Re-Use an Amsoil Ea Oil Filter?

[Blue99]

Anyone have suggestions on draining & flushing an Amsoil Ea 064 after a 4600 mile OCI with Havoline Deposit shield?

I plan on re-using the filter at my next oil change, on my GM 5.3L V8, probably sometime in August.

The synthetic filter media should be good for many miles & my observation of the silicon anti-drain valve and the mounting gasket indicate little or no stiffness due to exposure to hot oil for 4600 miles/3 months.

 

[ewetho]

Just drain the oil and refill. If you must drain & fill twice after starting and running for few minutes in between drains.

 

[Gary Allan]

Just drop the oil ..put in the drain plug and refill ...drive happy.

 

[Pablo]

What position is this filter in? Horizontal or Vertical - up or down?

Your choice, but I would unscrew it, drain it, fill with clean oil, drain again, then add oil again (depending on position) and re-install.

 

[cmhj]

I've reused mobil 1 many times, will also do the same with my Amsoil filters.

Since I'm "down there" I take the 2 min. it takes to unscrew it, let it drain for a min. or so and screw it back on.

 

[Blue99]

The filter is a vertical mount.

I used a fresh Napa Gold for this recent oil change, the Amsoil EA is on the corner of my workbench & I plan on re-installing it in August.

I intially drained the filter using a nail to depress the anti-drain valve. Then ran 3-4 rinses of about 4-8 oz. from a half used bottle of 10W-30.

The last rinse was relatively clean looking, giving me the impression that the media can be cleaned up using a simple rinse method!

 

[blackdiamond]

This is an interesting question to me. My reason for re-using a filter from one OCI to the next would be to avoid having to change it. I plan to do this very thing with my 22RE just to avoid the extra mess. The filter is located where it is easy to reach and nearly impossible to keep the oil off of the entire front end. I'm figuring 1 year on the fliter and either 6 mo or a year on the OCI depending on mileage since I don't put tons of miles on it.

I'm assuming that you want to remove as much of the old oil as possible more than actually being worried about the filter capacity?

 

[Steve S]

I wouldn't tough the filter just add oil.The oil in the filter really won't matter.

 

[Steve S]

FYI the filter element was marketed for high mileage oil changes in semi trucks . They will go the distance.

 

[Steve S]

touch the filter. If I were to u$e the Amsoil filter I would use Amsoil oil to get the full labor saving benefit.

 

[harry j]

Just change the oil, leave the filter alone. I now change the Eao filter every 3rd oil change.

 

[4esorselrahc]

Quote:

---

Just change the oil, leave the filter alone. I now change the Eao filter every 3rd oil change.

---

I may have to give that a try since I'm running some Pennzoil Platinum now plus an EaO13. I worry a little about it getting too dirty for that kind of an interval, but if you've had no issues then it sounds like it's worth a shot. I'll run a UOA at the end to see how it looks.

 

[Blue99]

Quote:

---

I wouldn't tough the filter just add oil.The oil in the filter really won't matter.

---

Quote:

---

Just change the oil, leave the filter alone. I now change the Eao filter every 3rd oil change.

---

Yeah, uh hum… So why don’t you guys just prefill your new EA filters with dirty oil out of the drain pan? Save that precious 12 oz of new, fresh oil!

Look, I’m in the habit of dissecting my filter after every oil change, to monitor the various flakes of carbon debris and silting on the dirty oil side of the filter, so rinsing out this filter to examine the rinse oil is just another form of monitoring and is no additional effort on my part.

To me, rinsing the Amsoil Ea 064 filter was time well spent, as the later stage of the rinse oil came out very “ink” looking, that is very dark liquid, but no soft particles, no silt. It indicates to me that the filter does indeed filter to a lower micron size than the Wix NAPA Gold’s I normally run.

Obviously, a simple rinse will not remove all the particles trapped in the filter media. But after 3 rinses of 4-6 ounces of oil, the oil will be clean as it flows back out of the filter.

- Just an available option for anyone who wants to remove as many contaminants as possible, before circulating fresh oil thru the engine!

 

[harry j]

---

Yeah, uh hum… So why don’t you guys just prefill your new EA filters with dirty oil out of the drain pan? Save that precious 12 oz of new, fresh oil!

---

Until the Eao became available, I just changed the filter
at every change. I have found that the Eao keeps the oil
very clean. I have no problem leaving near new oil clean
oil in the filter.

 

[TeeDub]

Not a good idea to remove the filter and re-install it, unless you are going to replace the elastomeric gasket. These things tend to compression set after a while and I think you're asking for a potential drip leak if you re-install the original gasket.

TS

 

[Gary Allan]

I too will pass on the filter removal and reinstallation. Not worth my time for the sake of residuals in my scheme of reasoning. I'd probably be introducing more contamination than I was leaving in the engine by not draining/refilling.


..but that's just "me" and my take on it. I'm lazy

 

[browning300wsm]

change the oil put on a new oil filter "end of story"

 

[Blue99]

Quote:

---

Not a good idea to remove the filter and re-install it, unless you are going to replace the elastomeric gasket. These things tend to compression set after a while and I think you're asking for a potential drip leak if you re-install the original gasket.

---

Ted - Per the Amsoil website, the gasket is HNBR, which is a high temp Nitrile commonly used in engine seals. This material should do very well in hot engine oil applications.

As I indicated in my original post, the gasket shows no signs of compression set or cracking.

After my 25 yrs on both the manufacturing & engineering side in the rubber industry, and with exposure to life cycle testing of seals, my observation is that the gasket on the Ea filter removed from my vehicle is still fully functional.

 

[Blue99]

Quote:

---

I have no problem leaving near new oil clean
oil in the filter.

---

But approximately 1/2 the volume of oil in the filter is on the dirty oil side, and is indeed, "dirty".

If you cut apart & examined the used filter after an oil change, like many do on this board, you would understand this concept.

 

[Gary Allan]

Blue99, I understand what you're saying ..but this is sorta an urban myth started by the original mini-mopar filter testing thing. There the guy kept redundantly asserting that lame ADBV allowed "dirty oil" to go back to the pan.

So?

It's the same dirty oil there too. The appearance of the oil on one side or the other of the media is of marginal difference. I assert that a PC taken of both would be identical.

The reason for a ADBV isn't to keep the filter full ..generically speaking. It's to prevent the engine from backflushing the media rapidly. ADBVs don't have to hold by most OEM spec's. They only have to hold for xx number of minutes. Ford likes an ADBV valve that holds ..mainly for customer complaints. You'll note that Ford hasn't banned Frams from being used ..and Frams meet or exceed OEM spec's ..yet Fram ADBVs are typically not holding after a couple of thousand miles.

Your oil is a continuous streaming cycle. The ADBV ..the filter ..whatever ..is just a dividing point of reference.

Assuming that it's been in service long enough to process the entire sump, even a bypass filter would have virtually no difference in PC in a before and after sample. They're both nets of one size or another and are continually snagging what they can. One pass, more or less, won't alter the oil's appearance to any detectable degree.