Does anyone know of any filter life tests?

[uart]

I was just wondering if anyone knew of any oil filter life testing. For example testing how many miles it takes until the media is loaded to the point where it starts bypassing under normal operating conditions.

Obviously this would vary a lot depending on the engine and the filter, but I'm just curious if anyone knows of some sort of test data like this.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Supposedly this Finish test included filter life test as one of the evaluation criteria, but we don't have access to the full article...

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/oil-filter-test-on-finnish-car-magazine.164201/

 

[jorton]

Which filters failed the test?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: jorton
Which filters failed the test?

None of them did. The overall results varied from satisfactory to outstanding, but the life test only accounted for 30% of the total grade.

On the other hand, how do you define a failed life test? You'd have to have a pass/fail type criterion. You'd have to pick an arbitrary interval (how many km/miles?) after which the filter is no longer able to filter certain size particles (what size?) to compare them all against.

 

[uart]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Supposedly this Finish test included filter life test as one of the evaluation criteria, but we don't have access to the full article...

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/oil-filter-test-on-finnish-car-magazine.164201/


Thanks for the link QP.

As for lifetime testing I noticed that the OP said: "Filter life was measured by adding particles until the by-pass would open and no filtration would occur." This amount varied from 2.3 grams to 13.8 grams for the filters tested.

The tricky question I'm trying to get a handle on is, roughly for how many miles does an engine in good condition need to run in order to get several grams of junk into the filter?

For example, when we run a filter for 5k miles in an engine in good condition, just how loaded is the filter likely to be?

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: uart

For example, when we run a filter for 5k miles in an engine in good condition, just how loaded is the filter likely to be?
Hardly at all as long as the oil cap is tight and the air filter is well sealed.

If an engine is plugging up a filter in 5k it has major problems.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: uart
For example, when we run a filter for 5k miles in an engine in good condition, just how loaded is the filter likely to be?

That's a good question. And I'd imagine it would depend on the size of the filter, too. The larger the filter, the more crud it could potentially hold before going into bypass.

And I tend to agree with Chris. In a clean engine, this shouldn't really be an issue.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: uart
For example, when we run a filter for 5k miles in an engine in good condition, just how loaded is the filter likely to be?

That's a good question. And I'd imagine it would depend on the size of the filter, too. The larger the filter, the more crud it could potentially hold before going into bypass.

And I tend to agree with Chris. In a clean engine, this shouldn't really be an issue.

I agree with you guys too.

To satisfy curiosity, it would be nice to have a pressure gauge that read pressure drop across the filter. As long as that pressure drop was below the bypass pressure by a small margin, no bypassing.

I'm not curious enough to do it though.

IIRC, Gary Allan (I miss him) did some filter pressure drop instrumentation on his jeep a few years ago. Does anyone remember if he ran any filters long enough to get them dirty while doing his test work.?

 

[uart]

I guess it's one of those things that we just have to take the conservative approach on. The chance of the filter media being anywhere near fully loaded for those of us on typical OCI's is probably tiny. But filters are cheap so we may as well change them every time. I'm pretty sure that anyone using 5k mile or less OCI's could change the filter every second oil change if they wanted to.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: uart
I guess it's one of those things that we just have to take the conservative approach on. The chance of the filter media being anywhere near fully loaded for those of us on typical OCI's is probably tiny. But filters are cheap so we may as well change them every time. I'm pretty sure that anyone using 5k mile or less OCI's could change the filter every second oil change if they wanted to.


I've had a motorcycle that the mfr recommended changing the filter every other oil change, a Suzuki GSF1200. Also at least on car but I don't remember which one. I've cut filters open with 10k miles on them and they were pretty clean looking. Unfortunately you can't really tell how clean by looking.

If filters do go into bypass from crud at 1,500 miles like that guy on the other board said, we would be hearing a lot about it. There would also be a big aftermarket for better filters and bypass warning devices.

 

[dwendt44]

Changing the oil filter every other oil change used to be the norm, IIRC. Fram did a big marketing push some years ago you may recall.

All about leaving a 'quart' of dirty oil still in the engine.

While I always change the filter each time, it's not ABSOLUTELY necessary.

 

[Wilhelm_D]

Originally Posted By: uart
I was just wondering if anyone knew of any oil filter life testing. For example testing how many miles it takes until the media is loaded to the point where it starts bypassing under normal operating conditions.

Obviously this would vary a lot depending on the engine and the filter, but I'm just curious if anyone knows of some sort of test data like this.


The measure you are looking for is "capacity".

Basically it is how much dirt a filter can hold before it bypasses and there is an SAE standard measurement.

Unfortunately I know of no filter manufacturer who publishes the test results on each filter.

Generally you will find that synthetic media has a higher capacity than paper or cotton, and premium filters have a higher capacity than lower priced filters in the same brand.

But there are exceptions.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Part of the vehicle manufacture's OCI recommendation is based on what they expect the condition of the filter to be in at change time. So, if Honda for instance, recommends using the filter for two OCIs using a non-severe driving cycle, then it kind of gives you an idea on how long it takes to load up a filter based on that kind of driving.