Can I Change Oil Without Changing Oil Filter?

Can I Change Oil Without Changing Oil Filter?

The work of an oil filter is to filter the engine’s oil. Coming in the size of a tin of baked beans, an oil filter is attached to your car engine, mainly protruding outside as an attachment/peripheral.

This is a very critical device for the proper health of your engine. So, you might be asking, can I change oil without changing the oil filter?

Yes. It’s okay to change the oil and skip the filter as it takes longer to finish its lifecycle. When it’s functional, and oil filter will eliminate all contaminating bodies or impurities from your engine.

However, it’s advisable never to do this. When I consider the cost of the filter, I never think twice concerning whether to change the filter as I change the oil or not.

I always change my oil with the oil filter as well. Although I know my filter can do some more miles.

This is a sure way to ensure that I steer away from any possibility of dirt and particular causing havoc in my engine. An oil filter’s cost is fairly low.

Consider the damage little specks hard substances would cause to your engine if they found their way into the oil stream.

If one of the small hard specks was big enough, it might be lodged in the engine and cause un-foretold misery to your pocket.

But avoiding talking about the financial implication, consider what this small stone would do if it stopped a piston from moving or even a valve from closing.

The consequence might be an engine knock, and you don’t want to imagine what that means.

Fortunately, thanks to the oil filter, such substances will be trapped by the oil filter.

Your engine would be safe from any rubbing that such specks of hard substances would otherwise occasion.

Does My Car Need An Oil Filter?

Yes. An oil filter’s primary reason is to protect your engine from harmful hard substances that could damage its internal components.

As you might know, there is no other single part of the car that is as delicate and expensive to repair as the engine. A slight blunder might cost thousands of dollars in repair.

But that is where the oil filter comes in: to ensure that you never get there.

As the engine continues to run, and oil filter will continuously clean the oil until the oil is completely free from dangerous foreign bodies.

This way, the working parts of your engine are maintained safe from damage.

However, as you might expect, anything that is in use will deteriorate with time and use. This is the case with oil filters.

As more dust and other particles continue to get attracted to the oil filter, your filter might start clogging.

When clogging starts, it’s the beginning of the waning of the filter’s effectiveness.

As the engine continues to run, more dirt and dust particles will continue being attracted to the oil filter until it’s too blocked to perform its functions.

However, the oil will continue to circulate your engine, along with the dirt and dust particles. This could spell danger to your engine.

Again, the circulation of dirty oil will occasion reduced oil pressure, impurities taking a toll on the internal parts of your engine.

Importantly, you will need to change your oil filter frequently.

Is There A Frequency At Which I Should Change My Oil Filter?

Yes. Your owner’s manual will be handy in the provision of guidance since there will be variations from one car model to another car model.

You might need to consider changing your oil filter if you find that it is too dirty as you change your oil.

After draining your engine oil into some transparent container, please leave it to cool down.

After it cools down, establish if there is much sediment that is gathered at the bottom.

If there is, it means that your oil filter is not performing at peak levels, and therefore you need to change it.

When an oil filter malfunctions, sometimes you might not notice.

The makeup of oil filters has an integrated safety feature allowing the continued passage of unfiltered oil into your engine.

This is because the engine should run on unfiltered oil than no oil at all. Despite this safety feature, you will still be able to tell when your oil filter is due for a change.

If you pay close attention to minor telltale clues indicative of possible times for replacing your oil filter.

Are There Any Warning Signs That Suggest An Oil Filter Change?

Yes. There are several ways your car tries to get your attention to change your oil filter. First, your car will show a check engine light.

Although a clogged, dirty, or failed oil filter will aluminate the car’s check engine light, a malfunctioned one will cause problems in the engine that will cause the check engine light to come up.

This is due to the gummed-up debris which might be deposited on the moving parts.

When this debris causes malfunctioning of some parts of the engine, this is what instigates the check engine light coming up.

This is meant to indicate a potential problem in your engine, and you need to address it on time.

The check engine light is a handy warning that might save you in many instances, not with the oil filter alone.

This is a warning sign that you can never ignore, at whatever cost.

As soon as the warning is laminated, it’s essential to seek professional help as soon as possible to protect you from serious repair bills.

Engine repair has never been cheap.

When your mechanic identifies and remedies the immediate problem, they should also establish the underlying cause; this may be traced to the faulty oil filter.

Again, failure to change an oil filter might cause overheating. It’s logical to assume that the rubbing of two car parts devoid of proper lubrication will cause heat.

Your engine will start to wear out due to the increased friction caused by insufficient lubrication.

