The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 oil canister

Can any one tell me how the oil flows thru the canister. I took mine apart today because no oil is coming out of the return line. After cleaning it i can't find any obvious return ports in the main tube that the return line screws into. It appears that once the canister cover is put back on, there is no way for the oil to get to the return line. The return line actually came off while the engine was running and no oil was flowing out of it. Any thoughts?

A photo of your filter would be helpful.
What year engine?
What brand of filter unit?

Typically, oil flows into to filter from a line near the rear of the block into a fitting high on the rear side of the filter unit. The oil goes into the canister on the outside the filter cartridge.

The oil then moves through the filter cartridge to the center of the filter cartridge and into/out a hole near the top of the hollow center post.

The oil exits the bottom of the unit through the bottom of the hollow center post.

Thanks.

I saw what i thought was a dimple in the main tube. I tried sticking a awl into it but it didn' free anything. After your response I was able to stick a thiner wire into it and it broke thru. The is a little less than a 1/8" in dia

Clean it out and blow it out and clean it out again. See if you can get flow.

Remember this is not full flow. Your filter is only filtering a small sample of the oil flowing through your engine. Not like todays cars. Its a good idea to clean that out and have it functioning as intended. Its not the best, but its necessary.