Cutting open oil filter

[patrick_g]

Uhh -- If the gas cap rag gets found in the oil filter then you may have a problem!

Nah, rags, like toilet paper, make way better filters than store bought filters which are just scams to make money for other folks, taking advantage of delusional paranoids who have been educated beyond their understanding in various aspects of engineering and science, the last bastion of the unknowing!

Pat

 

[DieselPower]

I like this story. it sounds believable but it opens up quite a few questions

why would a mechanic cut open someones oil filter during an oil change? or did the customer make some other type of complaint ? implication being that DP cuts open filters on every oil change which means his boss woulda been on his butt for wasting time.


explain how you can find a quantity of metal in the oil filter that is from the bearings.???


didn't that metal have to pass thru a pickup screen on the oil pump inlet and then the gears in the pump. making the assumption that the particles are so small that they can pass thru the clearances of the oil pump, one wonders how you could see them with the naked eye.

since the crankshaft is in the oil pan and oil washes out of the bearings during operation don't the small pieces go to the bottom???.

maybe some details are left out of the story, that the customer had a complaint and DP was looking for it.

so you got to be careful what you want to believe.

clarification of what I said earleir:::As part of a routine oil change I think it is a waste of time to cut open the oil filter, if you have a specific problem it qualifies as a cheap EZ test.

For starters I am the boss so there is no one to "on my butt" but me.

All oil filters that come off in my shop get cut open. It was suggested to me to start checking all filters once by a Caterpillar engineer in a Cat school I was going through at the time. The extra minute of work is worth it to me as a service to my customers. I take pride in the fact that I provide the best service possible for my customers and they appreciate it.

The metal particles are small enough to pass straight through the very large holed screen in a pickup tube and can also pass through the oil pump.

Have you ever cut open a oil filter? You might be surprised what you might find sometimes.

It's rather simple, if you think it's a waste of time fine, that's your opinion, don't do it. There is no need to belittle other people who care about their equipment and do everything in their power to help extend it's life.

 

[Egon]

That's the trouble Pat. Those rags take out too many of the oil additive package.

 

[Oil Doc]

For starters I am the boss so there is no one to "on my butt" but me.

All oil filters that come off in my shop get cut open. It was suggested to me to start checking all filters once by a Caterpillar engineer in a Cat school I was going through at the time. The extra minute of work is worth it to me as a service to my customers. I take pride in the fact that I provide the best service possible for my customers and they appreciate it.

The metal particles are small enough to pass straight through the very large holed screen in a pickup tube and can also pass through the oil pump.

Have you ever cut open a oil filter? You might be surprised what you might find sometimes.

It's rather simple, if you think it's a waste of time fine, that's your opinion, don't do it. There is no need to belittle other people who care about their equipment and do everything in their power to help extend it's life.

I can see the reasoning for cutting open the filters myself, unlike some people. As DP said, particles large enough to be seen by the eye can make it through screens and pumps with no problem.

I am also in favor of OA as it usually tells you something is going wrong before it gets that far and also with OA, it tells you where to look in an engine by the type and amount of particulate or wear metals.

Doc

 

[patrick_g]

Right, DOC, there are good reasons for both filter exams and OA. Some folks may plow with a bent stick 'cause grandaddy did and made it thru da depression but there are arguments to be made for steel plows and diesel power in place of mules. Even the Amish use steel plows.

OA is predictive for abnormal wear and the filter inspection will catch more potentially catastrophic things that may not have a signature in OA. Both are better than not and neither will do everything the other does. If you want belt and suspender security both are indicated.

Good management practice is to do whatever pays. You play the odds like in QA inspections. In QA random samples are taken and depending on how much uncertainty you will tolerate you adjust your AQL (Acceptance Quality Level). What does it cost you to miss a bad unit? How much does it cost to inspect a unit?

Same idea here. If the cost of missing an indication of impending catastrophic failure indicated by abnormal wear is greater than the cost of detecting it in advance then the detection is a bargain and it pays to do it. If on the other hand the inspections were expensive and virtually NEVER found anything useful, they would be bad economics. Large fleet managers have collected the stats and know what level of inspection pays a good return and where the point of diminishing return is. There is no room for what some good ole boy figures is or isn't needed. Smart money goes with information and makes decisions based on knowledge not vague feelings which may or may not win in a show of hands of like minded but unknowing peers.

I wise man once said, "you can't control what you don't measure." The first step in proactive vs reactive management (aka crisis management, wait for a crisis to develop and then try to deal with it instead of taking action in advance) is to take measurements to determine the status of important factors. Taking a peek at the filter element is such a measure.

Pat

 

[woodlandfarms]

Went to my Friendly Cat dealer today... Picked up an Oil Filter cutter for 91 plus tax. This bad boy looks like it will cut up to an 8" wide filter... It appears well built, very study and easy to maintain (if you ever need to remove the cutters which I doubt I ever will).

Carl

 

[DieselPower]

You just purchased the best filter cutter there is. I have had a Cat filter cutter for close to 8 or 9 years and it has cut open thousands of filters. Still has the original cutters and works great. It will probably outlast you, your children and your childrens children.

 

[patrick_g]

Some clever filter manufacturer should build in an EZ open pull tab section on the filter can body that accesses a micro perfed EZ tear off sample of filter media to encourage and support filter media examination.

Pat

 

[Egon]

Okay, you have cut open the filter and looked at the internals. Now what do you do??

 

[BTDT]

Okay, you have cut open the filter and looked at the internals. Now what do you do??

You hope you just get your hands oily.