Position of the oil filter

[whizbyu]

Is there a distinct advantage to positioning an oil filter canister in the bottom of the engine ( requiring the use of a lift or a floor jack) as opposed to being in a more easily accessible area as in the side of the engine facing up or even sideways where you can reach in easily in the engine bay? Is the reasoning for putting it under the engine behind cables or pipes more along the line of thinking, "You're under the car, what's the big deal?"

 

[Eddie]

. I see no advantage to having a filter underneath the engine. ps. Longest run-on sentence I've seen this year

 

[stwremains]

A disadvantage of having the oil filter on top of the engine is that oil can drain back despite silicone or rubber anti drain back valves - due to slight vacuum, and therefore leading to dry starts for a couple seconds as oil pressure needs to fill and move oil thru the filter again. Leads to some timing chain rattle for up to a couple seconds and potentially a slight increase in wear.

 

[Kantaro]

My uninformed assumption is that if the vehicle is in for service, it'll be on a lift and techs can access both the filter and drain plug at the same time. I'm not sure if the engineers really consider serviceability though (sometimes it sure feels like they don't).

I think some Mercs were designed for oil extraction? Top side filters would make a lot of sense in those cases.

 

[stwremains]

My uninformed assumption is that if the vehicle is in for service, it'll be on a lift and techs can access both the filter and drain plug at the same time. I'm not sure if the engineers really consider serviceability though (sometimes it sure feels like they don't).

Given the oil filter location on some vehicles (buried behind exhaust manifolds, etc) I assume engineers sometimes don’t give any thought toward serviceability, haha.

 

[SHOZ]

Got to be off the main oil pump output plumbing. First place the oil goes isn't it?

 

[Snagglefoot]

It can also be at the back. On Chevy LS engines the sump is at the back nearest the transmission. This gives room for the front diff in a 4 wheel drive. The oil pump is driven off the crank at the front of the engine but the oil intake is at the back in the sump. It then crosses to the back from the oil pump to the filter which mounted to the block at the back.