It is my understanding that even the best gasoline engine oil filters do not remove soot from the oil ? My Hyundai 2.4L GDI engine produces a lot of soot which I believe can only be removed via regular , somewhat conservative oil changes - is this correct regarding soot ?
Oil Filters and Soot ?
- Thread starter ChrisD46
- Start date
Bypass filtration will remove the smaller soot particles and allow you to extend the oil change interval.
Soot particles in diesel engines are typically about one micron or less in size. So it passes right through the oil filter. If your GDI engine produces a lot of soot, it probably does as well. Diesel engine oils are able to hold soot in suspension, and new gasoline oils as well.
Propflux01
$100 Site Donor 2026
Most filters will catch soot. Pretty much every vehicle contaminates the oil with it. Use a good filter, 5w-30/40, and change at 5k intervals and your 2.4 should be ok. I’ve had 2.4, 3.3, 2.0 and 1.6L Hyundais and never had a soot issue with the above.
Use Valvoline Restore and Protect and you will not need to worry about soot!
Yes, the OCI is more important since there will be more junk coming out of the oil drained than changing the Oil Filter.
This links to what my filter looked like after 5.6k miles running AMSOIL Signature Series in the Pilot. Quite a bit of carbon for a vehicle that hit 10k on the odometer at the end of this OCI. The used oil analysis shows 0.15% Soot. The oil was fairly dark, so did a good job of suspending the remaining, smaller particles
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
Use Mobil 1 ESP or another C-3 oil like Castrol K that is designed to suspend soot in light duty European Diesels and has strict gasoline engine approvals. My 2008 Mercedes Diesel has over 165k miles on ESP and doesn't burn oil, runs strong.
This works if you have extra money to burn you could install this centrifuge/filter tool that removes soot. It won't remove fuel dilution, however. I used the Spinner II centrifuges on my diesel truck engines years ago. I had them factory installed when they built the trucks. They work great. It would probably be cheaper and make more sense to just do your oil and filter changes more often on smaller capacity automotive applications.
https://www.alliedreliability.com/spinner-ii-oil-cleaning-centrifuges
Would be interesting to see what your oil filter would look like on other oil's?
dnewton3
Staff member
Soot in present in nearly any ICE. But it's especially prominent in GDI and diesel engines.
Soot starts out WAY smaller than most folks think. Typically about 40nm in size. That's nano-meters. It has to grow (amalgamate; cojoin) with other soot particles by a factor of 100x just to reach 4um.
Most normal full-flow filters cannot remove soot with any bit of desired efficiency until it reaches about 10um or larger. So, the right answer is to phrase the proper question ...
Will a filter remove soot before it becomes large enough to do damage?
Good quality bypass filters generally will do this. Normal full-flow filters will not.
The DI (dispersant/inhibitor) part of the additives package in oil is what controls soot; keeps it small by inferring with the amalgamation. Eventually, things will be overcome and soot will grow. So as long as the DI is in good shape, the soot won't become large enough to cause major issues.
Soot starts out WAY smaller than most folks think. Typically about 40nm in size. That's nano-meters. It has to grow (amalgamate; cojoin) with other soot particles by a factor of 100x just to reach 4um.
Most normal full-flow filters cannot remove soot with any bit of desired efficiency until it reaches about 10um or larger. So, the right answer is to phrase the proper question ...
Will a filter remove soot before it becomes large enough to do damage?
Good quality bypass filters generally will do this. Normal full-flow filters will not.
The DI (dispersant/inhibitor) part of the additives package in oil is what controls soot; keeps it small by inferring with the amalgamation. Eventually, things will be overcome and soot will grow. So as long as the DI is in good shape, the soot won't become large enough to cause major issues.
