Oil change without new filter?

[VolvoV70T5]

I got the correct oil filter tool coming in, but the universal stuff didn’t seem to get the oil filter out. I read that it’s okay to use the old oil filter for a little, but the question I have is it’s 10w-30 castrol semi that was in the car before. Now it’s going to be 0w-40 Mobil 1 fs European. Is mix matching these going to be okay for a short while until my oil cap removal comes in? And then I’ll re flush the new oil as I planned on doing a few quick changes anyways. I see some varnish on the cams looking through the oil fill, want to get that cleaned out. But I Just wanted a new filter not the old one when I was going to do the quick changes. Drain and fill every week until the varnish goes away.

 

[Racecarfan2]

It will never know.

 

[nomas]

You are WAY overthinking this .

 

[AuthorEditor]

Seems a bit pricey and exotic to use the 0W-40 for cleaning purposes, but the filter should be no problem at all. However, I have sometimes crushed the filter quite a bit using universal tools and I would suspect a filter like that. Frankly, I would be surprised you can't remove it with the right universal tool. You can't reach it with the tool? I use something like this and it has occasionally crushed the end of the filter: https://www.homedepot.com/b/Automot...l-Filter-Wrenches/Oil/N-5yc1vZ2fkp8bgZ1z1r2uy

 

[brages]

I think the OP has a Volvo with a "cartridge" filter design. He needs a tool for the 36mm hex on the top of the filter housing.

 

[Hall]

You are WAY overthinking this .

Welcome to BITOG

 

[chainblu]

Not to worry.

 

[AuthorEditor]

I think the OP has a Volvo with a "cartridge" filter design. He needs a tool for the 36mm hex on the top of the filter housing.

Oops! Sorry! Get the right tool.

 

[VolvoV70T5]

Oops! Sorry! Get the right tool.

Yeah I just filled it up and the varnish that was on top of the cams completely vanished when I poured the new oil. I’m gonna enjoy driving it and let it circulate, the new cap I’ll use that later in the week. And refill new oil again with new filter.

 

[PimTac]

Yeah I just filled it up and the varnish that was on top of the cams completely vanished when I poured the new oil.

That was not varnish.

 

[VolvoV70T5]

That was not varnish.

What would you call it? The visual appearance seemed like what people he referred as varnish

 

[VolvoV70T5]

What would you call it? The visual appearance seemed like what people he referred as varnish

Those little black marks vanished when I poured the oil in.

 

[PimTac]

Those little black marks vanished when I poured the oil in.

Varnish is usually baked on and a golden or dark honey color.

That black stuff looks like sludge.

 

[short]

interesting

 

[BHopkins]

You will be fine. Keep in mind that, in addition to the oil that is in your filter housing, there is also oil throughout an engine, that never gets drained out at an oil change. So, this time you have a little more than usual. This is not a problem.

I use M1 0W-40 FS Euro in my E350. I follow the 10k mile oil change interval, as called out in the MB Owner's Manual. When I do oil changes, I take a peak inside through the oil fill port. Judging from the very limited view that I get, the inside of my engine looks spotless. So, I'm sold on M1 0W-40 FS Euro. I'm sure many of the other Euro oils are also fine products, but considering how well the M1 offering is working in my car's engine, there is no way I would switch to another product.

Good luck with your run, of using it for cleaning out your engine. Perhaps you will be so happy with the results, that you will stay with M1 Euro in the future.

 

[VolvoV70T5]

Varnish is usually baked on and a golden or dark honey color.

That black stuff looks like sludge.

Well I guess I mixed up the two terms. But I’m just glad the oil is doing its job as I heard it’s good for cleaning an engine up. And just from pouring it on what the picture showed cleaned it up. Then next step was these guys (https://www.hploil.com/product-page/5w40-synthetic-motor-oil-quart) if the Mobil formulation didn’t go a good enough job. I heard that hpl works wonders.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Varnish is usually baked on and a golden or dark honey color.

That black stuff looks like sludge.

That is what I was thinking, Not varnish at all. Very dirty looking oil residue (evidence of poor preventive maintenance) like long over due oil changes or some really poor oil choices in severe service use. Lots of folk misunderstand the meaing of the auto term severe services.
Most cars and trucks (even non towing ones) can fall into what is considered severe service use. Short trips, hot city driving, long periods of sitting idle , poor quality or even wrong type of oil left unchanged far too long a period. Even the use of cheap / poor quality fuel etc....
can make our cars very unhappy at times.

 

[VolvoV70T5]

That is what I was thinking, Not varnish at all. Very dirty looking oil residue (evidence of poor preventive maintenance) like long over due oil changes or some really poor oil choices in severe service use. Lots of folk misunderstand the meaing of the auto term severe services.
Most cars and trucks (even non towing ones) can fall into what is considered severe service use. Short trips, hot city driving, long periods of sitting idle , poor quality or even wrong type of oil left unchanged far too long a period. Even the use of cheap / poor quality fuel etc....
can make our cars very unhappy at times.

The car would only be driven in spring/summer, and then stored away for months in winter. Would’ve been better to change the oil right after it’s back up and running, but it seems that wasn’t done.

 

[AuthorEditor]

The car would only be driven in spring/summer, and then stored away for months in winter. Would’ve been better to change the oil right after it’s back up and running, but it seems that wasn’t done.

In that scenario I prefer to change oil and filter in the fall, run the engine long enough to circulate the oil throughout, then shut down for the winter. Better to have clean oil everywhere in the engine for the 6 months of sitting. I've been doing this for boats and motorcycles forever and then they are ready to go in the spring. But, I suspect all that sludge was caused by other issues--wrong oil for too long, lots of short trips. I've never seen sludge in any vehicle using synthetic oil with occasional multi-hour runs done every few weeks.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

In that scenario I prefer to change oil and filter in the fall, run the engine long enough to circulate the oil throughout, then shut down for the winter. Better to have clean oil everywhere in the engine for the 6 months of sitting. I've been doing this for boats and motorcycles forever and then they are ready to go in the spring. But, I suspect all that sludge was caused by other issues--wrong oil for too long, lots of short trips. I've never seen sludge in any vehicle using synthetic oil with occasional multi-hour runs done every few weeks.

When I had my collector cars I would do exactly as you say with new oil before storage. Another thing I often did to prevent mositure build up that can wreak havoc was to seal as much up that was possible. Stuffed rags into dual exhausts and then tips were wrapped with plastic bags and tapped in place. Under the hood the carb cover n filter removed and the carb would be stuffed with rags and wrapped also in plastic and then tapped up with duct tape. Some guys I knew would even remove the carbs and install a plate for the winter time sleep. Every little bit helps when you need to store a vehicle. Plus it makes it so much more appealing when it is time to wake it up from the winter hibernation.