin thing, funnel, some newspaper to lay down and rags.

Still not sure why this got moved into the off road 101 section...

 

Did it, mind you, this is the first time ever, the stream that comes out of the oil pan is pretty strong, the more clearance from ground to the bottom of the oil pan is better, couldn't get my hand out of the way, oil ran down my arm onto the carport. , I need to get ramps, jack stands, or lift . I just couldn't get my arm out of the way. 2nd, oil will splatter a bit from the oil filter, put a drop cloth or newspaper down, oh and oil filter, gravity and axle....they are in line with each other. Other than that, be sure you clean off the flange where the old oil filter was because there was some of the old gasket was left.

Other than that, pretty simple to do and for a savings of $80 (full synthetic at a oil change place), definitely worth the time, took about 30-45 minutes. I took my time. The satisfaction of doing it myself was priceless as well.

So if you are contemplating doing this due to lack of mechanical know how, this is a great thing to do, so do it!

Thanks to Tinman080 for a great write up.

 

Did my second oil change yesterday and only spilled a few drops from the filter this time. The first time I did it there were at least 2 quarts of oil on the parking lot :(

 

I don't see how you can't spill any, or at least splatter, when you take off the filter, that thing lines up perfectly with the axle housing.

 

there was spillage onto the drop cloth. first time I did not use any protection for the parking lot

 

i use mobil one advanced fuel economy 0w20. meets and exceeds manufacturs requirements for 5w20. its thinner at startup(first #is cold viscosity) and normal apon warmup(second # is hot viscosity). supposed to help fuel mpg. i have yet to see that. also run a fram tg3600 (normal is 3614). 3600 is longer to hold more oil. crazy aS it sounds i felt a difference with acceleration with the bigger filter. holds more oil. just my thoughts. btw op nice idea with trans magnet on the pan!