Oil Filters - best quality

[Pete Mac]

Has anybody got views on the best quality oil filters to buy There seems to be such a variance in prices from a couple of quid to up to £15.

I googled the following:

'Today, most low-cost disposable spin-on oil filters use cellulose filter media. Better quality oil filters use synthetic media, while top end oil filter use "MicroGlass" or extremely fine metal mesh"

However that doesn't help much because most parts shops wouldn't be able to tell me what their filters are made of. Whether the oil filter has a one way valve or not is probably not that relevant as the filter sits vertically, having said that most of the quality filters have a one way valve.

The Rover ERR3340 seems to carry a premium but am I just paying for the name?

[A900ss]

I use the genuine land rover (I forget the model number) as it is so cheap (about £8 I think) as at least I am getting a known quality.

I'm never too sure of the unbranded versions how good they actually are.

Best of luck.

[ChimpOnGas]

I'm a believer in & regular user of this:

http://www.v8filters.co.uk

Email David Brown at: [e-mail]

Basically it's a Cummins Fleetguard which were developed to extend service intervals on diesel commercial vehicles.

It's bigger than any other filter for the RV8, it's tight squeeze getting the thread started on a TVR but it will fit.

I don't think you'll find a better oil filter, I use it with a FilterMag.

http://www.firstfour.co.uk/products/performance/fi...

And my own super strong neodymium magnet drain plug, filling with the excellent Penrite HPR15 15w-60 high zinc content fully synthetic from Classic Oils.

http://www.classic-oils.net/Product-349/Products-b...

I complete the oil & filter change every 3,000 miles or 6 months whichever comes sooner, it's probably overkill especially given I'm running on LPG which is a far cleaner burning fuel.

But I've never heard of excessively frequent maintenance causing problems

[Barreti]

ChimpOnGas said:

But I've never heard of excessively frequent maintenance causing problems

I have ;-)

Talking to an old boy at a local garage. He told me a Volvo Amazon on the ramps was blowing seals and he put it down to the owner changing the oil too often.

I've never known whether to believe him.

[ChimpOnGas]

Barreti said:

ChimpOnGas said:

But I've never heard of excessively frequent maintenance causing problems

I have ;-)

Talking to an old boy at a local garage. He told me a Volvo Amazon on the ramps was blowing seals and he put it down to the owner changing the oil too often.

I've never known whether to believe him.

Utter rubbish.

On what scientific grounds does he support this nonsensical theory?

Fresh oil doesn't blow oil seals, any more than dirty old oil stops them from leaking.

But I bet I know whats really happening with the Volvo here, having spent my formative years restoring classic & vintage cars I've seen this a hundred times.

What happens is oil seals go hard & pick up flat spots with age and inactivity, my guess is at some point in its life the Amazon was sat for a number of years without use.

Layups are when oil seals go hard.

And its when you change the oil after this layup that the leaks start.

The new oil softens the hardened oil seal, but its during the hardening period that the irreversible damage is done, there are additives in modern engine oils that are designed to keep oil seals supple during regular use.

These additives do not work to recover existing hardened oil seals, once the oil seals have been allowed to harden they are done.

After a long layup you may be tempted to change the oil, this is good practice but you need to be extremely careful with what oil you use.

The additives in modern oils will get to work on that old hardened oil seal in no time, it will swell, but not in a uniform way, the damage has been done already & the flat spots in the seal remain.

The only solution in such cases is to replace the oil seal.

Regularly changing your oil is the most recognised, accepted & proven preventative maintenance you can bestow on your engine, FACT!

In fact the regularity of oil changes is even more important than the quality of oil you use (within reason).

But what you need to avoid at all costs is using a modern oil on an engine that's been laid up for some time, in this case you should change the oil for a straight mineral with no additives, such oils are available from Penrite & Millers who specialise in the classic & vintage lubrication market.

After a few thousand miles on the straight mineral you can start to think about introducing a more modern multigrade with the usual additive package.

But even then it's a risky business, the bottom line is you can never effectively recover an oil seal that's been through the hardening phase, the only solution is to replace the seal with new.

However, if you change your oil regularly the seals will never harden in the first place, they will always remain supple & concentric, and will work as designed.

Oil seals actually hardly ever leak from wear, amazingly oil seals are less sacrificial than the metal surfaces they run on, it's extremely common to strip an engine only to find the lip of the oil seal has scored the crank.

This is counterintuative, you'd never think of a soft rubber oil seal being able to score the hard metal surface it runs on, but the truth is that's exactly what happens.

