Discussion 1999 GMC Suburban k1500 Oil pressure

[Viking2121]

So I bought a 99 GMC Suburban 5.7 with a blown engine for under scrap price $500 usd, still ran new rear tires, but it has them fancy adjustable rods, Aside from that the truck is in pretty good shape, body does have 230k miles on it, has a noisy transfer case.

Anyway I also have a 97 k1500 pickup truck with a bad frame runs and shifts fine, 130k miles on it, 5.7, I got lucky and it has the transfer case I need for the suburban, so I pulled the engine out of the 97 and I installed into the suburban, no issues what so ever, I got it to fire and it moves under its own power, had plenty of oil pressure on cold start, idled down to around 30psi, which is better than most 5.7s form that era. Anyway, I installed the transfer case from the 97 and it works fine, 4x4 works, typical ABS light.

After some playing around and make sure everything is still tight, I noticed at idle I had 0 oil pressure, and the top end clacking to go with it so the gauge wasn't lying, give it a little gas and the oil pressure would rise, So I thought it needed a pick up and or oil pump, but after draining the clean oil and spinning the hot oil filter off, its a Wix and I noticed it was heavier than normal, so being curious I cut it open and noticed one of the filter layers collapsed on its self and jammed up the bypass valve in the filter. This filter wasn't old, I mean it did sit on the shelf in the garage for a few weeks.

So I put new oil in it and I had a cheap Fram filter I put on the truck, and all is well, I drove it yesterday and today to the tile office, drove to my dads 2 hours away, its been perfect aside from the slight piston slap on cold starts, I put almost 300 miles on it in the last couple of days.. And filling a 41 gallon fuel tank, ouch!!

Anyone ever experience something like this, Its a Wix filter, I thought they were quality and its an engine with 250 horse, nothing special, I was close to dropping the front diff and pulling the oil pan and it probably wouldn't have done anything as I would of probably kept the filter on as it was a new one.

I still don't know if I want to keep the truck or sell it, I have a whole days work into it and maybe $150 bucks in oil and some gaskets, but its clean for an NorthEast Ohio truck and I'm starting to like it more and more over my 92 Silverado, I just need to fix some other issues like A/C the ABS light, stupid things.

 

[Darkbreeze]

When you put that filter on, did you PRE-FILL it with oil, or did you install it dry?

 

[Viking2121]

When you put that filter on, did you PRE-FILL it with oil, or did you install it dry?

On a small block chevy, you do not need to pre fill the oil filters, heavy duty trucks with oil filter location kits or installing a new oil cooler that go through dry new lines or multiple filters like some heavy diesel equipment, yes, you should. So no I did not pre fill the filter, the filter is on its side just above the front drive shaft, prefilling the filter would get vary messy and probably would drain out and run down my arm anyway and not worth it to even try it.

And I never did with the cheap fram filter and the pump had no issues pushing oil up to the top of the engine and immediately shot up to 60psi just after doing the oil change.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, I've been an ASE master certified technician since about 1995, and in EVERY application you prefill the oil filter. Otherwise, oil rushing into a dry filter CAN cause a collapse. It won't happen frequently, usually, but it can happen and I've seen it happen. And I've seen it happen on a few small block chevy's as well. Every school, every instructor and every oil filter manufacturer, regardless of year, make or model, will recommend that you prefill the oil filter at least once, it doesn't necessarily have to be full to the top when you spin it on as some applications you'd just be spilling oil all over since they sometimes are attached at an angle, but filling the filter to the top once at least, and then letting it absorb into the filter material before installing it is always a good idea.

In fact, I'm a small shop owner these days in addition to other endeavors, so the fact that everything has been ok since that one occasion would really lead me to believe that installing the filter dry is highly likely to have been the cause of your collapse.

Not to mention, it eliminates a few seconds of oil starvation at startup. But to each their own I suppose.