K&N SS series Washable "Lifetime" oil filter

[earlyre]

snooping around the K&N Site tonight, noticed these filters for the first time. $179.99

K&N SS-1002 (the one that fits My Neon)
Cleaning Instructions PDF

"A K&N reusable oil filter will last the lifetime of your vehicle under normal vehicle operating conditions. The filter housing, bypass valve and call plate are CNC machined from Billet 6061 T6 Aluminum. The mechanical filtration is accomplished with a dual woven T 304 stainless steel micro-screen that provides excellent engine protection while providing a substantial increase in oil flow when compared to standard disposable oil filters."

Link to Previous "lifetime oil Filter' thread.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2507205&page=1

 

[Oregoonian]

How much are they ???

 

[Rand]

his post says 179.99$

I will stay far far away from these

 

[earlyre]

i Initially forgot to include that detail...
This one lists @ $179.99( edited Original Post to show Price)

 

[earlyre]

So, if i wait about a year or so, and can find one of these on ebay for cheap, could i toss the stainless media, and use the can to convert to a cartridge filter?(provided i can find a cartridge that would fit...)

 

[CarbonSteel]

My only concerns would be:

• How well it filters (I did not see any specifications)
• The cost (~$180 will buy about 50 Motorcraft filters and at 7.5K per OCI that is 375,000 miles and I would have a clean filter at each OCI without the hassle of cleaning along with a new gasket)
• How easy it would be to clean (many statements about cleaning from the inside out--I would worry I would wash particles into areas that would allow it to go into the engine)

 

[oggb]

Those rubber o-rings won't last forever. Hope it comes with spares.

 

[JT1]

Looks like alot of work to clean, could be worth it if you like to cut your filter open to see what your engine is doing.

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted By: JRed
Those rubber o-rings won't last forever. Hope it comes with spares.


HA! Those are no mere "rubber" o-rings!, that's Military Spec Viton! (K&N claim they will last many years, as long as you don't cut or nick them)

Viton Mil-Spec 75: The O-ring Store

Viton - Wikipedia

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
(many statements about cleaning from the inside out--I would worry I would wash particles into areas that would allow it to go into the engine)


Their Air Filters are the same. you just kinda learn to deal with it...

And Yes, for $179.99 I Could Buy 18.25 of their "standard" Filters (White Can with the Nuton the Dome end) like i'm using now.($9.86 on Amazon HP-1002 )

 

[LeakySeals]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
How easy it would be to clean (many statements about cleaning from the inside out--I would worry I would wash particles into areas that would allow it to go into the engine)


The oil filters (even when new) your using now go into bypass when you stomp on it so I wouldn't be too worried about it.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
The oil filters (even when new) your using now go into bypass when you stomp on it so I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Even if they do, they do not wash already trapped materials into the engine, they just allow unfiltered oil to pass into the engine. These K&Ns have the possibility for you to clean it and reinstall it dirtier than when you removed it by washing the trapped materials into the wrong side of the filter.

The whole concept is not worth it to me...

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
[Their Air Filters are the same. you just kinda learn to deal with it...

Not to start a K&N bashing thread here, but that is one of the primary reasons that I do not use them.

 

[tomcat27]

that is a work of art! amazing! I want one on my mantle!

 

[wirelessF]

I want something like this, but with a paper cartridge filter.

Less metal in the landfills.

 

[ltslimjim]

I've seen filters that like for other apps, I forget the brand name?

 

[ltslimjim]

Here:

http://www.kandpengineering.com/S1.shtml

 

[Cristobal]

These are just not economical for my driving environment and I would rather use a spin-on filter.

The exception for others MAY be VERY dusty places where the filter will get loaded with dirt a lot. Maybe earth movers in very dry, dusty places would qualify.

They cost $179.99. I assume that this washable filter works.

For me, $179.99 will buy 12 canister oil filters worth $15.00 each. For $15.00 you get a lot of filter, as in a Bosch Distance+, even if NOT on sale. 12 high-end filters at 15,000 miles each (two reasonable oil change intervals with the filter used twice) will yield 180,000 miles of driving.

$179.99/$3.90 for Toyota filters (sale price @ Longo Toyota) for The Beast X 6000 miles = 276,907 miles of filter use, and gets you over 40 filters. At 40 miles per day that is more than 18 years of driving. By the time I put that many more miles on The Beast, I might be past the Geezer Zone and shooting through the big tunnel to the Other Side.

 

[AdamL]

As others mentioned, this would be more interesting to me if it used disposable media. The filtering doesn't seem too great either, but maybe someone can correct me.

 

[jim302]

This just seems silly... cleaning a used oil filter sounds like a real mess, and a lot of extra effort. Also, I'm not sure how well most car manufacturers would respond to a warranty claim if a washable oil filter was used.

At $6 for a plain oil filter and changing oil every 5,000 miles, it would take 150,000 miles to pay for itself, and that doesn't include the cost of cleaning chemicals.

At least with washable air filters, you don't have to do it very often. Washable oil filters are just silly.

 

[flstffxe]

We used to use a similar style filter at one of the custom motorcycle shops I was at on a few bikes. They worked well enough that we didn't have any oil/filter related issues in the 2 years I was there. Don't recall the brand or specs...

Cleaning was easiest with an ultrasonic cleaner with a 2 beaker cover, fill a beaker with Ozonic(similar to mineral spirits), drop the element in the beaker and set the timer on the ultrasonic cleaner for 15-20 minutes while you did other stuff.

Allowed you to see what was captured by looking in the bottom of the beaker or pouring the contents of the beaker through a coffee filter.

I would not want to clean one with out the ultrasonic cleaner. I also did not think enough of the filters to take one for my own bike/s. Seemed to work though.