1994 Camry 5SFE Empty Oil Filter

[noodlerooney]

When changing the oil in my 1994 Camry 5SFE, after letting the engine sit for 10 minutes while draining the oil, when replacing the oil filter, not one drop spills, the filter is completely empty! The filter is mounted at a 45 degree angle open side down. Have tried many different types of oil filters, WIX, Toyota, etc. all with the same result. Is this normal for this engine? Have neven experienced an oil filter emptying so quickly or completely in my life. I know my filter has to refill every time I start my car if it has sat longer than 10 minutes, very disconcerning. It has the donut shaped factory oil cooler between the block and filter, uses engine coolant to cool oil, maybe this has something to do with it, none of my other cars have had this.

 

[Gold Wing]

I have changed oil & filters in Mom's 98, my brother's 01, and my own 00 Camry many times. All have the 5SFE engine and various filter brands were used. All were empty after 10-15 minutes as you described. Must be nature of the beast.

 

[PulMax]

Mine does that too.

 

[JohnBrowning]

It is because it is sits at a 45° angle almost upside down. The 3KC and 4KC engines that had the 45° verticle filter mount also had this problem. I never ran into one that was empty but they were not full either.When you look at how many of these engine 3KC,4KC,5SFE etc have over 200,000 miles I would say itis not an issue. I would imagine it is like the 22RE and has a bath tube like shape under each cam lobe that retains oil after shut down. This alows the valvetrain to have splash oil for that split second it takes to get oil pressure and flow to the head.

 

[daemonite]

the 94 camry we have does the same thing!

 

[noodlerooney]

I also own a 2000 Camry Solara SLE V6 1MZFE and the oil filter is mounted at the same angle. When I change this oil filter out, it's always practically full and makes quite a mess. That's why I didn't think the angle of the filter had much effect. I also noted that the 5SFE had a perforated tube with a bypass for the donut shaped factory oil cooler, maybe this has something to do with the filter draining out.

 

[pmwalter]

It doesn't mean that there is no oil in it. That also happens to me with my 98 Camry 4cyl. Not one drop comes out. However, I have drilled a small hole into the side of one filter and tons of oil came leaking out (I wanted to see why no oil came out). The filter should also be heavier that when you installed it.

My two cents.

 

[the_oil_dealer]

The geniuses at Toyota should give themselves a pat on the back for that one. Both 5SFE's we've owned make terrible dry start noises, even with Mobil 1 5w30 in the summertime. It really takes a while to pump up an empty filter. The 94 Celica we had before with the 5S used to leave the oil light on for upwards of a good 10seconds after starting. These are really sucky engines... the valvetrain makes horrible noises above 4000rpm.

 

[noodlerooney]

I was thinking about installing a remote oil filter mount in order to have the oil filter mounted in a vertical orientation. And it is; in fact, empty when viewed from the open end while sitting vertically. Sitting for 1 hour vertically, approximately 1/4 inch of oil can be seen at the bottom of the filter. The engine has an idle oil pressure of 12psi at 875 rpm and 56 psi at 3000 rpm with Mobil 1 10w30.