Is Better Filtration "BAD" for your Engine?

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OilBurnerFan

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Oct 23, 2023
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I learned about PPE oil filters from Dave's Auto Center on YouTube. They recommend them on GM diesel truck engines because they are absolutely gigantic compared to the OEM oil filter (although a conversion kit is required to use them, IIRC).

Anyway, I ordered 4 PPE oil filters for my Ford F-150 PowerBoost with the 3.5L twin-turbo engine, and now I'm hesitant to actually use them.

Here's why:
  1. the PPE oil filters are significantly smaller than the Motorcraft oil filter they're supposed to replace. A lot smaller.
  2. and upon reflection, the 10 micron particle filtration (even at 50% efficiency) makes me worried that oil won't flow very well through the filter resulting in extremely high back pressure. I read some GM owners say that their PPE filters burst or ruptured and dumped oil everywhere - happened to one guy while he was driving, may have torched his engine. The others report leaking on driveway after having driven and parked after a week or so.
I'm using 100% synthetic 5w30 and have very short OCIs. Truck is a 2022 with 72k miles (almost all highway driving at 75mph).

I've been a fan of the Wix XP filters and mostly use them, occasionally use Motorcraft FL-500s.

What do you all think?
 
SilentType said:
Sounds like the juice ain't worth the squeeze here. Stick with OEM filters.
Click to expand...
Wrong. Most OEM filters are basically rock catchers. You’re always going to be better off using a filter that removes smaller particles. That’s the whole point of an oil filter. As it’s been mentioned here many times before, flow really isn’t an issue, especially on a street driven car. Even on cars that see occasional track usage it isn’t an issue. Just ask anyone on here who tracks their car and does used oil analysis.
 
To answer your thread's title, NO, better filtration is not "BAD" for your engine.
However, bursting cans and ill-fitting filters are.

Gotta get mo data.
Has PPE been around a while?
 
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I guess I live under a rock but I had to Google PPE Oil filters...
I'm no expert and I'm a simple man but enjoy reading lots about motor oil and filters so I have my own way of doing things when it comes to all things oil and filters.

When it comes to my cars , trucks and motorcycles my thinking is those OEM Engineers get paid the big money for a reason and know what filters will work well, perhaps not the best but will work as designed for the most part so I'm a fan of most OEM filters.

On all my stuff I simply try and change the oil and filter very early the first time to get break-in oil out and I feel safe using OEM oil filters, a good grade or proper spec mineral, blend or synthetic oil and I think doing early OCI is about the best thing I can do to a car, truck or motorcycle as its inexpensive insurance.

I got hung up on the Harley 5 micron oil filter thing. I understand the micron thing and the debate but its just easy to pick up a few Harley OEM filters so I use Harley filters and I use a Mopar oil filter from Walmart for my Ram Cummins 3500... A Ford filter for my Crow Vic and never had a issue.

I may use a WIX from time to time but a OEM oil and air filter requires less thought and I feel safe / okay that my engine will be fine using OEM especially with the fact I change the oil more often that required...
 
SOUNDMAN5000 said:
I guess I live under a rock but I had to Google PPE Oil filters...
I'm no expert and I'm a simple man but enjoy reading lots about motor oil and filters so I have my own way of doing things when it comes to all things oil and filters.

When it comes to my cars , trucks and motorcycles my thinking is those OEM Engineers get paid the big money for a reason and know what filters will work well, perhaps not the best but will work as designed for the most part so I'm a fan of most OEM filters.

On all my stuff I simply try and change the oil and filter very early the first time to get break-in oil out and I feel safe using OEM oil filters, a good grade or proper spec mineral, blend or synthetic oil and I think doing early OCI is about the best thing I can do to a car, truck or motorcycle as its inexpensive insurance.

I got hung up on the Harley 5 micron oil filter thing. I understand the micron thing and the debate but its just easy to pick up a few Harley OEM filters so I use Harley filters and I use a Mopar oil filter from Walmart for my Ram Cummins 3500... A Ford filter for my Crow Vic and never had a issue.

I may use a WIX from time to time but a OEM oil and air filter requires less thought and I feel safe / okay that my engine will be fine using OEM especially with the fact I change the oil more often that required...
Click to expand...
I usually use OEM filters and never had an engine wear to the point that I could point to filter causing a problem. Had quite a few go to 250-300,000 kms. For me it's good oil and recommended oil change intervals.
 
PPE is an established "diesel hot rod" speed shop type of company like BD, ATS, DTS, etc. They came to fame as the developer of the dual-CP3 kit for extremely high horsepower Ram/Cummins trucks-- the "PPE dual fueler" setup (IIRC). As someone who came of age on diesels in the early 2000s, I had a front row seat to sort of the peak era.

Lots of these companies have expanded their product lines over the years. And of course, they don't actually MAKE anything like filters, they just get quotes from an actual maker and resell at markup.

