Been looking for UOA's on bypass versus standard

[sammy]

Been looking for used oil analysis on a bypass oil filter versus standard filtration. Does anyone have any information that using a bypass will keep more wear particles out of my oil. Thanks a bunch for any reply.

gas engine hemi

 

[simple_gifts]

I think bypass are used to reduce soot and organic insolubles. If you have "wear particles" that need to be removed via a filter, you have bigger problems. JMO.

 

[chubbs1]

There is a guy who has a bypass filter on here that does 30-40k OCI's. He has a 4 cyl honda (so I don't think that would be too hard on oil anyway....lol!) BUT i still find it quite amazing.

SO the only reason you really can make it pay off with a passenger car is if you want to get your moneys worth, LOOOOONG OCI's are the way to go.

Otherwise just change your oil at a reasonable intervals and use a top tier filter like a Bosch D+ or one of the synthetic media filters.

I did a used oil analysis with a Bosch D+ and the particle count was extremely low on a great QR25de engine.

What kind of car do you have??

 

[sammy]

Thanks for the info, I have a 5.7 Hemi Ram 400 ponies. I use Redline Oil so I am definitely looking for long OCI's, thanks for the filter recommendation. One other reason I was considering a bypass is because oil gets all over the axle ever change and I'm tired of making a mess. Is there any downside to having a bypass? Is oil flow restricted? Thanks for the replies.

 

[Clevy]

Oil flow is not restricted with a bypass set up. Buy the Amsoil one with the dual filters. One full flow,the other is the bypass filter.
I have a friend with a 2012 cummins dodge. He uses the full flow on the block and a dual bypass system that uses tolet paper rolls as the filters. He changes the oil every 100000 miles. Every 15000 he changes the filters and tops up iirc.
He has been doing this since the 70s and every diesel he's ever owned turned 1/2 million miles and still ran strong when sold.
Bypass filtration is a great investment in my opinion if you plan on owning the vehicle forever.
I'm a huge fan of red line products but I would do more research on extending the intervals if I were you. They are my favorite fluids but don't seem to hold up to well running extended drains however with a bypass system that may change things.

 

[Jim Allen]

There is less of a payback to bypass systems in gassers (modern gassers, older gassers benefit more) because the rates of contamination are so very low.. except for the break-in period or high stress situations. A good running modern engine, especially one that's all roller (roller cam, etc) generates very little wear material compared to an older flat tappet cam engine.

I am running a Racor ABS 3 um bypass on my F150 5.4L and tests are ongoing (look at my past posts for details). I installed a 5 um element when there was 5K miles on the oil and it had gotten fairly dirty (relatively speaking). In just a few hundred miles, it cleaned the oil up to the same cleanliness level as the new, virgin oil I installed.. a little cleaner actually. At 10K miles, I checked again an the oil was maintaining that level of cleanliness and holding up well. That's when I changed to the 3 um element and when I hit 15K, we'll see the difference once again.

Long OCI are the major benefit here. There seems to be an oil cleanliness level (both in the volume and size of the contaminant particles) at which very little wear occurs. This level can be reached/maintained for a long interval (7-10K on many low stressed engines, even longer with a very good oil) even without bypass filters.

One of our members here (Dnewton3) is a statistical engineer and did analysis on some thousands of used oil analysis and could not see any statistical benefit in wear due to increasing the filtering efficiency significantly beyond what is "normal" industry standard filtration right now. It rankles some of us "filter-centic" types to hear that but it's a sound concept and the best evidence we have at this point that increasing the cleanliness level below that "normal" point won't decrease engine wear significantly. It most certainly extends the life of the oil,whether it be mineral or synthetic.

For diesels, bypass filtration is more cost effective due to soot generation. Soot both degrades the oil and causes wear (when it agglomerates).

Probably the MOST important thing you can do to reduce wear is to reduce the inputs of contamination. The largest and most common source of contamination ingress is from the air filter. The particle that pass are highly abrasive and cause wear themselves and create more wear particles but since wear particles beget more wear particles, an efficient air filtration system is of paramount importance. Ditto for eliminating vacuum leaks and crankcase vent leakage.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Thank you Jim.

We used to run bypass filters on our fleet trucks, had great results with engine life and economy.

But a conversation with a G team engineer from GM who consults with our factory authorized upfitter convinced me that they simply were not needed any more.

With my oldest truck coming up on 500k miles this year it would seem he was correct!!!.

 

[slalom44]

There was a thread on JeepsUnlimited years ago that was started by a guy named DalesS2 that did a real nice filter study. He compared a half dozen filers back-to-back with 500 miles between filters. He charted the filtering efficiency with each filter. Then he threw a bypass filter on his Jeep and his silicon levels and wear metals dropped down to almost nothing. The results were dramatic.

Unfortunately the thread has long since been deleted: http://jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2967909

My used oil analysis using a bypass filter setup are great, however I didn't do any non-bypass used oil analysis. If you do a search for the used oil analysis of other S2000s you'll see that my car likely has the lowest silicon levels per mile for this vehicle.

 

[sammy]

Awesome guys, thanks for the replies. I am going to upgrade the air filter system too.

 

[dnewton3]

Yup - Jim hit it on the head.

Filteration is most assuredly important, but only down to some finite level (as determined by each EOM) and then the law of diminishing returns takes over. As you clean the system ever "better", the return on your cleanliness falls ever fainter in wear results. At some point, it's just moot. As a generalization, engines and lubes from the last decade or so have been good enough to get extremely long service with just normal fluids and filters in their maintenance plan.

But, bypass filtration is fantastic at OCI extension, and is a tool that can pay back in spades, if one can keep their hands off the wrenches long enough! To get there, you have to balance the OCI cost, the UOA cost, the top-off costs, the maintenace costs (intermediate FCIs) and even amoritize in the system cost. Larger sump systems pay for themselves fairly quickly; small sump systems may never reach that ROI because the used oil analysis and such kill the return before it breaks even.

It's a fun hobby for many, and there is nothing wrong with that! But it's unfair and unsound to presume or claim that using a bypass will automatically increase equipment longevity.

Bypass systems, like synthetic fluids, are items to extend the OCI; they are a fiscal savings tool. If you cannot (or will not) achieve that, they are not worth the time/money investment.