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A person cannot always change oil at a specific mileage, or should I say required to. When oil gets dirty, mileage should not be considered. Dirty is dirty period. If dirty at say 1200 miles then change both oil and filter. You do not drain the crankcase and add clean new oil to the old filter. My late father, a mechanic of 40 yrs would always say, "Changing oil and a Tune Up was the cheapest expense on a vehicle". I am also a mechanic and two sons also mechanics and we follow that thinking also. Steve
A person cannot always change oil at a specific mileage, or should I say required to. When oil gets dirty, mileage should not be considered. Dirty is dirty period. If dirty at say 1200 miles then change both oil and filter. You do not drain the crankcase and add clean new oil to the old filter. My late father, a mechanic of 40 yrs would always say, "Changing oil and a Tune Up was the cheapest expense on a vehicle". I am also a mechanic and two sons also mechanics and we follow that thinking also. Steve
Absolutly, if I tow my trailer I change the oil sooner, dirty is dirty. Yup keeping up the maint on your vehicle is way cheaper down the road than not.
Great advice.
Wouldn't a premium filter keep oil cleaner LONGER, than perhaps a cheap filter would? Seems to me spending a few $$ more for a GOOD filter is smart insurance for a $30,000 car. But...I can see the rational for using economy filters on a "beater"...especially if it was a vehicle you weren't planning to keep anyway. My thoughts and $.02
Next time you are looking to buy a oil filter take a minute and open up the lid and look inside. See the difference in the amount of air space and amount of actual filtering material in the manufacturing of the product, then compare the price. Many moons ago, I would buy filters for .99c (cheepos) but changed the filter and oil every 1000 miles. The oil got dirty around 800 to 1000 miles, I would keep an eye on the dipstick, and if needed I would take 10 minutes and change both. Had caddy and drove 130,000 miles on top of the original 50,000 at time of purchase. Never any repairs. Mechanic Steve
Another vote for the OE filter. That is the best route to go in my opinion. OE filters are fool proof because they were manufactured for your specific vehicle.
Many aftermarket filters basically do the same the OE filters do. The only exception is the ones used in high performance applications, which many people here don't have anyways.
About the K&N Filters: Please don't be fooled by this either. K&N oil and air filters have not been proven to do what they claim to do. This is especially true with their cold air intakes. I have friends who have taken their race rigs to the dyno with those filters and have found that the increase in Horse Power is not true.
For normal people that just commute to work in normal vehicles, stick to OE parts.
About the K&N Filters: Please don't be fooled by this either. K&N oil and air filters have not been proven to do what they claim to do. This is especially true with their cold air intakes. I have friends who have taken their race rigs to the dyno with those filters and have found that the increase in Horse Power is not true.
For normal people that just commute to work in normal vehicles, stick to OE parts.
Yeah I did some intake and exhaust work on a pickup, it leaned it out to much and lost power, I dded a chip to richen it but I never saw any differance, My current truck is stock and It will stay that way.
Another vote for the OE filter. That is the best route to go in my opinion. OE filters are fool proof because they were manufactured for your specific vehicle.
Many aftermarket filters basically do the same the OE filters do. The only exception is the ones used in high performance applications, which many people here don't have anyways.
About the K&N Filters: Please don't be fooled by this either. K&N oil and air filters have not been proven to do what they claim to do. This is especially true with their cold air intakes. I have friends who have taken their race rigs to the dyno with those filters and have found that the increase in Horse Power is not true.
For normal people that just commute to work in normal vehicles, stick to OE parts.
That's simply not true. As the owner of a performance shop for a long time and being in the industry for over 20 years I can assure you KN filters do flow more air than a standard paper filter. We had them on a flowbench for fun more than once.
Unless you put your car on a device to measure hp (dynojet, Dynapack, Mustang Dyno etc) before and after you have no clue weather you are losing power or not.
Air filters come down to filtration vs flow. You can get some flow back with better filtration by increasing the surface area.
The beauty of a K&N filter is that it's washable many times over which saves you cash in the long run.
Course on the turbo drag cars, we just don't run filters at all.
To me, it's all about flow rate! MOST (not all) oil filters are made of the same paper! I use WIX Filters on my vehicles. The flow holes in the base of the filter are larger so there is less time taken for oil to circulate through the filter at start up. Start up is the most dangerous time for your engine!
That's simply not true. As the owner of a performance shop for a long time and being in the industry for over 20 years I can assure you KN filters do flow more air than a standard paper filter. We had them on a flowbench for fun more than once.
Unless you put your car on a device to measure hp (dynojet, Dynapack, Mustang Dyno etc) before and after you have no clue weather you are losing power or not.
Air filters come down to filtration vs flow. You can get some flow back with better filtration by increasing the surface area.
The beauty of a K&N filter is that it's washable many times over which saves you cash in the long run.
Course on the turbo drag cars, we just don't run filters at all.
With all respect, with 20 years of experience in the business you should know better than that. The information you provided above is misleading. Plain and simple, your claims are innacurate. The ONLY way to increase airflow is by forced induction, installing a supercharger and/or turbo. I am sorry, but no air filter has the capacity to increase horse power on its own. I am wondering how many thousands of people have bought those K&N filters believing a miracle would happen to rigs
There are ONLY two things that can be proven about K&N intakes and air filters:
1. Yes, they are washable. You save $$$$ by not having to buy new filters.
2. They look cool and add a very nice detail to the engine bay.
I guess you missed my point. I already said that I have friends who have taken their race rigs to a dyno (one RX-7 and two mustangs) after installing their K&N filters and they found that the claims from K&N are not true. They DID NOT gain the horse power K&N claims.
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