I tried that and hear is what I have so far, sorry for spelling errors:
The idea for this project came through the desire to find the best designed and manufactured automotive engine oil filter. A superior oil filter has the ability to improve engine longevity, increase maintenance intervals and result in substational financial savings over the vehicles life. With the advent and mass production of synthetic motor oils engine performance, wear and vehicle fuel economy have all improved due to a reduction of friction and oil breakdown. One of the primary advantages of synthetic oil is that the life span of the oil is much longer which thus increases the drain intervals dramatically. With the increase in drain intervals the maintenance requirements reduce dramatically. Due to the drastic increase in longevity that synthetic motor oil offers, it moved the limiting factor of oil change intervals form the durability of the oil to the filtering capacity of the oil filter. All automotive filters sold in the United States are only required to pass a simple single-pass test from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) with only a simple pass or fail score. This form of testing does not provide the consumer with enough proper data to determine who makes the best automotive oil filter and witch filter suits their individual needs.
Most automotive filters state their efficiency rating in a micron filtering number. Micron ratings are some what of an arbitrary number as it only indicates the oil filters ability to remove contaminants at a particular particle size and not the efficiency or total contaminant holding capacity of the oil filter. Microns are a linear measurement indicating length, or in relation to automotive oil filters it indicates the length and width of various particle sizes. A micron is defined as one millionth of a meter. The standard unit of measurement in the automotive industry is in inches. A simple comparison of the two systems is that a 25 micron particle is approximately 0.001 of an inch. The averge human eye can see up to a 40 micron particle without an aid. In comparison, the diameter of a human hair is around 85 microns. Many automotive filtering companies state that their oil filters can filter down to 10 microns or 0.00033 of an inch, but at what percentage can they filter that size of a particle. Stating an oil filters micron rating without stating the filtering efficiency and capacity at that particle size is misleading. For example, all automotive oil filters will filter a 10 micron particle to some extent. Some cheaper designs will only filter one percent of all 10 micron particles in the engine oil, while others can filter out 75 percent of all 10 microns particles. The difference between a mediocre and superior oil filter design is that the poor design will only filter the 10 micron particle by chance, while the superior oil filter was designed to specifically filter 75 percent of all 10 micron particles.
One of the original oil filtering tests was the SAE HS806 test. The original nominal test was quite crude and simple in nature with just a single pass of dirty engine oil going through the filter. In order to pass the SAE HS806 test, just a minimum filtering threshold is needed to be met. Later various amendments were issued to the SAE HS806 test. These included a multi-pass test that determines the filters expected filtering life which was measured in hours. The oil filters expected filtering life was determined by subjecting the filter to a standard contaminate particle size carried in a given weight of motor oil at a constant flow rate, pressure and temperature. The test continued until the filtering media became clogged enough to raise the differential pressure drop across the oil filters intake and exit port to the predetermined level. After the oil filters filtering ability declined and fell under the standard level, the filter was then weighed and the gravimetric measurement of the filtered test oil was subtracted form the finishing weight which resulted in the total weight of contaminate that the filter could effectively hold. Due to the above testing parameters the life and efficiency test results generally include a time weight efficiency measurement which is was usually stated as a percentage and total holding capacity stated in a unit of grams. While the testing amendments helped to improve oil filter requirements and specifications, the testing data was not published in most circumstances and thus not helpful for consumers.
Due to the above short falls in the HS806 filtering testing, the SAE decided to create a new an advanced optional filtering standard called J1858. The SAE J1858 is a superior beta ratio test that is optional to the oil filter manufactures that feel that the standard SAE HS806 test is to lax (Amsoil, 2008). The new test provides both gravimetric measurement and particle counting to measure both the micron filtering capacity of the oil filter as well as the total filtering capacity of the oil filter. The new testing procedure is also no longer a simple one pass test like the HS806 test. The J1858 test counts the size and quantity of the particles entering and leaving the oil filter and is a multiple pass test. Multiple pass testing procedures have been recognized by SAE (SAE J1858), ISO (ISO 4548-12, engine lubricating oil and ISO16889, hydraulic or fuel), ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and NFPA (National Fluid Power Association). Multiple pass testing is considered the most efficient way of testing oil filters, as it is similar to the operation of the oil filter on the vehicle (Filter Manufactures Council, 2005B). The multiple pass test counts each particle size upstream, “before the oil filter” and downstream, “after the oil filter” at varying time intervals using lazars to detect the size and quantity of the particles entering and leaving the oil filter. The beta ratio test is defined as the ratio of the total number of particles upstream of the oil filter verse the total number of particles downstream of the oil filter for a predetermined determined particle size. Using the beta ratio test, the filtering capacity of the oil filter with a beta rating of 85 at a 15 micron particle size will have a mean of 85 separate particles that are 15 microns in size upstream of the oil filter for every singe 15 micron particle down stream of the oil filter (Flirtation Tips, 2005). The flow rates through the oil filter can also very from 0.5 to 60 gallons per minuet. The change in flow rate of the oil through the filter is necessary in order to replicate the engines true operating conditions. These operating parameters can start form the initial cranking of the engine which would result in a large spike in oil pressure with a low volume of oil flow to redline where the flow rate and pressure would be there maximum. The main advantage of the new SAE J1858 test is that the filtering ratio and efficiency for varying sizes of particles and the pressure drop across the filter as a function of time can be determined and presented to the customer.
While the advanced SAE J1858 test is far superior to the standard SAE HS806 test, the J1858 test is by no means perfect. One of the main problems of the test is that manufactures can state that they passed the test in advertising, but are not required to state the oil filters test results. Again, this results in customers not knowing the filtering capacities of the each oil filter that passed the J1858 test and only knowing that they met the minimum J1858 cut off point. There are two basic testing options for companies that undergo the optional SAE J1858 test. First the companies can have the oil filter name stated with there test results that are published by the SAE in their journals and or publish the filtering specifications in their advertisement. Secondarily the oil filter manufactures can request that the filtering data be proprietary information, which results in know one but the manufacture knowing the testing results. Unfortunately, keeping the test results proprietary is the most common approach used by the oil filtering companies which again limits the customer’s ability to determine which filter is best for their needs.
While the SAE J1858 test does a far better job in determining the total filtering capacity of the oil filter, actual filtering percentage values at various micron ratings and the differential pressure capabilities, there are some major downsides. First the J1858 test was only an optional test that the majority of automotive oil filter makers did not use. Another problem is that the test results were not mandatory published by the SAE using the filters name, make and model. Lastly the SAE J1858 was discontinued in 2002 and a new test SAE J1260 was implemented in August 2007 (SAE Standards, 2007). In a email correspondence with Pat Ebejer, a Society of Automotive Engineer Specialist and head of the International Standards wrote me the following on the new SAE J1260 oil filter testing standards:
“…All of our documents are written for the good of the industry in general and we do not call out any product or manufacturer so we will not have another document that lists the test results for any particular brand of oil filter or compare them in any way (Appendix B)…”
Unfortunately the new testing standard still has many of the same faults as the previous SAE J1858 and HS806.
Due to the downsides in the SAE testing procedures and documentation, this research was conducted to build upon the SAE testing procedures and include more information in order for the end user to be able to identify the differences between oil filters and thus be able to make an informed decision on which brand of oil filter best meets their engines needs and driving conditions.
