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I decided to test the bypass valve opening pressure of a FRAM Ultra XG3593A (original wire-backed) after I cut it open. It has the typical FRAM leaf spring bypass. I was curious if the bypass pressure rating was for initial, average, or fully-open pressure. I measured the diameter of the...

My Subaru WRX requires 70W-80 gear oil for the manual transmission. It needs to be GL-5 since it shares fluid with the front diff. 75W-90 is also acceptable, but it can apparently make shifting really sluggish in cold weather, and I need something good for -40°C. The Subaru Extra MT is only...

I cut open a FRAM Ultra XG3593A that was used for 7,000 km on a 2015 Subaru WRX. The car has been on a steady diet of Pennzoil Platinum since new. It's got an unconventional lean-burn engine tune, with AFR as high as 17.5:1 at cruising loads, and normally runs on 87 octane E10 instead of 91...

Since the thick vs thin debates here have been getting stale, I thought I'd add another point of contention to the mix. Here's a study SAE 2007-01-3539 that concludes that thicker grades of oil are worse for the durability of crankshaft seals. I haven't been able to find any other studies that...

I recently changed the oil on my Subaru to Pennzoil Platinum 0W-20 Advanced Fuel Economy, from PP 5W-30. At the end of my first drive with the 0W-20 I noticed that the MAF reading on my datalogger at warm idle was under 2.0 g/s, which was unusual. I decided to look at some recent datalogs I had...

Video: BRZ/GR86 FA24 Oil Pressure Loss Demonstration Here is an interesting test showing oil pressure drops in the newest generation of Subaru BRZ/Toyota GR86 with the newer FA24 engine. On a racetrack, using street tires, oil pressure was found to drop to as low as 20 psi at high rpm in...

I found an interesting study that measured the mass of contaminants in oil filters vs mileage for almost 1000 oil filters used in real-world conditions. The used oil filters were mostly from small-displacement gasoline and diesel engines from car dealers and taxi fleets in countries around the...

I just checked the valve clearances for the first time on my 2008 Suzuki SV650S with 37,000 km. Most oil changes have been with Rotella T4 15W40 with 2,000 to 6,000 km OCIs, every 1-2 years. The engine has been running Mobil Delvac 1300 15W40 for the past 5,500 km. The Delvac only has 800 ppm...

I've been trying to determine what the impact of oil filter bypassing would be on engine wear and I've found an interesting old study, SAE 460133 - Oil Filtration and its Effects on Engine Wear (1946). The study compared piston ring wear in engines with full-flow oil filtration, bypass...

I recently opened the airbox on my Subaru to inspect the filter, and I noticed a concerning amount of dust in the clean side of the airbox. Photo: The car has 50,000 miles on it, that is on it's third air filter. I've never cleaned out the airbox before. The previous two air filters were AC...

It's been difficult finding a really good oil filter for my car since Subaru engineers are a bunch of weirdos, and I'm kind of a perfectionist. My car has a very high flow oil pump and specs a small filter with a bypass rating of 23 psi. I'm currently using an oversized Baldwin filter with a...

Can anybody explain the micron ratings based on the lastest ISO 4548-12 (2017) standard? Are the reported micron ratings from multipass tests? I see some filters using this test methodology, and reporting a 20 micron rating at 99% (Bosch), or 95.7% (Fram Extraguard). I'm using a Baldwin 7167...

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My trunk latch mechanism stopped latching closed last winter in cold temperatures (below -5C or so). It would latch properly after heating it up with a blow drier. I sprayed some lube into it (I believe WD40 first, then some white lithium grease). Eventually it started working properly, but this...

I've heard the rule of thumb that an engine should have 10 psi of oil pressure for every 1000 rpm. The manual for my Acura Integra GS-R indicates that normal oil pressure is 50psi at 3000rpm with a warm engine, or 17 psi per 1000 rpm. What would be the reasons for the engineers to choose the...

Hey everybody. First post. I've really been geeking out on motor oil for the last couple of weeks, and in the process I've been looking at viscosity specs of different oil brands. After looking at the specs for pretty much all of Mobil, Amsoil, and Valvoline passenger car oils, I've come to the...