Would you ever use the same oil filter more than twice?

Assuming top quality oil and top quality filter, with a 5000 mile OCI, I'd change the filter at 1 year or 10k miles, whichever is first. YMMV. For high miles or particularly hard driving (dusty, towing, etc.), I'd change the filter at the OCI.

In the past, going thru the effort of ramps and crawling under, I'd generally change the filter. Now, with the MityVac and topside changes, I'm inclined to get maximum use from the filter, some of which are about $10 each and I don't like throwing money away unnecessarily (hey, that'll buy me lunch).

Another angle, let's say you were inclined to spend the $10 unnecessarily. I think draining the oil, refilling with inexpensive conventional, running it for 10 minutes, and the draining it all again would be a better "use" of a waste of $10 than throwing out a good filter. That short OCI would get more of the entire capacity of used oil out, than throwing out a perfectly good oil filter does. As a % I think you'd get almost all of the old oil out doing this, and at a buck a quart, it would likely be cheaper.

Exploring this further, let's assume your engine holds 5 quarts total with $10 filter. Let's assume the block will retain 1/2 qt, and the filter 1/2 quart. So a drain will extract 80%. Removing the filter 90%. Remaining amount is 10% that you cannot get out, dirty oil that will remain.
Instead, however, of removing the filter, you drain 80%. Refill and dilute with $5 of inexpensive conventional, now representing a 4 to 1 ratio. Run it to circulate, and then drain it all out again. On this 2nd drain you'd actually be extracting 4% of the old fluid. And it would cost less in this scenario, assuming you can get oil for less than the cost of the filter, and leave you with 96% fresh oil on the next fill, versus only 90% by just draining and removing the filter... Food for thought. YMMV.

My OCIs are now all based on time, not miles. I'm changing them far before I reach XXX miles, and sadly often dumping oil with as little as 1000 miles on it. I'm comfortable leaving a quality filter on it for a year or 18 months, since sometimes the filter barely has 2000 or so miles on it in that time frame, especially if it's a PITA to get to (skip plates, etc.). Consider a good filter is designed to last a year AND a lot of miles, something at 2000 miles and 12-18 months is fine.

The amount of oil left in the filter is probably 1/4 to 1/2 quart so it's not a huge amount and if there's low miles it's not particularly dirty.
 
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So if you don't change your filter every oil change, what can be proved will happen?. My truck has 250k on it and I wouldn't want to shorten it's motors life. I'm looking for proof NOT opinions. TIA.,,,
 
Have done it on newly acquired cars with dirty oil where one oil change doesn't get the oil looking like new. Change oil and filter. After a 5-10 mile drive, drain the oil again, remove the filter and drain that, then put it back on and refill. Not something I'd do for 5,000 miles though.
 
I'm doing this on my wife's 97 Honda civic. Fram Ultra stays on for 2 years and I do 2-3 oil changes of 3-4k miles for that duration. Car is short tripped mainly. No issues with this for me.
 
So if you don't change your filter every oil change, what can be proved will happen?. My truck has 250k on it and I wouldn't want to shorten it's motors life. I'm looking for proof NOT opinions. TIA.,,,
Considering no reports of cars blowing up over skipping a filter change every other OCI with small miles and non-extreme time intervals well within the rated ability of the oil filter design and materials, I doubt there is any "proof" that it must be done.

But, actually, there is some evidence of the filter being installed incorrectly or the wrong type that have destroyed engines. So, actually, if you are mitigating risk, keeping a proven "old" filter on (assuming low miles and not aged) may be the actual safer bet since it's a known good variable whereas the next filter may be defective or installed incorrectly.

I'm going to give my opinion, that any perceived "damage" would be in the long term and so miniscule if at all as to not be perceptible. IOW, something else in the vehicle is almost certainly going to fail long before the cause could be attributed to an oil filter that was changed on a 3rd oil change at 1 year and 10k miles, versus one changed every 4 months at 3300 miles. YMMV. Keep seeking proof as you see fit.
 
