What Happens If You Don’t Change Your Oil Filter?


Will You Damage Your Engine If You Don’t Change Your Oil Filter?

Let’s say you decide to change your engine oil but can’t get your old oil filter off or just forgot to buy a new one?  What will happen to your engine if you don’t ever change your oil filter?

What Happens If You Don’t Change Your Oil Filter?

Let’s say you decide to change your engine oil but can’t get your old oil filter off or just forgot to buy a new one?  What will happen to your engine if you don’t ever change your oil filter?

1. Oil Won’t Be Filtered

As the name suggests an oil filter is designed to filter out the engine oil contaminants and particulates so that they don’t circulate throughout the engine.  Engine oil filters are designed to be replaced every time you do an oil change so if you don’t replace the oil filter in between oil changes that filter will get clogged up and no longer be able to effectively filter the engine oil and remove contaminants.

2. Oil Will Turn to Sludge

At this point, if you’ve still not changed your engine oil or filter, eventually the old oil that is no longer being filtered would break down and turn to engine sludge.  While replacing your oil (and keeping the old filter) at this point would help out the situation the new oil wouldn’t be able to be filtered since the filter is still old

3. Engine Will Fill With Sludge

As you continue to drive and your engine oil is no longer being properly filtered by the oil filter contaminants will begin to build up inside of your engine which is not good news for your engine.  Engine sludge will begin to build up inside of the engine until it eventually fills most of the internals.

Because of reduced lubrication and increased friction, this would lead to your engine having to work harder and would increase the wear on the internal components of your engine.

4. Engine Will Need to be Replaced

If you went long enough without replacing your engine oil filter the increased wear and heat would lead to the engine internals locking up.  At this point, you would either need to rebuild or replace the engine.  Since the engine would be filled with sludge it would make more sense to replace the engine with a new or used one.

How Do I Know When To Change My Oil Filter?

It’s recommended that you replace your engine oil filter every time that you replace your engine oil.  So when you decide to change your engine oil you should plan to replace your oil filter at the same time.  A new oil filter only costs around $10 which isn’t that much when you think that it only needs to be replaced every 6 months or so.

Is It Necessary To Change Your Oil Filter Every Time?  Can You Use An Oil Filter Twice?

While you can use an engine oil filter twice it’s generally recommended to replace your oil filter every time you replace your engine oil.  If you decide against changing your engine oil filter the next time you change your oil I’d recommend replacing both the oil and oil filter within the next couple thousand miles.

Oil filters aren’t designed to be used between two different oil changes so if you use an oil filter twice it won’t be able to filter the contaminants from your oil as well, which is the only job of an oil filter.

You can buy a new oil filter for around $10 so it makes more sense to me to change your oil filter every oil change for $10 and have piece of mind than to risk doing damage to your engine and potentially paying thousands to get it repaired or replaced.

How Many Miles Can An Oil Filter Last?

An oil filter is typically designed to last the life of an oil change which depending on vehicle manufacturer can be anywhere from 3,000-7,000 miles.  There are some oil filters that are designed to be extended life oil filters but if you plan on replacing your engine oil I’d go ahead and replace your oil filter at the same time.

If you change your oil yourself the replacement oil and filter should be less than $50.  If you have to change your oil and filter twice per year you should still be out less than $100 which is what a lot of people pay each month for their cell phone or internet bill.

To me, it makes sense to replace your engine oil and filter more often just for peace of mind and to know that your engine oil is clean.

How  Much Does It Cost To Replace An Engine Oil Filter?

The cost to replace an engine oil filter will be mainly dependent on the type of oil filter material used (paper or synthetic), who made the oil filter, and how long the oil filter is designed to last.  The cost of a synthetic oil filter will be anywhere from $8-13.  If you wanted to get a cheaper paper oil filter you can find one in the $5-8 range.

How Do I Know If My Oil Filter Is Bad?

