Advantages of By-Pass Filter

[RWeis]

I feel the bypass filter is not to extend the oil drain intervals primarily but rather to extend the maintenance on the internal engine parts of the engine.

There are tons on studies from the US Air Force, Navy, many major cities etc. The conclusions are that the bypass filters do not save on oil change cost primarily (because of the OA required (and cost of OA) if you do extended oil drains). They do save some on EPA concerns of oil disposal. But primarily they save on major engine maintenance and down time.

I am doing a two point test with another Dodge Cummins 5.9 owner on TDR about oil change intervals and bypass filters. He uses a Frantz TP type filter (somewhat like Ralph Wood's MotorGuard filter) and gets outstanding results for both oil and fuel. The TDR member has about 50k on the oil I think and does OA every 5k with outstanding results.

I am trying a woven depth type RACOR LFS-802 but only have 3k on it. I think the TP will filter smaller then the woven type but we want to see what the differences are.

The key to bypass filters is not to see how far you can push the oil, but to devise a refresh schedule that will keep the oil at GOOD to EXCELLANT additive, dispersant, etc package levels and keep the oil clean of debris (generally below 3-5 microns) so internal wear is at a minimum.

Bob Weis

 

[titan77]

Their remark was "your additive package numbers are higher than our new oil." Must be a pretty good combination.
Some one further up in this discussion said "Additives aren't used up in clean fluids" and that is what happens with a good bypass filter. When you maintain particulate levels below 3 microns, the additive pkg. has very little to do. If and when you add make-up oil, your additive pkg. is slowly built up over time. And there was no mistake at the lab. I got the same results from two different labs.

 

[Steve S]

All said if you remove all the contaminates from the oil where does it go? It goes into the filter.So as the oil goes through the filter tell me how the chemical reactions stop . Bypass filters keep the oil cleaner I agree. the oil still has its additives used up combating acid etc.

 

[RalphPWood]

Additives last a lot longer in clean oil. The additives are replenished by adding new oil at filter change. The reason TP filter users get longer engine life is TP costs less than a dollar and a quart of new oil to change. They will change the filter enough to keep the oil clean and add enough new oil to keep the additives up to the right amount. Even though it looks like nothing could be small enough to get thru a roll of high quality TP some things can. These can be much smaller than cigarette smoke. Changing the TP and adding a quart of new oil also dilutes these contaminants to a safe level. If everything could be filtered out the oil in my old Ford diesel would look like the oil in my Toyota Camry.Having oil analyzed is a good sales tool but not necessary for someone that knows how to read a dipstick.
Dirty oil will hold unburned fuel like a sponge. Fuel will evaporate easily from clean oil. Your oil needs to be at least 135 F for gasoline and 150 F for diesel engines long enough to evaporate it out. If you are after 1,000,000 miles you will need to change the filter more often than you would if you are after 200,000.
It was explained to me 40 years ago. I learned it well. Some like to go a lot farther before they change the TP filter then they will change the oil and the filters. Whatever works.

Ralph

 

[slalom44]

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve S:
All said if you remove all the contaminates from the oil where does it go? It goes into the filter.So as the oil goes through the filter tell me how the chemical reactions stop . Bypass filters keep the oil cleaner I agree. the oil still has its additives used up combating acid etc.

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If this were true, then you would not see higher TBN numbers on UOAs from people using bypass filters. In reality, the TBN numbers are staying much higher with bypass filters.

Your reasoning makes sense if a bypass filter worked like a full flow filter, but it doesn't. Water doesn't get trapped as particulates would. Water gets absorbed into the cells. Once the water is in a cell, it isn't in the stream flow.

One of the primary causes of oxidation and TBN depletion is the presence of both water and sulfur in the oil. Together, they form a mild sulfuric acid. Without moisture, the sulfur is harmless. So oxidation and TBN depletion won't take place as rapidly. If you spend some time looking through UOAs you will find that this holds true.