Oil seals fail because they are no longer concentric to the surface they're running on, 99 times out of 100 this is because the seal has been allowed to harden & then new modern oil is introduced.

Regular oil changes causing oil leaks?

UTTER POPPYCOCK!


PS: If you predict a long engine layup, you are strongly advised to fill with a specific layup oil, these contain an extra dose of additives that help to stop your oil seals from hardening.

But there really is no substitute for running the engine and keeping the oil fresh.



NB: Never ever, under any circumstances use an oil flush, especially after a long layup.

Sure an oil flush will loosen varnish & sludge, but those deposits will travel around the lubrication system blocking oil galleries causing potential bearing failure.

An oil flush product will also soften hardened oil seals in an instant, the result is an extremely high probability of heavy oil leaks.

AVOID!

[FlipFlopGriff]

ChimpOnGas said:

I'm a believer in & regular user of this:

http://www.v8filters.co.uk

Email David Brown at: [e-mail]

Basically it's a Cummins Fleetguard which were developed to extend service intervals on diesel commercial vehicles.

It's bigger than any other filter for the RV8, it's tight squeeze getting the thread started on a TVR but it will fit.

I don't think you'll find a better oil filter, I use it with a FilterMag.

http://www.firstfour.co.uk/products/performance/fi...

And my own super strong neodymium magnet drain plug, filling with the excellent Penrite HPR15 15w-60 high zinc content fully synthetic from Classic Oils.

http://www.classic-oils.net/Product-349/Products-b...

I complete the oil & filter change every 3,000 miles or 6 months whichever comes sooner, it's probably overkill especially given I'm running on LPG which is a far cleaner burning fuel.

But I've never heard of excessively frequent maintenance causing problems

I've got a V8filter on the pre cat but it wont quite fit on the 500.
FFG

[Johno]

ChimpOnGas said:

Utter rubbish.

Regularly changing your oil is the most recognised, accepted & proven preventative maintenance you can bestow on your engine, FACT!

UTTER POPPYCOCK!

AVOID!

C'mon, stop fking mincing about with your words . . .

I love forum langauge, if only everyone realised it's not proven, fact, determined, beyond question cos someone on a forum said so.

The only thnig I'd say as a dedicated engine oil changer with monotonous frequency is that one challenge of doing changes too frequently is that people imagine they get all the crud out of their engine and it simply isn't the case, plus depending of procedures followed during the change, the potential to damage components.

Having just rebuilt the bottom end on an engine it still amazed me even in the clean environment this was done in, on a stripped engine how much stuff still came out when I dropped the sump to check after 100 miles of running in (much more demanding than 3Kmiles of road use due to new seals, assembly, sealants etc etc etc), versus what was in the oil pan after draining. Drainig the oil in some peoples minds means you've got all the crud out, it simply isn't the case and should be one element of a regime as highlighted. The risk is a false security and how many times do you hear "well I changed the oil regularly" . .. . No comment on the fact you ragged the engine from cold or other such misdemeanors.

Also, depending on the process followed for changing oil there are some potential consequences imaginable for not being careful on how to build oil pressure afterwards, thus potentially exerting certain components to potentially greater stress/wear than they would have seen if you had left it all alone for another 3k miles or further. Frequently isn't always best.

But when my Griffith did actually turn a fking wheel in anger (my fault, not hers) it only ever went 3k miles before changing the oil, with magnetic sump plug and a good quality filter.

Oil is a personal choice and not part of this debate as that's another can of worms based on the engine format, age, design age, build spec, component condition, availability, type of use and 57 other different things. None of which are the same across owners in my experience apart from the badge on the back of the car identifying the model. We decide and buy which ones we like and stay with them, often justifying the decision based on internet forums and little bits of info we've picked up across the years. Nothing wrong with that, but we all have to accept it's the case and apply that knowledge to the consumption of forum contributions and act accordingly . . .

This contribution was made after the bloke down the pub told me to.

[spend]

griff 200 said:

..The long lasting oil also has the effect of cleaning all the carbon from behind the piston rings so you get high oil consumption plus crankcase pressure due to piston blow by ! ( so oil seals may and do start leaking). Richard

Are you intimating that it should be dirty & clogged behind the rings?

[Sardonicus]

spend said:

Are you intimating that it should be dirty & clogged behind the rings?

Never understood this along with leaving a ring of carbon around the piston crown since when can clagged up rings function correctly?

