Dr Quick wrote:
I have been working on vehicles or over 50 years, and as far as I know all "canisters" oil filters have a drain back valve in them. Also most oil filters, and the one on my Ford 5.4, are on the bottom of the block and screw on in an upright position. So there is NO WAY that oil can drain out of filter into the crank case on the Ford engine. Whenever I change the oil in a vehicle, if the filter it in an upright position, I will fill the filer with oil before installing, so the upon start up you will get lubrication sooner. Even on angle mounted filters you can fill the filter to the top and it will soak in a bit, so that you can install filter and not spill any oil, to get oil pressure sooner.
Standard practice when working on engines, is to pre-lubricate all moving parts when installing with oil or special grease, so that part will have some lubrication when you start up.
I somewhat agree with you that new engines are pre-lubed (thick assembly lube) and should not suffer damage before oil pressure takes over. There is, however, a lot of info that suggests otherwise.
It's not the oil in the filter that is lost when anti-drainback fails. It is the residual oil in galleys higher than pan level that re-seek common level; i.e. drain back down to dipstick level. In addition, I suppose a higher-than-dipstick-level mounted "upright" filter could also siphon. The oil has to slowly leak back past the oil pump rotor clearance, so it is more likely to occur long after a period of extended parking, unless the pump is extensively worn. Remember oil pumps always pump dirty, pre-filtered oil. Drainback incidence is often accompanied by 1/2 second or so of initial lifter noise.
Ford also
apparently published a dealer tip regarding bits of filter material (perhaps poor quality red drainback valve material) plugging oil galleys which caused premature engine failure.
Engine Damage / Non-Ford Oil Filters - All Model Years, All Vehicles
A review of warranty claims indicates that engine damage caused by defective non-Ford oil filters is being claimed under Ford warranty.
The check valves in some non-Ford filters disintegrate causing small rubber debris (frequently red color) to migrate into the engine's oil passages where they restrict flow. This restriction causes components (such as the variable cam timing phaser) to fail, and causes engine knocking / ticking /rattles.
Please reference:
SSM #18921 (Published: 11/03/05)
SSM #19642 (Published: 03/01/07)
TSB #06-19-08
Repair of engine damage caused by defective non-Ford oil filters is not covered per Section 3 of the Warranty & Policy Manual.
Category: Powertrain – Engine
Do: Look for bits of rubber (frequently red color) when repairing damaged engines.
Don't: Submit a warranty claim for damage caused by defective non-Ford oil filters.
Shown below, one
similar Ford (TSB?) reference stated either cam may be the victim:
20780 1997-2009 MULTIPLE VEHICLE - 4.6L/5.4L - ENGINE TICKING AND/OR RATTLE NOISE
MULTIPLE VEHICLE LINES WITH 4.6L OR 5.4L ENGINE MAY EXPERIENCE AN ENGINE TICKING OR RATTLE NOISE THAT SOUNDS LIKE A STUCK TAPPET (HLA). THIS MAY BE DUE TO THE DETERIORATION OF AN AFTERMARKET OIL FILTER. VEHICLES WITH THIS CONDITION HAVE LOW OIL PRESSURE AT ONE CYLINDER HEAD ONLY, WHILE MAIN PRESSURES ARE NORMAL. DISLODGED MATERIAL FROM THE AFTERMARKET OIL FILTER BLOCKS THE CAM CAP OIL PASSAGE, EITHER AT CYLINDER #4 (RIGHT BANK REAR) OR CYLINDER #5 (LEFT BANK FRONT).FOR VCT EQUIPPED ENGINES, INSPECT THE VCT VALVE BODY AND THE OIL PASSAGES UNDER THE FIRST CAM CAP. FORD RECOMMENDS THE USE OF FORD APPROVED FILTERS ONLY. DAMAGE TO ENGINES CAUSED BY AFTERMARKET OIL FILTERS ARE NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY.
EFFECTIVE DATE: 05/25/2009
It seems Ford stated that they would not warranty such plugged engines in the future, unless a Ford Motorcraft filter was used.
Fair enough.
If one has a warranty to protect, Ford Motorcraft filters are low cost and sold everywhere. Just sayin'.
Wes
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