Reusing filter ... Help

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: ABerns
If you really care, you could try cutting open one of the filters after he is done with his 2-3 oil change "flush-and-replace" ritual. My guess would be it will not be a pretty sight.

If it does look fine, then hey, the damage being done is probably minimal.

Either way, at the end of the day, I'm the timid type who would rather somebody blow up their motor and it not be my problem then try to tell them how to live.


x2. cut open one of those filter for research purposes. We all want to see how it looks inside.

Does the soak the filter or just pours in some Kerosene and dumps it out?

 

[Mar57]

To answer some questions .... my friend is not a senior citizen although he's not twenty either. I don't know how many miles he puts on an OC but I have a feeling it's not a short duration. Don't know how many miles are on his car. As far as I know he fills the old filter, lets it sit for a few minutes and then drains it out. This "cleaning" routine may be repeated a couple of times. It's not like he can't afford a new filter so I don't know why he doesn't install a new one with each OC. I haven't told him he must install a new filter at each OC but that he's not doing his engine any favors, especially if he wants to keep it healthy for a long time. Oh well, I tried.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Mar57
As far as I know he fills the old filter, lets it sit for a few minutes and then drains it out. This "cleaning" routine may be repeated a couple of times.


If he's pouring kerosine down the center tube to fill the filter and then dump the kerosine, he's not rinsing anything out of the filter at all. The ADBV will prevent any kerosine from back flowing the crud from the media and out of the filter (ie, no back flow will come out the base plate because the ADBV will seal it off). He's just dislodging the crud from the dirty side of the media, which will then remain trapped between the dirty side of the media and the can. The first time he starts the engine with new oil, all that dislodged crud goes right back into the media. This also means he's loading up the filter with multiple OCIs ... but he thinks he's starting with a "clean" filter ... but he's really not. And if the bypass valve opens, some of that dislodged crud could be swept down into the engine.

If he realized what he's really doing to his filter and engine, he might stop doing this crazy operation. Maybe ....

 

[dnewton3]

Part of the answer would have to depend upon his typical OCI duration; what is it? If it were 3k miles, then I'd say 3x that would not be an issue. If 5k miles, then 2x would be OK.

However, the real problem is his washing out the filter with other fluids. There is likely more harm that good coming from this practice. He's more likely liberating particles that should stay embedded in the media, both to promote a tighter media stream and to hold it from circulating and doing damage.

He would be much better served, up to 10k miles, to simply leave the filter on the engine and just OCI. Most decent filters can go that far with no real concern.

 

[ZeeOSix]

In reality, he's not cleaning it. All he's doing is maybe dislodging the crud from the dirty side of the media to only have it slosh around between the media and can. The ADBV is not allowing any kerosine to escape from the dirty side of the filter. He would have to somehow open up and keep the ADBV open so the kerosine could escape from the inlet holes in the base plate. If he's not doing this, then there is no flushing out of the filter happening.

 

[Kuato]

Watch...this guy's PT Cruiser will go 500k on the original engine.