I doubt they did much in the way of empirical endurance testing to make sure the trucks could handle the extra weight and inertia of a larger filter hanging off of it. When it comes to bigger filters, they have the ability to "Wag" the filter head in a way that can lead to cracking and structural failure. This is DOUBLY so on aluminum castings if they are used for the filter head (as it usually done on small automotive engines like D-maxes).

The filters to me appear to be cheaply made. They are a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Someone looks at the newer duramax filter and got the "oh noes, smaller=bad!" and decided this was an opportunity to profit from convincing people this was a problem. Thus the costly and unnecessary "solution."
 
SOUNDMAN5000 said:
... my thinking is those OEM Engineers get paid the big money for a reason and know what filters will work well, perhaps not the best but will work as designed for the most part so I'm a fan of most OEM filters.
Click to expand...

The unfortunate fallacy here is that we engineers get to pick which filters go on the engine. We specify the minimum capability that is required, and then the purchasing function goes and tries to find the cheapest thing that will meet the spec. This is why things like "mil spec" tend to mean "lowest bidder" rather than "super robust."


Cummins is somewhat rare in my experience in that we have OEM filtration that is world-class. Most industrial diesels also have very stringent requirements for filters-- CAT and others also do not skimp on filtration.

But this is a stark contrast to consumer automotive applications where the cost pressure is relentless and even 50c a filter is a massive savings. OEM filters in this space are generally sufficient quality minimum performers. The are sufficiently robust but bare minimum on efficiency. Because the payoff of premium filtration is far out of warranty, so why would an OEM spend the money to make an engine last 3 or 4 warranty periods when they'd prefer to sell you a newer car?
 
OilBurnerFan said:
I learned about PPE oil filters from Dave's Auto Center on YouTube. They recommend them on GM diesel truck engines because they are absolutely gigantic compared to the OEM oil filter (although a conversion kit is required to use them, IIRC).

Anyway, I ordered 4 PPE oil filters for my Ford F-150 PowerBoost with the 3.5L twin-turbo engine, and now I'm hesitant to actually use them.

Here's why:
  1. the PPE oil filters are significantly smaller than the Motorcraft oil filter they're supposed to replace. A lot smaller.
  2. and upon reflection, the 10 micron particle filtration (even at 50% efficiency) makes me worried that oil won't flow very well through the filter resulting in extremely high back pressure. I read some GM owners say that their PPE filters burst or ruptured and dumped oil everywhere - happened to one guy while he was driving, may have torched his engine. The others report leaking on driveway after having driven and parked after a week or so.
I'm using 100% synthetic 5w30 and have very short OCIs. Truck is a 2022 with 72k miles (almost all highway driving at 75mph).

I've been a fan of the Wix XP filters and mostly use them, occasionally use Motorcraft FL-500s.

What do you all think?
Click to expand...
Not really. 10 and 12 micron engine oil filter have been around for 30+ years and been in common use up to 20 years.
You are correct in the sense that bigger is always better when it comes to oil filters. One of the many cases where more is simply more.
I find an oil filter rupturing to simply be unbelievable. It takes 250psi or more to burst an oil filter. The oil pump is set at the factory to probably 100psi or less.
Could this happen yes, but only if an oil pump without a pressure relief valve or had the pressure relief blocked off been installed. Only possible way this could happen is by dumb people doing stupid things.

Wix xp is probably the better bet, I saw the other day that wix xp are now rated 99% for 23 microns.

Here's the thing, even "20 micron" oil filters catch most of the particles down to a few microns.
I pull oil samples and look at them under a microscope. I almost never see particles bigger than a few microns in filtered oil. Either the filter catches them or the engine grinds them up.
Seems to me the engine grinds them as I barely see particles bigger than 5 microns even in small engine samples with no filter.
The last experiment I did I ran used motor oil that had some particles though a 5 micron diesel fuel filter. I couldn't tell the difference between the before and after samples. At the time I didn't know virtually all the particles I was seeing were only a micron or a few microns. That explains why the 5 micron filter didn't appear to do anything.
Next test I'll use a nano particle filter.
 
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OilBurnerFan said:
I learned about PPE oil filters from Dave's Auto Center on YouTube. They recommend them on GM diesel truck engines because they are absolutely gigantic compared to the OEM oil filter (although a conversion kit is required to use them, IIRC).

Anyway, I ordered 4 PPE oil filters for my Ford F-150 PowerBoost with the 3.5L twin-turbo engine, and now I'm hesitant to actually use them.

Here's why:
  1. the PPE oil filters are significantly smaller than the Motorcraft oil filter they're supposed to replace. A lot smaller.
  2. and upon reflection, the 10 micron particle filtration (even at 50% efficiency) makes me worried that oil won't flow very well through the filter resulting in extremely high back pressure. I read some GM owners say that their PPE filters burst or ruptured and dumped oil everywhere - happened to one guy while he was driving, may have torched his engine. The others report leaking on driveway after having driven and parked after a week or so.
I'm using 100% synthetic 5w30 and have very short OCIs. Truck is a 2022 with 72k miles (almost all highway driving at 75mph).

