Onion inspired coolant filter

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All credit for this goes to fellow member Onion. After reading his thread I had to do my own.

I checked my coolant line from bypass to degas bottle and it was 3/8". So I went on a search for a 3/8" inline fuel filter. Based on Onion recomendation I got one with a metal case. After tax it was 2.99, I bought another one at a different store for its replacement and that was 3.04 after tax. I got them at Checker Auto Parts, the 33033 number is a wix number.
ncmmh.jpg


I also spent $15.99 plus tax for this tool so I could cleanly cut open the filters. I got this tip from another member in the oil filter forum.

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The test vehicle is a 2004 Ford Freestar with 110k, I bought it at 98k so most of its life is a mystery to me. I used the original hose that goes from the bypass to the degas bottle. I clamped one end of the filter to the hose and used some 3/8" fuel line I had in the garage to finish the connection back to the degas bottle. I wire tied the hoses to the pvc valve hose and the ac line for added support. Wanted to make sure after the hoses got hot they would not droop down into the belt drive.

vyw554.jpg


Now, a tip. When cutting open the filter. Cut the outlet side off. As the element is glued to this end. Not knowing any better I cut it at the center and had to rip the element out with grip lock pliers. The metal case on this filter was tuff and the element held up perfectly. The blob on the end is extra adhesive from the manufacturing process.

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The filter was in service for 124 miles. I blew through it, to test for restriction, before cutting open. It was restricted but not to the point to hinder flow, so it did trap a lot of particles in the element that aren't visible. By the way don't try this, it looked dry to me but antifreeze is very nasty tasting. The only visible debris in the pleats was sand. I read somewhere that the manufactures can't remove 100% of the casting sand, so a small portion ends up in the cooling system. And this proves it. The pic is not the best, but you can see some of the sand in the pleats, there is more there then can be seen in the pic.

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I will run the next one for at least 300 miles before I update. I am confident my cooling system is clean as no sludge showed up in the filter. However, I think I will keep running these until I can get one with no visible debris in the pleats. Next stop is to Napa to see if they have a Wix 33033 to use as my third run on one of these.
 
You're filtering your coolant? That's interesting.

Do they make a filter where just the element could be replaced instead of having to cut open the canister to inspect it? That would be nice.
 
While it looks nice and does "something"
21.gif
, I wonder if your answering a question that did not need to be asked?

IE, never seen an need for a coolant filter in well over 30 years and way too many miles in many vehicle.

What is the goal here?

Take care, bill
 
Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
Do you have to worry about the filter plugging up and blocking the flow as there is no bypass in that filter?


No worries. If that were to happen cooling system would still function perfectly. I plan to change filter before plugging will ever become a concern.

This is a 3/8" air purge line, plugging it will not harm anything.
 
Originally Posted By: hate2work

You're filtering your coolant? That's interesting.

Do they make a filter where just the element could be replaced instead of having to cut open the canister to inspect it? That would be nice.


They do. However, this setup is so easy to do, that cutting open the filter is the only hard part. Finding a filter with replaceable element that would work in this application was cost prohibitive.
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
While it looks nice and does "something"
21.gif
, I wonder if your answering a question that did not need to be asked?

IE, never seen an need for a coolant filter in well over 30 years and way too many miles in many vehicle.

What is the goal here?

Take care, bill



Well, I gotta do something with my time, and this is what I chose to do. I do have a goal. I want to run these filters until I find no visible debris in the pleats. Then I will just re-assemble the hose to the degass bottle sans filter.
 
I'm still surprised at how many people on BITOG are perplexed by coolant filtering.

Most engines I have seen that are expected to have a long life (compared to a personal vehicle) have coolant filters. Such as truck, industrial and ag engines.

I see it more as a why not add a coolant filter?

same as adding a bypass engine oil filter, or a transmission filter.

I think they have proven to be beneficial as they all can be found (if not standard) in commercial applications where longevity of engine/vehicle components are relevant to the bottom line.
 
Originally Posted By: Texan4Life
I'm still surprised at how many people on BITOG are perplexed by coolant filtering.

Most engines I have seen that are expected to have a long life (compared to a personal vehicle) have coolant filters. Such as truck, industrial and ag engines.

I see it more as a why not add a coolant filter?

same as adding a bypass engine oil filter, or a transmission filter.

I think they have proven to be beneficial as they all can be found (if not standard) in commercial applications where longevity of engine/vehicle components are relevant to the bottom line.


If I'm getting 200k+ on each and every vehicle for decades and NOT using a coolant filter (or bypass engine oil filter) then I think it relevant on asking why does some one NEED one... (and so are millions others)

Most automatic transmissions DO have a filter so that is already covered by the FACTORY.

Are you saying that the normal commercial vehicle has a filter on the manual transmission?

Never heard of someone NEEDING an coolant filter on ANY vehicle for personal use.

Bill
 
Originally Posted By: Texan4Life
I'm still surprised at how many people on BITOG are perplexed by coolant filtering.

Most engines I have seen that are expected to have a long life (compared to a personal vehicle) have coolant filters. Such as truck, industrial and ag engines.

I see it more as a why not add a coolant filter?

same as adding a bypass engine oil filter, or a transmission filter.

I think they have proven to be beneficial as they all can be found (if not standard) in commercial applications where longevity of engine/vehicle components are relevant to the bottom line.
Those engines have many more times the amount of coolant and are run many more hours than any passenger car is usually run. Like an oil bypass filter the coolant filter is to extend the life of the coolant in service time.
 