[ukkid35]

ChimpOnGas said:

I'm a believer in & regular user of this:

http://www.v8filters.co.uk

Email David Brown at: [e-mail]

Basically it's a Cummins Fleetguard which were developed to extend service intervals on diesel commercial vehicles.

It's bigger than any other filter for the RV8, it's tight squeeze getting the thread started on a TVR but it will fit.

I don't think you'll find a better oil filter, I use it with a FilterMag.

http://www.firstfour.co.uk/products/performance/fi...

And my own super strong neodymium magnet drain plug, filling with the excellent Penrite HPR15 15w-60 high zinc content fully synthetic from Classic Oils.

http://www.classic-oils.net/Product-349/Products-b...

I complete the oil & filter change every 3,000 miles or 6 months whichever comes sooner, it's probably overkill especially given I'm running on LPG which is a far cleaner burning fuel.

But I've never heard of excessively frequent maintenance causing problems

I've had a couple of filters from David but the site seems to be down now, I'll try emailing but not hopeful.

Excellent choice of Oil, I use it myself in my 928 (which is also flat tappet). However, I have heard that there is a theoretical disadvantage to using very short oil change intervals (less than 3000 I imagine) although I'm not sure whether I believe it myself.

[macdeb]

Sardonicus said:

ever understood this along with leaving a ring of carbon around the piston crown since when can clagged up rings function correctly?

Stupid boy Pyke.

[cjb44]

Wix are the best filters available, they make them in their own factory so are able to keep a close eye on quality and they are the only people who have their own manufacturing facility; other filter suppliers buy from various sources. Part number for the Griff. is WL7117. As for oil you cannot better Millers CFS 15W/60W.

[FlipFlopGriff]

ukkid35 said:

I've had a couple of filters from David but the site seems to be down now, I'll try emailing but not hopeful.

Excellent choice of Oil, I use it myself in my 928 (which is also flat tappet). However, I have heard that there is a theoretical disadvantage to using very short oil change intervals (less than 3000 I imagine) although I'm not sure whether I believe it myself.

I e-mailed David and he came straight back to me.
He's been ill so has been out of action. He aid the website will be back online soon.
FFG

[ChimpOnGas]

FlipFlopGriff said:

I e-mailed David and he came straight back to me.
He's been ill so has been out of action. He aid the website will be back online soon.
FFG

I'm pleased to hear David is on the mend, he's a really nice guy and his filters are excellent.

'Ol Gasbag' is due an oil change after this weeks run to Le Mans so I'll drop him an email and order up my usual filter, I must have had 5 off David by now and they always arrive promptly and extremely well packaged.

If you research the fiberglass media Cummins Fleetguard filters you'll soon see how much better they are than the paper elements found in all the others.

Does your engine deserve the best?

Or is a £6 saving more important to you?

Your choice

[griffdude]

Normally a boggo std RR oil filter is fitted to my Griff (Mann W930/20). After further investigation of the Wix filters, have trial fitted one of these as it has 6 'ports' as opposed to the 4 on the filters used previously- hopefully this will be less restrictive & give greater flow. Also giving the Penrite a try.

Will find out tomorrow at Curborough...

[griffdude]

Had the Wix oil filter on for about 6 weeks (inc sprinting at Curborough & Hethel) & it seems to flow much better than previous ones I've used as previously surmised.
The Penrite isn't working out so well- seems to be consumed at a higher rate than the Valvolene VR1 & also got a warning at Hethel from a scrutineer as the Griff was initially smokey at high revs (I don't rev it that high on the road so might've been burning off a bit of residual stuff hanging around).

[cjb44]

As I said in my previous post, when I recommended Wix filters, you cannot go wrong with Millers CFS 15w/60w. I use this in my 4.3 pre cat Griff and racing Cobra (and it is not a replica, it is a genuine 1962 289)

[GTRene]

I don't understand it at all, but this guys made a long list/test with many oil filters also pictures of opening them and ratings...

tell me which is the best

http://forums.evolutionm.net/evo-engine-turbo-driv...

[ukkid35]

ChimpOnGas said:

I'm a believer in & regular user of this:

http://www.v8filters.co.uk

Email David Brown at: [e-mail]

Any news from David Brown? Site still down and no replies to emails unfortunately.

[FlipFlopGriff]

ukkid35 said:

Any news from David Brown? Site still down and no replies to emails unfortunately.

He came back to me quickly but he has been ill. This was about a month ago now and I've got the 2 filters I ordered.
FFG