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I have often wondered if changing the oil filter was really all that important when changing the oil in a vehicle, or if it could be changed about every 3rd oil change. Have a Toyota with a filter that slides into a screw on housing. The oil in the filter is the same color as the engine oil and the used filter has no sludge or particles in it. I have a riding lawn mower that has run well for 25+ years with very infrequent oil changes and it doesn't even have an oil filter. Seems like just changing the oil periodically would be sufficient. Are oil filters more about spending money on an oil filter, or do they really make a difference?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The mower has no filter, so no filter to clog or hold old oil. In the car, sludge can clog the filter and reduce flow to the important parts of the engine, and if you have a 5 quart engine, you are only changing 4/5 of it if you leave the old filter. It's cheap insurance and in most cars, easy to change.
My 2002 Acura RSX actually did call for changing the filter only every other oil change in the manual, so every 20k. I just went ahead and changed it with every oil change anyway though.
Yes they need changing. They have a limited life span. If they get old, the filter media can tear and allow dirty oil to circulate. They can also blowout under high rpm driving and dump all your oil before you get a chance to shut down. Ten bucks is cheap insurance and it literally takes thirty seconds to remove and replace one, once your under the car that is. lol.
Oil breaks down with heat cycles and just over time.
That would have been true....prior to 1964. But my calendar says it's 2016 and things are not even close to the same. Free radical oxygen is what makes oil break down. With the engines prior to 1964, there was no sealed crankcase, it used a downdraft pipe that hung below the engine and as the car moved forward caused a vacuum to form on the backside and sucking out any blowby. The PCV system pretty much eliminated any free radical oxygen in the crankcase. Heat cycles have more to do with sludge issues rather than any break down. Oils are now tested to met Fords specs and that calls for the oil to be tested at 302F for 16 hours. Your engine won't last that long at those temps. Heat, regardless of synthetic or conventional is no longer an issue for motor oils.
Oil filters, depending on the brand have a Beta Ratio. In my personal opinion, it's semi worthless info considering the test does not mandate the fluid temp, flow rate, or viscosity. But they take a glass ball media of known size and volume and run it thru a filter. What is left in the oil is the rating. Some filters will not filter on the first run of the oil thru the filter media but require it to go thru it several times before filtering it out. This is referred to as multi-pass filtration. This is typical of the "performance" filters. Otherwise, the filters actual performance is a balance between filtration and flow. AS the filter filters out junk, it can become plugged up or will do a poor job at filtering as it will go into the by-pass mode. In by-pass, the filter does not filter the oil at all as it by-passes the filter media. Most commonly a filter in by-pass is full and no longer can filter the oil. You can NOT see this if you cut the filter open. That's a total waste of time unless you have the eye sight of Superman and can see 3-5 micron size particles. A 40 micron size particle will damage your engine. A micron is 1/1,000,000 of a meter. Not changing the filter will eventually leave the engine running with no filtration. Combustion deposits will form and damage will occur. Considering the average oil filter is just over 5 bucks, it's not too smart to not change one.
I believe we have been definitely been conditioned to change the oil filter because the filter is not that expensive, etc. Not convinced the engine would be negatively impacted over the life of the vehicle if the oil was changed periodically, but the filter filter was not changed (with each oil change). I have lawnmowers and other engines that do not have filters and they apparently have not been damaged by not having a filter. Why do tiny microns damage a car engine, but not other engines, such as lawnmower,etc?
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