Originally Posted By: Cristobal
Does a tiny rip matter that much? Oil would be passing through the media to a small degree even if there was a rip somewhere. Particles would be trapped but at a much lower rate.
I will share a few observations and thoughts.
Some years ago I was involved in a project evaluating oil filters for an application that would require a Purolator L30001. From my notes I see that the media in the Purolator contained 51 pleats, was 79 inches in length, 4 inches wide, for a surface area of 316 square inches. The Pure One version had media 100 inches in length for a surface area of 400 square inches.
On every brand of filter in the project some imperfections were found on disassembly after use. Without exception there was *no* detectable functional deterioration from these minor imperfections based on oil analysis and wear on teardown.
The reason why is pretty straightforward.
Let's suppose I somehow get inside several of the two filters mentioned and cut 4" long rectangles of varying widths from the media before putting them on the application, starting at 1/4 inch in width and proceeding to 2 1/4 inch. The area of the rectangles would be from 1 square inch to 9 square inches.
For the L30001 that would involve from 0.32% of the surface area of the filter to 2.85%. For the Pure One PL30001 that would involve from 0.25% to 2.25% of the media surface area.
In other words, even a 4" long and 2.25" wide piece of media removed would leave 97-98% of the media intact and doing its job. You need a reasonably big hole in the media to really make a significant difference in its performance.
If you look at the pictures that have been posted you'll see these are not jagged holes being found in the media - media that is about the consistency of paper towel when wet with oil in the engine. If these voids were subject of significant oil flow they would not look like that. The flow available through media is vastly larger than the voids - remember that most of these filters can pass 2 gallons per minute or more - and so the voids remain substantially intact.
Based on the pictures posted I estimate the voids in the media to be about a total of one inch in length maximum and 0.1 inch in width, or about 0.1% of the total media area available for filtering. If I normally used these filters I would have not the slightest concern about my oil or my engine based on the pictures posted.
Of course Purolator ought to look into this and fix whatever is going on, but I would not get hysterical.
Does a tiny rip matter that much? Oil would be passing through the media to a small degree even if there was a rip somewhere. Particles would be trapped but at a much lower rate.
I will share a few observations and thoughts.
Some years ago I was involved in a project evaluating oil filters for an application that would require a Purolator L30001. From my notes I see that the media in the Purolator contained 51 pleats, was 79 inches in length, 4 inches wide, for a surface area of 316 square inches. The Pure One version had media 100 inches in length for a surface area of 400 square inches.
On every brand of filter in the project some imperfections were found on disassembly after use. Without exception there was *no* detectable functional deterioration from these minor imperfections based on oil analysis and wear on teardown.
The reason why is pretty straightforward.
Let's suppose I somehow get inside several of the two filters mentioned and cut 4" long rectangles of varying widths from the media before putting them on the application, starting at 1/4 inch in width and proceeding to 2 1/4 inch. The area of the rectangles would be from 1 square inch to 9 square inches.
For the L30001 that would involve from 0.32% of the surface area of the filter to 2.85%. For the Pure One PL30001 that would involve from 0.25% to 2.25% of the media surface area.
In other words, even a 4" long and 2.25" wide piece of media removed would leave 97-98% of the media intact and doing its job. You need a reasonably big hole in the media to really make a significant difference in its performance.
If you look at the pictures that have been posted you'll see these are not jagged holes being found in the media - media that is about the consistency of paper towel when wet with oil in the engine. If these voids were subject of significant oil flow they would not look like that. The flow available through media is vastly larger than the voids - remember that most of these filters can pass 2 gallons per minute or more - and so the voids remain substantially intact.
Based on the pictures posted I estimate the voids in the media to be about a total of one inch in length maximum and 0.1 inch in width, or about 0.1% of the total media area available for filtering. If I normally used these filters I would have not the slightest concern about my oil or my engine based on the pictures posted.
Of course Purolator ought to look into this and fix whatever is going on, but I would not get hysterical.
