What happens if technician installs oil filter element upside down?

[KenAnderson]

I've a 2005 Passat TDI Wagon with the BHW engine. I'm not a mechanic; I'm just a guy who really likes his car.

Question
Is it possible to put the oil filter element in upside down, and would that result in ineffective filtering and damage to engine parts?

Background
The technicians at the shop where I've been taking the car for years said that my engine was making way more noise than it should, but were unable to tell me why without tearing it apart.
I took the car to another shop.
The technicians there also said the engine was making way more noise than it should. They brought that up themselves; I hadn't said anything about what the first shop's techs said. I'd actually taken the car to the second shop for unrelated issues.

After doing a bunch of digging, the lead technician at the new shop told me that, at the last oil change at the first shop, the techs had put the new oil filter element in upside down. He says this means:

• the filter element didn't seat properly in the canister
• the oil didn't flow through the filter as it should
• the dirty oil then became dirtier and dirtier as it wore at the engine parts, and bingo
• I've got metal particles in my oil

He says my engine will need to be replaced.

I've got the returned filter, and yes, it does have very many, very fine metal "filings" in it.

Is that bulleted scenario above possible/likely? Do the metal filings and the loud engine necessarily mean the engine needs to be replaced?

Thanks,
-Ken

 

[oilhammer]

You cannot put the element in upside down. It simply won't lock down, which is why they are marked.

If the engine is making a lot of noise, it is probably the chain drive in the bottom of the engine trying to Shawshank its way out.

 

[KenAnderson]

You cannot put the element in upside down. It simply won't lock down, which is why they are marked.

If the engine is making a lot of noise, it is probably the chain drive in the bottom of the engine trying to Shawshank its way out.

Thanks for the quick response @oilhammer.
Can you be more specific about what you mean by "lock down", and what you mean by "cannot"?

I don't see any kind of detents or locking mechanisms on the filter element itself. There's simply a hole that runs from one end of the filter to the other, and "dams" at either end. The dam at one end is about an inch from the end, and the dam at the other end is about 2 inches from the end. (By the way, there's no "Top" printed on either end of the element. If there is, it's VERY well hidden by oil stain.) From what I was told, one of those dams (I'm guessing the one about 1" from the end) is intended to seat against something to ensure that oil flows only through the filter, whereas if the filter was upside down, the filter wouldn't seat at all (because the dam would be to far away from whatever it's seating against), and oil in the canister could effectively flow around the element.

However, if the dam about 2" from one end (as opposed to the one about 1" from the other end) is intended to seat against a nozzle of some sort, then I could see that one might have a hard time screwing the filter canister cover down. But not having attempted an oil change on this, I don't know if that's true. When you say "cannot put the element in upside down", do you mean that one simply could not screw the cover back down?

Thanks,
-Ken

 

[oilhammer]

It is pretty simple. You cannot push it all the way down on to the cap the wrong way. The quality filters are all marked "TOP" (I use Mann+Hummel here, one of the OEM suppliers, but Hengst, Mahle are similar).

I've never tried to put the filter on upside down, so I cannot tell you if you could force the cap down into the engine's filter housing (thus crushing the element I assume). But there are lots of idiots out there with tools, so.... someone probably has.

If you had the cap off, in one hand, and a new Mann filter in the other hand, it would be VERY obvious.

 

[Tom in PT]

When you install the filter in the correct orientation there is a very perceptible feeling in your hands of the filter engaging with the bottom of the housing. The printing TOP on an OEM type filter (before it is filled with oil) is impossible to miss. It would take a total idiot to install it upside down. I don't have a filter handy (sold car recently) but the location of the internal spring in the filter will tell you if it was installed upside down or not. I don't remember if the spring is at the top or bottom of the filter, but someone else her surely can advise us.

 

[MOGolf]

There is no spring in the filter. It might be marked with OBEN instead of TOP, if still legible.

The plastic baffle inside the filter is there to keep the oil level up to that level when the engine is shut off. In a normally installed filter, the oil would flow out to in and up and then "overflow" down through the center tube into the cooler. With the baffle inverted (on a somehow incorrectly installed filter), the oil would take longer to fill the housing on start up. If it blocked off oil flow, the bypass valve at the bottom of the housing would open and still allow oil to flow. I just can't see a filter being installed upside down though.

Like oilhammer posted, it is most likely the chain drive for the balance shaft that is making the noise. Metal filings could be from it and hopefully not from other engine parts.