Hello,

On changing my oil filter in December, when taking off the filter noticed that it was dry inside and changed it with another one of the same brand.

Then thinking on it more today I thought I would check it, sure enough it was dry as before, so I checked the oil pump with the filter removed and plug leads removed and oil started to come out of the block and would have gone into the filter if fitted.

I always pre fill the filters before refitting.
What I would like to know is what could cause this problem, and would it be a faulty worn oil pump or 2 faulty oil filters and how to check this out.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Darryl.

It may have the filter bypass stuck open. By dry, do you mean no oil at all? It would be very weird not to have any oil in it, even if bypass was wide open it would still have to get oil in the filter.

Is your filter a spin on type? Vertical or horizonal mounting?

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'68 Deluxe w/Metro engine

Aren't all mini oil filters vertical

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1963 Morris 850 Smoke Grey
1963 Morris 850 Shadow Blue
1965 Morris Mini Smooth Van
1966 Morris Mini Van
1969 Morris Mini Deluxe Resto
5/72 Clubman Gt

The mini Matic runs the oil filter horizontal

Some of the later UK cars have a filter which spins directly onto the block horizontally also.

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'68 Deluxe w/Metro engine

Some MGs have the filter mounted upside down!

The fact that the oil pump was able to deliver some oil to the filter don't mean it has the power to force oil through under pressure...oil pump? pick-up? or lines?

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"Show me the Mini!"

Have you got oil pressure?

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The best part of fixing your mini is the test drive

Minis..

1976 van daily drive
1975 van
1968 deluxe in the shed
1967 deluxe high strung 1310
1959 austin healey sprite

My question too.
There have been problems lately with new oil pumps failing to seal on the gasket, because there's now little or no chamfer on the corner of the pump flange. So the pump can sit on the corner radius in the block, instead of sealing on the gasket.
I have just gone through this drama with someone's motor. Even a thicker gasket didn't fix it. So I ground a decent chamfer on the pump and used a stock gasket.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I bought a cheap oil gauge when I was replacing mine, because I was afraid of this.Took the spark plugs out, attached the gauge with a battery and cranked it by hand and watched the pressure rise. I'd invest in a gauge, even if you don't mount it and only use it once, because it's far cheaper than replacing the engine

I have a tiny rear entry SMC 1000 KPa pressure gauge, 1/8 BSP thread. I just screw it in for testing, where the sender goes. You can buy these or similar from any pneumatic equipment supply shop.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I actually bought mine with the intention of mounting it, but used if for testing before the engine went back it. It's connected up and works, but it's currently mounted in a cardboard box and sitting in the glove box, where it has been for almost 3 years

So is his oil filter able to drain back and empty itself dry after use or not?

I would think that if the oil pump was at fault, then the engine service would have been preceded by an awfully bad noise from the block. And if the oil pump wasn't working and it also wasn't flowing backwards on shut down, wouldn't the oil just sit in the bottom of the oil filter like its own sump?

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I would think it's entirely possible for his horizontally mounted filter to drain itself, and if it has only ever seen new oil, may be hard to pick wet paper from dry. So that might be something Darryl could check, as well as for us to find out if the oil pump has been replaced / changed (as per DrMini). But given what we know, I agree that an oil pressure check is in order before running the engine again - to be sure to be sure.

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'68 Deluxe w/Metro engine

Hi Rover mini bscc
I have found this on the dyno when doing testing ( mainly on unleaded fuel) and I do a run on full load and shut the motor down quickly it will run on and then kick backwards when doing this it sucks the oil out of the filter and leave it dry,but never seems to drain the pump, it just takes a few more seconds to get up oil pressure when you fire it up again.
Graham Russell

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"It's better to be not informed than ill-informed"