NEVER, machinery lubrication notes that proper filtering is MOST important so why put clean oil thru a DIRTY filter!!! like LIFETIME fluids a BAD choice to reuse filters especially todays DINKY LITTLE filters!
 
That change the oil and run cheap oil for a trip and change again is good once in a while. I added Marvel mystery oil when doing this.
I usually change the filter but in this case, I would drain the filter and reuse it.
Funny, If you used ST oil regularly you would be using the same cheap but good oil.
 
Except that an oil filter actually gets more efficient at trapping smaller particles as the media gets filled with filtered particles.
Filters are filters. Would the same apply to water filtration? I mean why not leave the water filter in your fridge for 5 years and just keep resetting the change light? By the time it's on it's 5th year, that water should be pure as the driven snow, going by all the disgusting sludge and crap that's trapped inside the filter.

I sometimes wonder how the hell people come up with this nonsense? :ROFLMAO:
 
Nope. I already save money on buying oils for sale, doing my own tire changes and doing my own oil changes to begin with. I think I can spoil myself with a new filter each time I change the oil which is once per year anyway.
 
Except that an oil filter actually gets more efficient at trapping smaller particles as the media gets filled with filtered particles. That is, up until the filter media gets so full that oil no longer efficiently passes through the media, and instead the filter goes into bypass almost continually.
You should read this thread startng from the linked post. Oil filters can become less efficienct as they load up, and it starts way before the filter is totally loaded and close to bypass delta-p.

 
Is that "dirty" oil left in the engine by using a filter over completely worthless oil? I would imagine that in most cases that used oil left in the engine has a lot of life left especially with how well newer oils are made. The reality is the rest of the vehicle is going to fall apart before there is an engine failure whether you change your oil filter every oil change or every other oil change or for that matter every 3rd or 4th oil change. A premium oil filter can last a long time.
 
You should read this thread startng from the linked post. Oil filters can become less efficienct as they load up, and it starts way before the filter is totally loaded and close to bypass delta-p.

De
 
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Well for the first thing that comes to mind oil filter are inexpensive and while it is almost impossible in most average driving in USA you could likely go several oil changes alone without coming close to filling the filtering capacity of most any oil filter why would you want to change the oil and then mix it with the remaining oil in the filter? I guess????? IMHO its a "lazy" oil change?
While I see your point, and don't fully disagree with it, I want to offer another perspective.

You say that oil filters are inexpensive, and I'd agree that sometimes that is the case, and it depends on an individual's idea of what "inexpensive" is. However, there are quite a number of filters that are not inexpensive by many standards.

The TRD, Amsoil, Royal Purple filters for my car are generally more than $20.00 apiece, which is more than the cost of the oil in some situations.
A Wix XP for my car can be as much as $26.00, although it's usually below $20.00. Similar examples abound. Based on BITOG standards, these are spendy filters. However, they are extended drain filters.



Now, let's look at the other concern you've brought up: mixing clean oil with the dirty oil left in the filter. In most every instance, no matter how much is drained from an engine during a normal oil change, a fair amount of old oil remains behind. Just check the dry and service fills of the engine in question. Here are some real numbers that I had at hand:

Oil Capacity Toyota 2AR-FE Engine
Drain and refill with oil filter change
4.4 liters (4.6 US qts, 3.9 Imp. qts)

Drain and refill without oil filter change
4.0 liters (4.2 US qts, 3.5 Imp. qts)

Dry fill
5.7 liters (6.0 US qts, 5.0 Imp. Qts)
1.4 Quarts remain in the engine

Here's a link to Land Cruiser capacities:

Here's a link to some Porsche engine capacities:
You'll note that almost 3-liers is left behind

The amount of oil in the filter is frequently quite small when compared the what remains behind in total, and replacing the saturated filter and oil in the canister still leaves the engine with a lot of dirty oil in it.

So, IMHO, an argument can be made for not changing a filter if it's expensive, an extended drain filter, and especially if you've short-changed your oil. In the FWIW department, I am currently using a filter twice.
 
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