I agree that filters are beneficial, but in commercial applications, where down time is expansive, these filters are implemented to reduce downtime based on cost analysis, in non commercial applications coolant filtering is nothing more than a "feel good" approach and benefits may never be realized because of short (compared to commercial) lifespan if a car.
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: Texan4Life
I'm still surprised at how many people on BITOG are perplexed by coolant filtering.

Most engines I have seen that are expected to have a long life (compared to a personal vehicle) have coolant filters. Such as truck, industrial and ag engines.

I see it more as a why not add a coolant filter?

same as adding a bypass engine oil filter, or a transmission filter.

I think they have proven to be beneficial as they all can be found (if not standard) in commercial applications where longevity of engine/vehicle components are relevant to the bottom line.


If I'm getting 200k+ on each and every vehicle for decades and NOT using a coolant filter (or bypass engine oil filter) then I think it relevant on asking why does some one NEED one... (and so are millions others)

Most automatic transmissions DO have a filter so that is already covered by the FACTORY.

Are you saying that the normal commercial vehicle has a filter on the manual transmission?

Never heard of someone NEEDING an coolant filter on ANY vehicle for personal use.

Bill
Bill-if you ever had a 6.9/7.3 IDI Ford/IH/Navistar diesel used in the Ford fullsize pickups & vans until 1994 or so, and even the newer Powerstrokes running green coolant and SCAs/DCAs-you definitely want a coolant filter. Otherwise, the used-up additives fill up your lower radiator tank & block with silica (basically sand), eventually taking out your water pump seals & bearings. In a passenger vehicle w/regular coolant flushes they're not really necessary-but a neglected green cooling system gets buildup too.
 
Here are pics of the second run. I ran this filter 299 miles. I found more sand in the pleats. Flow was restricted a little, but not clogged or plugged. This is the same microguard filter as last one. I did go and buy a Napa Gold 3033, and this is a "Made in USA" filter. I will be switching to these.

A good source for these is fleetfilter.com or FMS filters.
http://www.fleetfilter.com/filter/33033.html

http://fmsfilters.com/products/fuel-filters/33033

I will try to go past 600 miles on the next one. I did cut this one open closer to the "out" end on the filter and you will see I got the pleats out all in one piece this time. Paper held up perfectly.


10gkbc9.jpg


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I'm amused to see that one of my multi-page projects has inspired a fellow oil-nerd. Haven't looked at the coolant section much lately, as I'm no longer in the coolant-filter business at least for now... due to the long overdue death of my Corsica.

I wouldn't argue that a coolant filter is necessary in any way. But it can be worthwhile- as evidenced by the fact that long-haul truck engines (always in search of that magic Million Miles) routinely have just such a filter. Might be just as worthwhile for a maintenance-obsessed BITOGer like myself.

Personally, I added the filter as a fun experiment and as a clean-up method. The Corsica had been driving around for roughly a decade with the remains of a NASTY case of dex-sludge in the cooling system. No matter how I flushed and cleaned, it was never entirely clean. And as some of you saw in my own coolant filter thread, it captured A LOT of crud.

Regarding the OP: Thanks for continuing my project... maybe at some point we can settle on a BITOG consensus for a simple, makeshift coolant filter. Personally, I'm still leaning toward the wire-mesh inline filter that StevieC posted (maybe around page 3?). If you look around that thread, he posted a part number... and that's a valid number at Case equipment dealerships (it had 5/16" hose connections, but I know that they have a 3/8" version). The paper element filter worked well enough (in the metal can), but the one that I cut open was thoroughly clogged after just a few weeks. Can't say if this was due to the paper swelling, or the gobs of crud that the paper trapped. Either way, my next step would've been to try the wire-mesh filter.

Neither of my current vehicles has a pressurized coolant tank with that convenient deaireation hose to splice into... so they'd require significantly more work to install an inline filter. Both have non-pressurized recovery tanks- perfect for settling out crud... and both have nice, clean cooling systems at this point. So I probably won't be contributing to this project again for some time.
 
I would hope someone doesnt put any bars stop leak in the cooling system with those paper filters.
 
Originally Posted By: Bigsyke
I would hope someone doesnt put any bars stop leak in the cooling system with those paper filters.


If you had used any type of stop leak in the past before a repair. These would be good for ridding the system of the residual that is left. Of course, you would have to change the first two out at very low mileage.
 
Originally Posted By: dwcopple
So does anyone have part #'s for a fine mesh filter that one could use?


What size connections?
 
Originally Posted By: dwcopple
So does anyone have part #'s for a fine mesh filter that one could use?


Here's a link to the third page of my own inspirational coolant filter thread. About halfway down the page, you'll see where the late Stevie C cut open said wire mesh filter. Looked pretty impressive to me.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1965121&page=4

And as you can see on the next page of the thread, the part number for the filter that Stevie C cut open was D139225. I THINK this one has 3/8" hose connections. He bought it at a Tractor Supply store, and said that there were similar mesh filters with different size hose connections available.

I called around with that number, and the only place I could find in town that had that exact part number (rather than a different filter from a cross-reference) was the local Case equipment dealership. Price was in the neighborhood of $14.

The reason I was avoiding other brands that might come up on a cross-reference is that this number crossed to a Hastings number for a filter with a PAPER element. I wanted to try a wire mesh element, and this particular part number was the only one I could be sure of... seeings how I have pictures of one that was cut open.
 
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