What do you guy sthink of this advice:

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http://www.nascar.com/2005/auto/09/12/filters.npn/index.html

Many of us older mechanics or technicians remember oil bath air filters and canister type oil filters where in a pinch, a roll of toilet paper would do. Those filters worked well, they were easy to maintain, cost little to buy and replace, simple to service.

Today's cars and trucks have filters by the bunches: Oil filters, air filters, fuel filters, cabin filters, canister filters, coolant filters, transmission filters and in-tank sock filters. All of these filters have one job, to trap solids and prevent their circulation.

Top-quality oil filters will trap and filter out particles of dirt, trash and metal that is 10 to 14 microns in size. Other, lower quality, oil filters may only be capable of filtering trash smaller than 40 microns. The element of the filter is very important, but so is the way it is constructed and the materials used to build it.

Last, the testing it receives before being placed on the auto parts shelf should create a comfort zone for those wanting to keep their car forever. So buy top quality filers, like Wix, to insure trash, created by a gas consuming engine, isn't going to cause excessive engine wear.

There is always a pump that sends the respective fluid to the filter first. The idea is to filter the fluid before it is pumped to the critical rubbing or revolving components. But in certain instances, commonly on a very cold morning, the filter is filled with oil that is almost a gel. When this occurs, the pressure to the filter is much greater than the oil pressure exiting the filter because the pumped oil is trying to push this very thick, very cold oil out of the filter.

When this occurs, the bypass valve will open (if the pressure differential is 15-25 psi depending on import versus domestic) and allow unfiltered oil to be circulated until the oil is warmed up enough to move the cold thick oil from inside the oil filter.

This is exactly why you should always allow your 1986 or newer car to idle for 30 to 60 seconds before placing it in gear and driving it away. That short time frame is when unfiltered oil is being circulated and damage may occur if the engine is loaded and accelerated. It is far better to just let the engine idle, unloaded until the oil filter begins to filter the incoming oil.

Other than my Dad and a few of his old-time buddies, no one in the auto industry that is "oil smart" suggests you change the filter every other oil change or change the oil and not the filter. Always change your oil and filter at the same time.

ASE-Master Technician and NASCAR Performance's Consumer Crew Chief, Mark Salem, owns Salem Boys Auto in Phoenix, a Member of the NASCAR Performance Network. For more Car Care Tips or to find a technician you're going to love -- just go to NASCAR.COM and click on Auto Service.
 
It certainly won't hurt anything. I believe that's what my owner's manual says, in fact. I'd like to see proof of their claims, though.
 
allways let it warm up a tad before I drive away on cold days...allways have,allways will
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10°F-40°F?

Start it.
Slam in R.
Back up.
Slam in D
1/2 to 3/4 throttle to street corner.......

All the above accomplished within 10 seconds.

I see/hear people do this all the time and it hurts me. They sell the cars before 100K miles, so it doesn't hurt the folks.
 
"Other, lower quality, oil filters may only be capable of filtering trash smaller than 40 microns."
Once again, an editor from outside the marketing department would have caught this simple error.

"So buy top quality filers, like Wix, to insure trash, created by a gas consuming engine, isn't going to cause excessive engine wear." "...critical rubbing or revolving components."
What simpleton is this written for? 'Trash?' 'Rubbing?'

"...the bypass valve will open (if the pressure differential is 15-25 psi depending on import versus domestic)"
I didn't realize the car's origin determined this.

"This is exactly why you should always allow your 1986 or newer car to idle for 30 to 60 seconds before placing it in gear and driving it away."
What sweeping, across-the-board revolution happened that year?

Thanks NASCAR for your marketing-driven half-truths and "oil smarts." Sounds like the new boy in the Wix marketing dept whipped up this tale.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Pablo:
10°F-40°F?

Start it.
Slam in R.
Back up.
Slam in D
1/2 to 3/4 throttle to street corner.......

All the above accomplished within 10 seconds.

I see/hear people do this all the time and it hurts me. They sell the cars before 100K miles, so it doesn't hurt the folks.


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No, maybe not them (they're too dumb to care about wasting money in re car life, gasoline, etc); but it does have a long term effect on the rest of us.

When that vehicle is sold, it's likely prematurely worn. And wear generally doesn't slow down with the second or third owner, it tends to accelerate until the vehicle is remaindered.

The US car fleet averages fifteen years. Then, the cost of scrapping and replacing it with mainly new materials (mining and petroleum) is somewhat offset by the utility the vehicle gave during its service life. If that is shortened, we all take it in the neck.

Want to spin up an unreasoned tree-hugger? Find out how many cars he/she has had since they started driving. And try to get them to defend their "wasting precious resources" 'cause they were too lazy and irresponsible not to keep every vehicle they owned [that was not totalled] on the road in safe and like-new condition.

For years it has made me sad to see many of the great cars of the 1960's and '70s prematurely run into the ground. They were dirt simple -- like a pickup truck is thought to be -- and many tens of thousands could still be providing low cost transportation. (Rebuilt with TBI, gas shocks, radial tires, electronic ignition, OD trans).

Back on topic, I would no more wait thirty seconds to start off except to see that oil pressure was up. IMHO, anything else gets in the way of getting it warmed up properly. Idling only increases the contaminants that need to be burned off. And since I've been buying and keeping used cars (generally with nearly 100m or more miles on them) and then driving them another ten years or to 250m on the oem engine, I don't think I'm too far off.

Regularity of maintenance, a schedule, is what counts. And consistent habits second.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Lumberg:
ASE-Master Technician and NASCAR Performance's Consumer Crew Chief, Mark Salem, owns Salem Boys Auto in Phoenix, a Member of the NASCAR Performance Network. For more Car Care Tips or to find a technician you're going to love -- just go to NASCAR.COM and click on Auto Service.

I used to go to the Salemboys auto website. There is a lot of good information there. I especially like his oil recommendation--VALVOLINE!
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I think the "gel" pretty much gets pushed around in the time it takes to take your hand off the key, fasten your seatbelt, shift into drive, and take your foot off the brake.

Then just gentle driving til she's warmed up.

Also, I would imagine that the oil right in the vicinity of the pickup in the oil pan is about the cleanest oil you will ever see; if it's sat long enough to cool down completely, then it's also been long enough for any suspended particles to settle on the bottom of the pan; unlikely that the oil will pick up any debris on its way from the oil pickup to th ebypass valve.
 
Lumberg ..I'm sorta with you. The difference between the oil going into the filter and what's coming out of it is marginal (on average) and the thought that every time (a rarity in my observations) that they bypass valve is open to assume that some stray large particle is going to make it through (if it doesn't routinely anyway) just at that moment, is pure speculation. It's not the end of the world if it does. You're just knocking off a little on the "end of life" finish line that most of us will never reach ..ever. At least to the point where the engine causes mandatory retirement.
 
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