I've been a fan of the Wix XP filters and mostly use them, occasionally use Motorcraft FL-500s.

What do you all think?
Click to expand...

I'd sell those PPEs and not use them if I was in your shoes.

PPE is trying to convince you there's a problem because they want to sell you the solution. Of course, the solution they come up with is overpriced "meh."


Do yourself a favor and just find whatever Carquest Premium filter crosses to your application, buy and use it, and move on with life.
 
while Pennzoil Platinum Euro is a respected name in the aftermarket diesel world, these filters are just a spin off using their name. i would find the largest premium guard XL based filter, or the new extended protection line from advance auto parts (carquest premium/extended protection) you can fit in your application and move forward.
 
OilBurnerFan said:
I learned about PPE oil filters from Dave's Auto Center on YouTube. They recommend them on GM diesel truck engines because they are absolutely gigantic compared to the OEM oil filter (although a conversion kit is required to use them, IIRC).
Click to expand...
I have used PPE filters on my 6.6L Duramax and 3.0L Duramax (sold) for a couple years. I have cut every filter that has come off and in my opinion they are very well constructed. I have serious doubts about the cans "bursting" under normal use. My use is normal.

I can believe diesel bros can make any oil filter can burst, they can destroy almost anything in the quest for more power and more black smoke.
 
I would feel uneasy with a smaller size filter. It may still flow fine but it'll do so with more pressure drop across the media which can significantly reduce the filtration efficiency. I have a '25 F150 3.5TT and went with a Premium Guard PG2500EX which is OEM sized.
 
OilBurnerFan said:
Anyway, I ordered 4 PPE oil filters for my Ford F-150 PowerBoost with the 3.5L twin-turbo engine, and now I'm hesitant to actually use them.

Here's why:
  1. the PPE oil filters are significantly smaller than the Motorcraft oil filter they're supposed to replace. A lot smaller.
  2. and upon reflection, the 10 micron particle filtration (even at 50% efficiency) makes me worried that oil won't flow very well through the filter resulting in extremely high back pressure. I read some GM owners say that their PPE filters burst or ruptured and dumped oil everywhere - happened to one guy while he was driving, may have torched his engine. The others report leaking on driveway after having driven and parked after a week or so.
Click to expand...

What is the rated efficiency of these PPE oil filters? 50% @ 10 microns isn't that super efficient.

The thread title of "Is Better Filtration "BAD" for your Engine?" is misleading if you are trying to connect a high efficiency oil filter along with the size of the filter can - ie, the PPE filters are significantly smaller. Better filtration is never "bad" for any engine or machine that has lubricant filtration.

The only way you can determine if the oil filter "flows well", meaning it has relatively low pressure drop vs flow (ie, dP vs flow) is to measure it. You can't just look at an oil filter and conclude how it flows oil. I'd contact the manufacturer or seller and ask if they have dP vs flow data on those filters. If you feel uncomfortable using them not knowing actual flow data, then use some others that have been suggested in previous posts. I'd stay away from Motorcraft unless you want the junk black glue they use to shed off during use.

Might want to read this thread:
ZeeOSix

Thread 'The Myth of "Flow Over Efficiency"'

The phrase often used that "Lower efficiency oil filters favor flow over efficiency" has been used here for a long time. The misconception seems to be driven by the idea that lower efficiency oil filters must "flow better" because if they are lower efficiency then the media must not be as "tight" (full of holes), and therefore they must "flow better". That can be a factor, but in reality it depends on many factors in the overall design of the media. When talking about oil filter flow performance on an engine using a positive displacement (PD) oil pump, the term "flows better"...
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SOUNDMAN5000 said:
I got hung up on the Harley 5 micron oil filter thing. I understand the micron thing and the debate but its just easy to pick up a few Harley OEM filters so I use Harley filters
Click to expand...
Been lots of discussion about those Harley "5 micron" oil filters. In this post, it says "Nominal 5 Micron Filtration", which would be 50% @ 5u. So it's just some advertising hype.

RevRider

Post in thread 'HiFlo Filtro HF171RC Filtering Efficiency'

RevRider said:
I saw that video also, and the microscope view was impressive as information.

Beautiful bike!!

Nothing like knowing what you are paying for in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Good AFternoon Board,

As a follow-up, I was at a Harley Dealer today, the HD Super Premium 5 is "nominal at 5 microns" - see photos. My understanding of the word "nominal" in filter terminology means "about 50% efficient capturing 5 microns." The dealer did not know or have the information on the other efficiency ratings of the filter.

The filter is "louvers," not holes; silicon anti-drain back and really looks like a...
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No, that’s why bypass filters are used. Analytically clean oil by diverting 10% of the flow through a low or sub micron element.
Your Wix XP has been updated, they call it new gen, with 99+%@23 microns rating if you subscribe to that method.
 
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