I own 3 vehicles, a Protege5, Miata, and Toyota Tacoma. The Tacomas oil filter is under the engine, so when I remove it, its full of oil. I changed the Protege5 oil today, and the filter didnt have any oil in it, only a film of oil. Last time I changed my oil, I had some oil drip down the side of the engine, but this time none. Maybe I let the oil drip out of the drain plug for a longer period of time? If this is the case, does this sound normal? I was also expecting the oil filter to look alot dirtier, but it didnt look to bad (last changed about 5k miles ago, I use Mobil1 synthetic)

 

when i worked at toyota, we used to unscrew the oil filter a little bit, and drain the oil through the plug, the suction from the plug would suck it out of the filter.

 

i dont know if that helps or not

 

Not sure if I confused ya, I was wondering if its normal for the Protege5 filter to be like that.

 

a filter thats upside down will hold oil...the protege filter is pointed slightly downward so it won't hold oil like other filters.

 

And a slight pain to put it back on at that angle...

 

Yeah, my prior '88 323 and '95 Protege were are a pain in the *** to replace the oil filters. Oil ALWAYS drippled out of the filters and onto the engine side during replacements. It's location was pretty tight. The '01 is a "bit" easier -- not too much oil -- if any -- dribbles out and the location/angle is better. There should be some oil in the spent filter. I always drain it into the collection pan at a 45 deg angle.

I really MISS my '95 Camry! The oil filter was mounted directly on the FRONT side of the engine facing the radiator -- an 8-year old could spin it off! I did an oil change in like 15 mintues. Duhh... This isn't rocket science... manufacturers could make it a lot easier.