^^ Yeah, but that's not my point. My point is; if you're going to go through the trouble to change your filter, you might as well just drain the oil -- hell, that's the easiest part (of an extremely simple process)! I mean, you really aren't saving any labor by skipping the 5 minutes you'll spend removing the drain plug and dumping in fresh quarts.

Further, I fail to understand how, if the filter is the problem (and here I define "problem" as filter not filtering as well as it should) changing just the filter and not the potentially contaminated oil is really going to protect the car as well as spankin' new filter and oil. I just can't wrap my brain around that. Perhaps I'll spend the 30 minute duration of my next oil change contemplating it.

Ultimately, it's your car. If you're comfortable risking your engine for 5 minutes of saved labor then go for it.

Me? I'll be in the driveway with my 36mm socket.

 

That falls into the category of really, really, hard to believe.

If I had convincing proof of this I'd get one of my neighbors who meticulously changes their oil at 3,000 miles to give the used oil to me. I'd then use it for 3,000 miles and get even better engine protection with free oil.

Common sense says it ain't true.