Has anyone had the oil from their washable filter analyzed?

Can you post the results here?


Kicking around the idea of a washable filter, but hard to get good information.

I've asked several sellers and all I get are weak answers like "It meets OEM specs" from K&N; you want me to spend $100 to $220 bucks on an oil filter and that's all you can give me?

Came across some info that the Flo filters are Chinese knockoffs of the K&P filters.

I did speak with the K&P folks and this point I'm leaning for one of theirs as they actually answered my questions and they claim they make the filter in the USA.

Member shanneba posted this about some paper filters tested:

 

I am curious about this as well. If I ever get around to getting a K&P filter I well definitely do an oil analysis after the install. I have read instances after people have installed the K&P and then doing the initial cleaning finding cardboard and paper (or other element material)in the K&P filter element from the previous spin on filters. Curious indeed. The seem to meet the spec required for our motors and then some, addition being able to easily see what is going on inside your engine without having to cut open a filter is a bonus. Not that cutting open a filter is hard lol.

If I remember correctly I read somewhere, just can not remember where, that the K&P filters were indeed U.S. made from U.S. sourced materials.

 

well i guess it will give you a warm cozy green feeling, BUT:

my take on them is this, based off experience with offshore industrial engines, you better add in some extra maintenance.
the best way is centrifuge. when you have an engine that costs 500>1000 bucks just for filters, oil companies go for this and the reduced cost in hazard materials. at first, the screens were used but as time marched on, it was evident that they do not do as well as a filter designed for the engine. so to solve that, centrifuges were added to the flay.
one has to look how they work.
the stock media uses a labyrinth to strain the oil and it works by impaction. as particles work they way through the maze, they get trapped and smaller particles pass on. now as the media plugs, it will filter even finer particles till the point of the by-pass opening and unfiltered oil goes through.
the screen can only trap one size particle determined by the mesh, the rest will pass through or build on previous areas of plugged mesh. on a new engine, it is all well and good but as it ages, the need for service increases. i had some old waukesha engines that required cleaning every few days.
we did monitor diff'l pressure and the engine would shut down if it got too high, a lot of screens do not have a by-pass system so make sure yours do. as for as wear, without the centrifuge, it had a marked increase. that said, more frequent oil changes are needed.
now speaking of that, i have a 1974 ch with near 200k miles, they did not have a filter system. about three years ago, i deframed the engine for frame paint. i had a bird in hand so i decided to up the ponies, this was around 150k miles. the cyls had .006 taper so a .010 cleaned it up. the crankpin wear was nill, going by book and not original fit (no idea what the mfg sent out) i estimate in the 10 thousandths range. there were no issues else where either. the point i make is that the engine saw, yep-over-kill, 2k oil changes. now i flog this machine and still do. now to top that off, it saw a wide gamit of oil weights and brands, what ever was handy, but i do prefer series 3 diesel oils.
so for me, i guess, i'll still be using a land fill. if it wasn't so ugly, i would add a spinner or frantz system.

 

Bustert

Thanks for the interesting info; I wonder though if a centrifuge also removes additives..I can see it stripping out Zinc as an example. After putting oil through a centrifuge, did you have to add an oil additive package?

Everything you say about a paper filter is true and it also applies to a screen filter; but a screen definitely has advantages over paper.

1. There is almost zero pressure required to push oil through a screen while paper filters can approach 20psi when new and even higher when dirty.

Given the pressure needed to push oil through paper, it is much easier to force open the bypass of a paper filter than a screen. 20w50 on a cold day will push open that bypass; so at start up, you have a dry start until sufficient pressure has built to force oil through the paper or open the bypass...and, once open, you are circulating unfiltered oil until it heats enough to flow easily through the paper.

That alone is enough for me to want to get away from a paper filter.

I'm still researching, but the K&P is at the top of my list. The K&N is just too pricey and the FLO, from what I've found, is a Chinese knockoff of the K&P; no thanks. The Outlaw filter looks like the K&P, but lacks it's markings which K&P says they put on all of the filters they make...so I would like to know where Outlaw is getting these "Made in the USA" filters and why they look like, but don't bear the markings, of the K&P.

At ~$140 for the K&P, that equals ~12 of the 5 micron Harley filters which, filtering wise, are almost as good as the K&P; but the K&P offers far less resistance to flow so it wins hands down on that point. I can also clean the K&P as often as my A-retentive mind demands which makes me feel good

Here's the kicker though, if you don't damage the K&P, it will last forever. You can take it to your next bike or sell it to someone else...so that ~$140 cost is reasonable in the long run..I can see me offering this up on ebay for $100 and selling it pretty fast.

 

I've been using only these type of filters for over 10 years, and many hundreds of thousands of miles.

Periodically I send my oil off to Blackstone Labs. It has always come back normal for the oils and miles...nothing anomalous, which would show if any of the additive package was being stripped out.

The Performance Cleanable Oil Filters we sell vary in the box they are in.

We get them from various suppliers, including K&P, but the one thing they all have in common is the filter element...it is the same. The variable is the housing.

Currently the housing we favor is the one with the drilled wrench nut. The reason for this is that most folks that race use this type of filter, and many racing venues require the oil filter to be safety wired.

 

A chrome K&N single use filter cost $16.41 on Amazon with next day free delivery with prime. So, if a re-usable filter cost $150, and you change @ 5K, the break even is 9.5 changes...or 45k miles.

No thanks...I've got better things to do than flush out a grimy oil filter.

 

By the time you hit 5000 miles, the filter is, or is nearly, plugged and the by-pass is opening often or all the time. The oil itself is most likely still good, but it's the contamination in the oil, that the filter is not removing, that is chewing up your engine.

When you look at very expensive engines, not only do they use mesh filters, they often use superfine bypass filter systems; and in some cases they use a centrifuge to really clean up that oil.

If you get no joy from cleaning out a "grimy oil filter"; then this is not for you...but for those of us that find peace in taking exceptional care of machines, it's a labor of love.

 

OK, show me the proof on this claim...

 

Yes by all means. Can't wait to see it!

 

I'm no expert but I always wondered why someone would want to wash a dirty oil filter. Unless you can prove to me that they are overwhelming better than a K & N, I'll agree with the post quoted above.