Quote Originally Posted by dr. d View Post
i am wondering,
if the oil filter draining issue is a significant one,
why don't car manufacturers design engines with oil filters mounted vertically, with the thread up?
that should solve dry-filter syndrome.
Good question. There are a lot vehicles that employs that design. Most Hondas do that.

But if I were to take a stab at as to why not all engines are like that, I guess it all comes down to engineering, design and cost, among others.

When manufacturing at scale, component placement and orientation has a price tag attached to it. It's not uncommon for the bean counters during an engine's R&D to veto the engineers' wishes and put this and that part a certain way so it will cost less to make. So, it's not hard to imagine that they'd sooner orient an oil filter upside down or sideways because doing it the right way will require a bit more plumbing (read: expense). Whereas using a filter with just a little ol' silicone ADBV would cost much, much less.