Oil Filters

[MikeInIdaho]

yeah I was thinking the same thing. It's the oil pump's job to circulate the oil, not the filter. The filter doesn't have any mechanical means to move the oil, the oil gets "pushed" through it at pressure. Just a couple of my thoughts, anyhow.

 

[90B24wd]

Well than when I replaced my Fram filter with a Motorcraft filter why did my ticking noise was reduced?

 

[Evan]

yeah I was thinking the same thing. It's the oil pump's job to circulate the oil, not the filter. The filter doesn't have any mechanical means to move the oil, the oil gets "pushed" through it at pressure. Just a couple of my thoughts, anyhow.

Exactly. If the filter cuts down on flow, the pressure after the filter still remains the same. Imagine a garden hose with a 40 psi feed. If you block off half the hose, you still have 40 psi after the blockage. Granted your flow rate has decreased. So it's total bullshit to say that a filter can boost pressure.

 

[Evan]

Well than when I replaced my Fram filter with a Motorcraft filter why did my ticking noise was reduced?

Because the FLOW RATE may have been improved, not the pressure.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

restrictions cause pressure. your oil pump creates a volume of oil and when it hits a hole too small for it to flow through (bearings, pushrods, etc), the extra volume builds up behind the restriction and causes pressure.

the filter is the first thing the oil flows through after the pump, so if you increase the amount of volume the filter flows, you increase the pressure inside the block (because you have more oil trying to flow through the same sized holes).

it could work theoretically, but the probem is that the oil filter is not a restriction in the system. if youve ever seen the oil passages in main bearings or lifters, you know that the 3/4" hole in the filter will flow way more than the rest of the engines oil passages.

and claiming that they can filter down to fewer microns with a higher flow rate is also BS. the filter is restricted to the same physical size as any other brand of filter for a given application. that means you can only use a maximum of "X" amount of filter media area before you simply run out of room inside the filter canister. the fact that they use the same type of filter media as other brands (paper) does not help their arguement...id expect at least some kind of amazing space-age material to accomplish more flow with a smaller micron filtering.

 

[Ranger44]

Yep....I stick with Motorcraft or Wix.

 

[Evan]

restrictions cause pressure. your oil pump creates a volume of oil and when it hits a hole too small for it to flow through (bearings, pushrods, etc), the extra volume builds up behind the restriction and causes pressure.

Agreed. But pressure behind the filter is irrelevent. We're concerned about pressure ahead of the filter. For practical purposes, the filter has no effect on pressure ahead of itself, unless it had a pinhole sized output.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

thats exactly my point. the restrictions downstream of the filter are much smaller than the filter itself. unless (for example) your bearings are so worn that they are hemmoraging oil (in which case oil filter brand is the least of your problems), the filter will never be a restriction in the system.

 

[sweetwaterbroncoII]

If it increases flow, therefore it would increase pressure! That seems to be common sense.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

have you read the previous posts?

the oil passages in the engine block downstream of the oil filter are FAR smaller than the oil filters. you can only flow as much oil as the smallest hole...and the filter is not it. you could directly bypass the filter and not recieve any increase in flow.

 

[sweetwaterbroncoII]

I'm sure no one here is a so called "expert" on oil filters and I'm quite sure companies that make them run tests on them to prove their point. I could be wrong though. It just seems my BII is doing better with a K&N over Wix, Motorcraft and Fram.

 

[Evan]

I'm sure no one here is a so called "expert" on oil filters and I'm quite sure companies that make them run tests on them to prove their point. I could be wrong though. It just seems my BII is doing better with a K&N over Wix, Motorcraft and Fram.

I'm not an expert, and neither is Sludge. But we both have a basic understanding of fluid dymanics, which can be used to evaluate (and disprove) the validity of this company's claim.

 

[Tedybear]

Last set of tests on oil filters showed (according to the report) listed K&N and Mobil 1 as the two best filters available. Keeping in mind the difference between the K&N and the Mobil 1 was there, but very close. (and the price difference is considerable).

As a rule I've used either Napa Gold (made by WIX) or the Motorcraft. Not to overly costly, and does a nice job. (Fram just about killed our 2.2 probe engine, rattled badly after changing it--went with napa gold--and ran like a dream afterwards.)


The lowest end one, at no surprise? Was Fram and the El' Cheapo deluxe ones. Fram IMO spends to much time and money on advertising, and not enough on quality control.

S-

 

[sweetwaterbroncoII]

I understand....I'm just wanting to use whatever is the best, so I can get the most life out of the POS 2.9 that I put in my BII....If I would have known...I would have put a 4.0 in it....

 

[Tedybear]

I'd go with the Mobil 1 filter. Decent quality, a tad costly...but not as bad as the K&N. Use decent high quality oil as well.

S-