Increased friction will lead to engine overheating, resulting in additional strain on your car’s cooling system.

Needless to point out, poorly filtered oil will lead to sediment buildup on your engine and mineral deposits. Such instances are a recipe for the occlusion of heat conductivity.

As a result of this, the engine will sympathetically overheat. As you might know, an engine’s average temperature is around 195-220 degrees Fahrenheit.

Temperatures that exceed this range are a result of overheating, and your temperature gauge will show this.

Overheating causes a car to either overheat, idle roughly, belch smoke, or even stall.  

When this happens, you might need to turn the heat up to its maximum.This might be the only way to get home or to a mechanic.

After turning the heat,the heat that is in the engine is allowed to enter the car and consequently vents the engine.

A good mechanic will easily identify the cause of the overheating. Astonishingly, the underlying problem might be a bad oil filter.

It’s also possible to encounter a leak to warn you of a faulty oil filter. When an oil filter is damaged, it cannot comfortably adapt to temperature changes within the engine.

When things turn to the extreme, there is a possibility of a burst or rupture of the oil filter. This leads to re-circulation of the oil or leakage of the oil back into the oil pan.

Consequently, the oil will likely leak out of the pan and be evidenced by oil drops under the car.

This may damage the oil pan, whereby you will need to replace the oil filter and the oil pan.

When oils lean out of the car,the environment is negatively affected as it is hazardous to the environment and water bodies.

Even when oil is neutralized, it will still stain asphalt. If you realize that oil is leaking from your car, it is essential to seek help from your mechanic.

Are There Negative Impacts Of Not Changing My Engine Oil?

Yes. If you fail or delay changing your engine’s oil, several repercussions might come your way.

Fundamentally, petroleum oil used in automobiles will begin to break and wear down as soon as the engine is run.

Since oil is made with additives to give it the desired qualities, any change in the additives is a cause of concern.

Now, as the oil begins to break down and wear out, some changes happen to the additives.

As the additives struggle to keep the oil breakdown at minimal levels, the engine oil will continue to deteriorate and degrade, even as it wears out.

This might continue past the recommended levels, and your oil will have lost its ability to protect and lubricate your engine.

To counter this, it’s essential to ensure that you have a scheduled oil change.

Another thing to consider when deciding to change your oil is the way you use your car.

Although oil manufacturers have a recommended number of miles, they rarely factor in when giving those figures.

For instance, consider a car that is used to run errands over short distances.

Make an additional assumption that these errands are run in a congested part of the city with many stops.

This would mean that the car is started and stopped very frequently. The relevance of this is that the engine might never warm up enough to enable proper oil circulation.

If such a car is running on regular oil, the chances are that there would be problems, and degradation of the oil will start way before the recommended miles are achieved.

This is due to the water vapor in the engine as the car is switched off before vapor evaporates, which causes the water vapor to mix with the oil.

Therefore, if a car runs on such short distances, it should idle for about 10 minutes in the morning. Again, it will need short intervals between oil changes.

Does My Engine Wear Out More When I Delay Changing The Oil?

Yes. Changing your engine oil is very important, as we have already insinuated. Again, if you do not change your car oil on time, this will lead to engine wear.

When the oil breaks down, its ability to protect your engine is compromised, causing poor lubrication. Wear on your engine’s moving parts will be unavoidable in such scenarios.

If you further delay changing the oil and continue using the car, wear continues a little faster, shortening your engine’s lifespan.

On the other hand, failure to change your engine oil will lead to corrosion.

As oil breaks down, some corrosive compounds and acids are formed by the reaction between the oil, oxygen, and heat in your engine.

Accumulation of corrosive compounds in the engine increases wears and tear in the engine by reacting with metals.

Additionally, these are associated with the creation of sludge and varnish buildup inside the engine.

This, in turn, interferes with the movement of the internal parts of the engine.

Some parts will have a form of drag like the pistons, resulting in more fuel consumption and loss of power.

On the other hand, more oil will be consumed since the oil left sticking on the valves and pistons must be compensated for.

Conclusion

It is not a must to change an oil filter at every oil change. This is because an oil filter doesn’t get clogged that soon.

However, to be on the safe side, considering that oil filters cost very little, it is best to change the oil filter every time you change your engine oil.

Again, changing your engine oil should not be delayed as it would expose your car to dangers of poor lubrication.

A poorly lubricated engine poses a danger to the moving parts as they strain to perform their tasks.

Therefore, it’s advisable always to change the oil at regular intervals to ensure that your car remains safe.

The cost resulting from an oil filter malfunctioning and failing to perform its tasks is immense, and you would better avoid them.