Wix 57145 5k miles, cut and post

[MoreCowbellAz]

This came off my 07 RAV4 with 83k on the engine. The filter was on for 5k (1 year), using Havoline DS 5w20 syn. This OCI I used my $2 per qt Castrol Gold EP 5w20 syn and a Napa Platinum filter. I know the Castrol is overkill for the limited miles I go on this vehicle, but whatever it was cheap so why not use it. I normally use conventional. The filter was a little more wavy than I expected for 5k, so I cut out the media and held up to a bright back light and fortunately had no tears or holes at all, Also didn't have much grit in the can even though the oil was darker than I expected for 5k, must be doing some cleaning from earlier in it's life when I wasn't as on top of the maintenance as I am these days. One odd thing though, it had more than a few small red flakes caught by the media, see pic. These are really small, most look like maybe a quarter to half of a mm, the largest of which I took the pic of. Any idea what that is? I vaguely recall someone else on here asking a similar question but can't remember for sure. Also, does anyone else think that flake looks like a Canadian maple leaf???????

 

[ZeeOSix]

Red flakes might be some kind of gasket material used in the engine.

 

[crazyoildude]

thats is wavy for a Wix

 

[Farmer]

Yeah, a little wavy for me too. I use a lot of these filters too. Three in forklifts and one in a Camry Hybrid.

 

[bullwinkle]

Was there a lot of short trips on this one? I don't think of AZ when I think of a damp area, but maybe some moisture in the oil? Looks good otherwise, though.

 

[MoreCowbellAz]

Yes a lot of short trips, probably 50% of the miles are short trip, which is why I went ahead and changed the oil even though there was only 5k on the Havoline syn, I didn't want to go past a 1 yr interval. However even with the short trips the engine gets up to temp quick in all but the coldest temps around here (which last like 3 weeks at most), plus the car is garage kept so it never gets below 55 degrees in there even if we have a cold snap. I'm guessing the oil is up to temp in less than 5 mins or 2-3 miles. For a good chunk of the year it takes almost no time for it to get up to temp. I've moved to syn filters in pretty much everything mainly because I'm a long interval kind of guy for both oil and filters, so maybe the sturdiness of a syn filter will be helpful in this case. I plan on leaving the Platinum in there for at least a couple OCI. Would it make sense that maybe the oil is doing a lot of cleaning and maybe the filter is more loaded than it appears which caused the extra waviness? The last filter I used was an OEM Toyota YZZF1 and it came out with zero waviness.

 

[steve20]

CBZ--just what I've learned regarding oil temps: I have 2 cars which have digital oil and digital coolant temp gauges. The oil might not be warming up as fast as it may appear: to summarize all of the data I've collected on this over the last 5 years or so: the oil temp is roughly half the coolant temp up until the coolant temp reaches 150 degrees. By the time the coolant is in the 195-205 degree area, oil temp has caught up fast and is around 165-175 degrees. It takes about 15 mins of coolant running in the 195-205 area for oil temp to catch up and equal coolant temp. After about 1/2 hour of running at temp, the oil temp overtakes coolant temp. In one of the cars, oil temp runs at about 225-230. The other, with an oil cooler, oil temp runs 160-180--which is too cool, and i am addressing the issue. Everything is relative, and the above represents many averages throughout the year---believe me, you don't want to look at hundreds of individual data points to come to a conclusion. For those without either type of gauge, or a car with a standard coolant temp gauge without numbers, to give you an idea when it is cold out, you begin to feel warm air coming out of the heater vents when the coolant temp is about 140--->your oil temp at that point is most likely in the 65-75 degree zone Steve