Oil filter - NOT oil changes

Good to hear I'm not completely alone, although you use mileage and I use months as almost all of my trips are quite short, and then my truck sits a long while.

 

I personally do not change filters between oil changes because I don't run more than about 8-10k miles on synthetic oil and I use oil filters that go as far.

But I have heard of people running 10-15k mile oil change intervals on synthetic oil, swapping out a standard filter halfway. Makes sense because many standard filters are only rated for 5-7k mile intervals. If they used an extended service oil filter, they would not have to change the filter halfway.

If you are following the recommended service intervals, you are OK to leave the factory filter in place.

 

I run an over size filter K&N 2009 with a filter magnet.

 

What magnet? Internal or external?

 

External on the side of the filter

 

I'm pretty much the same as you. I run Amsoil Signature 10-30 and this last time around I bought an Amsoil oil filter. I have been using Mobil 1 oil filters in the past. Shooting for 10,000 miles until the next change this time per Blackstone labs recommendation. If all goes well and the analysis comes back good I'll stick with 10,000 and not go any farther even if they say I can.

 

High quality oil filters don't have cardboard in them or anything else that will degrade over time. It was Fram that was using cardboard. A lot of engines were destroyed which is how Fram got the nickname (phrase), "The Orange Can Of Death". That being said their higher end filters are actually quite good.

 

I run magnets on my filter as well from Dimple Products. The filter magnets are quite badass and they are made to conform to oil filters. I installed all magnetic drain plugs this last oil change also from Dimple products. The magnets from Dimple aren't anything like what Shamuspi is running. I looked those things he uses up and it's surprising they didn't crush his oil filter when he put them on. Just joking. I'm sure they have the proper polarity so that doesn't happen. The Dimples are strong enough for me but only mount around the bottom of the filter where they fit perfectly into the finger grooves on the bottom of any filter.

As a side note I just ordered some badass magnets and I have found that they can be quite dangerous if care is not used when handling them. Why did I order them? Just for shits and giggles. No real reason. I've got three of them stuck on my vise and still haven't figured out how to get them off. Now the vise is magnetized and any metal anything I get near it sticks to the vise. I get them off eventually but I can't get a good enough grip on them to pull them off. They are too strong.

 

I'm getting older as well but these new filters and oils are dramatically superior to what we had 20 years ago. I used to change the oil on my '73 Cadillac Coupe DeVille (my only car for 18 years up until 5 years ago) every 2000 miles and that was using Mobil 1 and the highest grade of Fram filters. Oil analysis is the key to going longer than the factory recommends. I have every oil sample analyzed by Blackstone labs so I know what is going on inside the engine. Don't go longer without oil analysis.

 

The factory Toyota filter is a VERY good filter. Nothing wrong with it but change it per factory instruction. It's as good as a Wix (very good filter) and just about every other filter out there.

 

As far as ferrous in the oil meaning you're engine is on it's lasts leg. Not true. I screwed up and neglected my air filter for too long and got high iron and high aluminum in my oil sample before this very last one. A dirty air filter will show high ferrous and aluminum. So will a leak in any of the intake tubes on these new vehicles. The problem for me was easily solved and my most recent sample came back perfect with all wear metals in check. There is always iron in oil because as the engine gets more and more miles on it the cylinders, crank and anything else made out of steel wear. If they didn't engines would last forever and when they did need a rebuild the crank, block and anything else made of steel would not need any machining at all which is certainly not the case in any rebuild I have ever been involved with.

 

Frankly, I don't get worked up anymore.

Your engine WILL last 300,000 miles doing 10k oil and filter changes.

At that point I don't care if it's using oil. I got my money's worth and I want a new truck.

 

Why doesn't the oil filter capture all of the stray metal pieces? Isn't that the purpose of a filter?

 

How do 3 entrapment magnets help when the majority of the metal debris is aluminum?

 

When I first used a magnetic drain plug, there was always a little glob of black goop on the magnetic tip when doing an oil change. Wiped it off and made a mental note. The glob of goop never got any larger or smaller, always about the same size, color and consistency. When I started running rare earth magnets on the filter canister, all of the black goop disappeared from the drain plug. Just gone, completely. There was an immediate and obvious relationship. I am 100% convinced of the effectiveness of filter magnets, although I know they don't catch 100% of the ferrous particles that enter the oil filter. But they do extend the life of my oil filters by keeping those ferrous particles out of the media.

They have to be good strong magnets. My rare earth ones are about 1/2 inch diameter and 1/4 inch thick. They are very difficult to pull off the canister and even more difficult to separate from each other. When they snap together, there may be pinched flesh. I don't want to imagine what could happen to the person who swallows one. I use 5 magnets and try to distribute them evenly around the sides of the canister.

See my reply above. Also, there is no such thing as an aluminum magnet but if an aluminum alloy has any iron or steel content, a magnet might catch the alloy debris, might not.

Yes that's what filters do. But the filter catches particles only down to the rated efficiency, expressed in "absolute" terms. E.g. 20 microns absolute, where anything smaller than 20 microns will most likely pass right through... although a small percentage below 20 microns probably get caught, especially if the filter has been in use and has caking on the media.

 

I have no problem with waiting the full period before I replace the Oil & Filter. I did however want to do the 1st one early, due to the metal shavings during the break in period. But I've been assured on this site from Oil analysis, that show little or next to none of those shavings.

Heck, I haven't even checked my oil yet, as I haven't even owned it a year yet!

 

I forget what the size is but at a certain size particles circulating through an engine do no damage whatsoever. These modern day oil filters, if you buy the top notch ones, filter everything out down to the size where it doesn't even matter. I use the magnets just as insurance on my filter. As far as gear boxes go? I think they are a bit more important which is why they use them on jet engines. There is no filter for gear boxes.

 

I'd be checking it if I were you. If it's going to use any oil it's going to use it while it's breaking in. Cutting the interval in half for the first oil change is a real good idea too. As a matter of fact, I'd cut it in half twice in a row if I bought a brand new one just to be on the safe side. Then I'd switch to a full synthetic, get oil analysis done at every change and then decide how far I wanted to go between intervals. Working up slowly over a few oil changes.

 

The majority of the wear metals is not aluminum. There is copper, lead, steel, silicon (dirt) as well as other contaminants that can cause problems. Then there is there is the level of detergents in the add-pack for certain brands of oils such as zinc, phosphorous, calcium, boron etc., etc. Then there is TBN (Total Base Number) which tells you how acidic the oil is getting with miles on it. You can run TBN down to 1 before it needs to be changed. Once an oil loses all it's TBN it becomes acidic and starts eating your engine.

You don't have to do analysis for the life of the vehicle. Just do it until you get a mileage between intervals that works with your driving style and then back it off a bit. Then just analyze once every other oil change or every three oil changes or just never do it again once you know how long you can go. Oil analysis will tell you if you've got coolant in your oil (head gasket, cracked head for example) and will warn you of problems you'd never know about otherwise until it was too late. Even a neglected air filter or a crack in the intake tubing you never noticed. I personally, made the mistake with my air filter a while back.

Anyone who can afford to just buy another vehicle every five or ten years really doesn't need to waste the money. Those that want to keep their Taco "forever" should look into oil analysis. I want mine to last "forever".

 

Makes me wonder if oil life monitors will someday measure TBN to alert the driver how much oil life is left.