Shop vac trick to change bottom mounted oil filter housing?

[KevinMalone]

Basically I need to replace a bottom mounted vertical plastic oil filter housing/cap, ideally without losing any oil. Will the shop vac trick (ie pull a vacuum from the fill port) still work for this? I don't think I'll lose any oil from the pan - just whatever's in the filter housing/cap and the plumbing to/from it:

 

[BobsArmory]

I've done it when I needed to change a drain plug gasket but I don't know who much you would save with a housing change.

 

[WobblyElvis]

It should work very well. One problem, your shop vac will very much smell of engine oil.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

it really comes down to the physics of it. If the shop vac can't pull enough vacuum to sustain the hold then you will lose some oil. That is a rather large part with several openings by the look of it...

 

[The Critic]

Just drain the oil into a clean 5-qt container?

 

[dlundblad]

You will only lose what’s in the housing. It isn’t much and no amount of suction will remove it.

I replaced the same thing on my wife’s Volvo issue free. I didn’t lose enough to even top off.

 

[KevinMalone]

You will only lose what’s in the housing. It isn’t much and no amount of suction will remove it.

I replaced the same thing on my wife’s Volvo issue free. I didn’t lose enough to even top off.

Thanks for confirming. Curious if you replaced your cap because of this: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=95001

 

[dlundblad]

Thanks for confirming. Curious if you replaced your cap because of this: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=95001

No. I dropped it when I was cleaning it out and it made a small crack. Didn’t have a spare vehicle at the time so I had to put it back together and hope for the best and replaced it when the new one arrived the following weekend.

*Curious if you use the factory style filter like the Mahle OX149d shown above or some aftermarket market with plastic end caps?

 

[TomYoung]

It should work very well. One problem, your shop vac will very much smell of engine oil.

Forever

 

[KevinMalone]

*Curious if you use the factory style filter like the Mahle OX149d shown above or some aftermarket market with plastic end caps?

I only use the OE Mahle filters

 

[KevinMalone]

It should work very well. One problem, your shop vac will very much smell of engine oil.

Thanks for the warning, no one has mentioned this before. I think that's enough reason to skip the shop vac trick