Shop used the wrong oil filter element (cartridge), result in little to no filtration for the past year, how bad is it?

[JohsonChou]

I did my own oil change this weekend and the oil filter I pulled out is the wrong one. I did my last oil change in a supposedly reputable local shop.
It is too short (made for previous generation car), and since it is a cartridge style filter, it isn't sealing against the engine, bascially means most if not all oil has been bypassing the filter. The car went like this for 1 year and about 2000 miles. The engine has just 30,000 mile on it.

But I do wanna know what kind of damage if any should I expect. People on this forum seems to know about oil and filter way more.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Sorry for the experience you have had. The good news is that 2000 miles is not much mileage for unfiltered oil to be going through your engine. Glad you caught the mistake. If it makes you feel better, pull the cam cover and look at the cam lobes if possible to check for wear.

You didnt say what kind of vehicle it was or what engine so there may be alternate ways suggested to check for excessive wear.

 

[justalubetech]

I'd wager to say it's fine.... A lot of old Volkswagens and a few others went further than this on oil changes without even having a filter.

What kind of car and what filter was in it vs what was supposed to be?

 

[JohsonChou]

It is a Porsche 981. So... not really the most reliable car there is with probably tight tolerances. It also has alusil block... I saved a long time for this, so it really sucks that someone messed it up on the first oil change in my ownership. Either way it is DIY for me from now on...

 

[AZjeff]

At 30k miles it's long broken in so there shouldn't be sharp nasty stuff circulating around in there. As said 2000 miles isn't really much. Hope you weren't running the snot out of it on a track.

Did you go back to the shop and confront them with the filter?

 

[Wrenchturner44]

JC, another option you have is to change the oil in the future and send it into Blackstone for analysis.

 

[JavierH19]

I wouldn't worry too much being just a single 2000 mile run.

 

[JohsonChou]

JC, another option you have is to change the oil in the future and send it into Blackstone for analysis.

I do still have the old oil (kept it as evidence lol), yeah I will send a sample in to blackstone.

 

[JohsonChou]

At 30k miles it's long broken in so there shouldn't be sharp nasty stuff circulating around in there. As said 2000 miles isn't really much. Hope you weren't running the snot out of it on a track.

Did you go back to the shop and confront them with the filter?

Yeah they are apologetic about it. They also said the technician that did the job 1 year ago no longer work there for another reason and would probably get fired again for this. But I don't know what else they could offer me, since the damage is done and probably long term and won't show up in short term.

 

[Hall]

I do still have the old oil (kept it as evidence lol), yeah I will send a sample in to blackstone.

You need to ask Blackstone how to pull a sample. If you drained it into a used oil catch pan then transferred it to a container, I wouldn't trust it and Blackstone will tell you not to use it.

 

[Cujet]

My airplane engine made it over 40 years without any form of filter. It will be fine.

 

[JohsonChou]

You need to ask Blackstone how to pull a sample. If you drained it into a used oil catch pan then transferred it to a container, I wouldn't trust it and Blackstone will tell you not to use it.

luckily I got it in a brand new catch pan.

 

[kschachn]

An Alusil block is a good thing. It’s extremely resistant to wear.

 

[Hall]

luckily I got it in a brand new catch pan.

I'd still ask them. They want the oil to be caught while it's flowing/draining out and not at the very start, nor at the very end. You might need to scoop up 2-3 quarts, swirl it a bit, then replicate it draining out. Catch 3-4 ounces of it while you pour it.

 

[JavierH19]

My airplane engine made it over 40 years without any form of filter. It will be fine.

Ain't much dust and such up to get sucked up there though.

 

[JohsonChou]

I'd still ask them. They want the oil to be caught while it's flowing/draining out and not at the very start, nor at the very end. You might need to scoop up 2-3 quarts, swirl it a bit, then replicate it draining out. Catch 3-4 ounces of it while you pour it.

Make sense, thanks for the tip.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Even though it wasn't sealing 100%, there was most likely some oil going through the filter media. So it wasn't like zero oil was being filtered.

 

[twX]

Running an engine without an oil filter shouldn't have a huge effect on wear. Over the life of the engine, it might be enough to cause the engine to wear out prematurely, but over 2,000 miles it's nothing to worry about. If it was running without an air filter, that would be a lot more concerning.

 

[sopususer]

At least your situation was a mistake. Imagine having two different filter applications for the same model and expecting an oil tech to figure this out. Happened to my F-I-L a couple of years back. I was doing an oil change for him and found the wrong filter crammed into his filter housing. Vehicle has had about 30K miles since with no issue. Still, things like this drive BITOG people nuts.

Same cars different filters

 

[drtyler]

Is there a part number on the old filter? Do you have pictures of it?

Rather than 100% shop fault, the filter may have been manufactured incorrectly.