When your oil filter is bad it will no longer be able to filter out the contaminants out of your oil as well as a brand new oil filter would be able to.  Over time this can cause your engine oil to turn into sludge which is bad news for your engine.

If you’ve ever changed the oil in your car you would know that clean oil my have a brown tint to it but overall is somewhat translucent.  As you drive your car the oil will start to collect contaminants and become dirty which is indicated by a dark or black color and will no longer be translucent.

However, just because your oil is dark doesn’t mean that your oil filter is bad.  There is no good way to determine if your oil filter is bad and can no longer effectively filter your engine oil.  That’s why it’s best to change your oil filter every oil change to ensure that your oil filter gets changed every 6 months to a year.

Can Installing the Wrong Oil Filter Damage My Engine?

Yes, putting the wrong oil filter can damage your engine if the oil filter is not able to effectively filter your engine oil.  Oil filters are designed to be used on certain engines.  Usually, the larger the displacement of the engine the larger the oil filter will be because there will be more oil inside of the engine that will need to be filtered.

If you put a smaller oil filter on a large displacement engine it’s likely the small oil filter would not be able to effectively filter the engine oil to remove contaminants.  That’s why it’s best to use the oil filter recommended for your car by your vehicle manufacturer, that way you will know it will be designed for your specific engine.

Can I Change My Engine Oil Without Changing The Filter?

Yes, you can change your oil without changing your oil filter just know that old oil filter won’t be able to effectively remove contaminants from your engine oil.  If you can’t get your old oil filter off or you just forgot to buy a new oil filter then you can get by without replacing your oil filter without worrying about doing too much damage to your engine.

But I’d be sure to change my oil and oil filter again within the next few thousand miles to make sure that the oil filter isn’t completely clogged and unable to effectively do its job.

Is It OK to Change The Oil Filter Once Per Year?

How often you change your oil and oil filter is largely dependent on how many miles you drive your car each year.  If you only drive a couple of miles to work and the store then you may be able to get by with only changing your oil every year.  But if you are like most Americans you will rack up thousands of miles a year on your car and will likely need to change your oil within a year.

According to the department of transportation (DOT) the average American drives over 13,000 miles per year. Most oil change intervals will be in the 3,000-7,000 mile range depending on if synthetic or conventional oil is used. So most people would need to change their oil 2-3 times a year if they are following the recommended oil change interval set by their vehicle manufacturer.

Mobil 1 recently released a new oil that they say can protect your engine for a full year or 20,000 miles whichever comes first.  So if your car is out of warranty and you’d like to extend your oil changes I’d recommend taking a look at Mobil 1 annual protection oil.

Mobil 1 recommends the use of their extended life oil filter if you plan to go a full year or 20,000 miles between oil changes.  While this may be good for fleet vehicles that drive 20,000-40,000 miles per year I’d recommend that most people change their oil more than once a year, especially if you are mainly driving in stop and go conditions.

Related Questions

How Do You Tighten An Oil Filter? After changing your oil you should always install your new oil filter and tighten it by hand.  When installing a new oil filter you want it to be tight so that oil doesn’t leak from it but you don’t want to overtighten it.  If you overtighten your oil filter it can make it tough to get off the next time you go to change your oil.  I’ve made this mistake before so learn from my mistakes.

If your engine oil filter has been overtightened and you are struggling to get it off they can be removed with oil filter pliers like the ones above (link to Amazon) that you can buy from most auto parts stores.

If you are in a pinch and don’t own an oil filter wrench and can’t get to an auto parts store to buy one you can remove the oil filter by jamming a screwdriver through the side of the oil filter.

Once you have the screwdriver inside of the oil filter it should give you enough leverage to twist it off.  Just be careful not to cut yourself because you can easily cut yourself on the sharp metal edges exposed once you’ve jammed the screwdriver inside of the oil filter.

After this experience, I decided to invest in oil filter pliers just in case this ever happened again.

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