Doubts about the BPV Setting of Oil Filter

[PedroBansemer]

Hello everyone.

I was reading about the technology used on oil filters and I found an interesting information about BPV Setting. This information also made me think out of the box and ask myself what will happen if I use an oil filter with BPV Setting above the specifications of engine? If this situation mentioned before happen, my engine will probably have a pour lubrication, right? Could a BPV Setting lower than engine specifications allows dirty oil pass through oil filter and cause harm to the engine during its normal operation?

Pedro Bansemer

 

[bepperb]

Yes, theoretically if the pressure was set too low it would (more often) allow unfiltered oil to flow to the engine and if it was set too high could starve parts of the engine for oil.

But in real life the "pressure" is usually a range of a huge margin, say 8~16psi, and the valves are very poorly made leading me to think it's on overthought thing here on BITOG. In your climate I doubt you run in bypass often if ever.

 

[ZeeOSix]

The filter's bypass valve setting is also based on the filter's design. That's why you might see a slightly different bypass valve setting between different brand oil filters that are specified for the same exact vehicle.

How much higher of a setting are you thinking of using? If it's only a few PSI, then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[PedroBansemer]

Thanks for information Bepperb. That´s exactly the point I´m thinking about. I see cross reference of oil filters that have a difference on the BPV Setting of more than 50 kPa. If the filter is designed specifically to the engine, that difference could cause a long term harm right? Finally, considering my example above, I think these filters don´t are similar as the manufacturers says. What you think?

 

[PedroBansemer]

Thanks for information ZeeOSix. That´s exactly the point I´m thinking about. I see cross reference of oil filters that have a difference on the BPV Setting of more than 50 kPa. If the filter is designed specifically to the engine, that difference could cause a long term harm right? Finally, considering my example above, I think these filters don´t are similar as the manufacturers says. What you think?

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: PedroBansemer
Thanks for information ZeeOSix. That´s exactly the point I´m thinking about. I see cross reference of oil filters that have a difference on the BPV Setting of more than 50 kPa. If the filter is designed specifically to the engine, that difference could cause a long term harm right? Finally, considering my example above, I think these filters don´t are similar as the manufacturers says. What you think?


50 Kpa = 7.25 PSI.

If these filters with the higher bypass valve setting are specified for your engine, then the reason they have a higher bypass setting is because of the filter's design - specifically, the flow performance of the media inside the filter, and how much delta pressure the element can withstand before collapsing or damaging the media. Also, the amount of holding debris is a factor in the bypass valve setting. The bypass valve is set to open after a certain amount of debris loading and the resulting delta-p across the media.

The bypass valve's opening setting is also based on the maximum expected oil flow volume (GPM) on the engines it might be installed on, and what oil viscosity is used in these engines. Note that one oil filter model is designed to be used on dozens if not hundreds of different vehicles. So the filter designer must ensure that oil filter is designed to take the worse case scenario of all those vehicle applications.

So again, IF the oil filter you are looking at is specified by the filter manufacturer, and has a different bypass setting then a different brand filter for the same engine, then it's OK to use.

If you are trying to "up-size" the filter on your own, then try to find one that has a bypass setting that is within a few PSI of the specified filter. Exactly what are you trying to do?

 

[PedroBansemer]

Thanks again ZeeOSix. I trying to search more knowledge about technology of oil filters and find the major parameters that the manufacturers based to build their cross reference.