Cutting open oil filter
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MrJimi
Elite Member, Rest in Peace
Back to cutting open an oil filter, I take a grinder to the rolled lip of filter and shoot sparks away from filter and very simply lift end off and voila=open filter
Works on any can with a rolled lip
Works on any can with a rolled lip
patrick_g
Elite Member
Egon said:Okay, you have cut open the filter and looked at the internals. Now what do you do??
Now you take a sample of the filter medium and compress it is a vise to get the excess oil out and then examine the material for any visible signs of particulate matter. Good light helps old eyes and a hand lens doesn't hurt.
If by chance you see flakes or chunks try to ID the material for a clue of what is sustaining unusual wear and breaking down. Is the material magnetic? There may be an accumulation of powdered metal. Is it magnetic or aluminum or what. These are clues as to what part of the engine is experiencing a problem. If you find quantities that assure you that something is breaking down way faster than it should then it may be worth yoiur wile to get a determination of the make up of the material so you can ID the source. Is it cast iron, steel, aluminum, or what? If it is main bearing alloy you wouldn't start your physical search by taking the heads off to examine the lifters or the valves. If it is cylinder wall material (cast iron debris with cast iron cyllinder walls) may have a bad ring rubbing off some of the side of a cylinder wall.
You may not be able to uniquely determine the source of the debris but at least you know something BAD and WRONG is happening in the engine and you might elect to tear it down and do at least a partial rebuild as opposed to just running it till it catastrophically fails and leaves you stranded somewhere.
More information isn't necessarily a good thing if you are powerless to profit from it but checking for unusual wear in an engine by inspecting the filter can give you a heads up well in advance of a catastrophic failure. That can be a large return for a small investment in time and effort. Think of it as a form of insurance.
Some folks never check their oil between changes which are performed by guys who couldn't flip burgers correctly and had to work at Speedy Lube. Some folks NEVER check their coolant unless the temp gauge goes up or the engine visibly boils over. Checking the oil level at least once between changes and checking the coolant at the same time is a good thing. Doing it more often (weekly or every 1000 miles) is better and will help catch a problem in the making before it is a BIG DEAL. Is there oil scum on the coolant or mayonnaise looking stuff on the dip stick or bubbles coming up in the radiator or...
Better to catch problems early on before they get much more expensive and disruptive.
Pat
If the material is big enough to see, you are already in for some repairs.
But instead of guessing what the material is, send a UOA to a certified lab and it will tell you exactly where to look in the engine by the type of material it is.
I use UOA to build a statistic of at what point to perform oil changes.
Doc
But instead of guessing what the material is, send a UOA to a certified lab and it will tell you exactly where to look in the engine by the type of material it is.
I use UOA to build a statistic of at what point to perform oil changes.
Doc
patrick_g
Elite Member
AMP762 said:
Well DU-UH (HE says slapping his forehead.) My 1997 1 ton Dodge/Cummins came with canister type fuel filter. It was hidden deep in the bowels of the lower part of the engine compartment and could not be seen from any vantage point I ever discovered. The Dodge garage and Cummins shops got about $75-$100 just for the labor to change the filter. I had it done at the Cummins shop so I could watch the mech do it to learn how/where.
Hr used a 1/4 inch drive with really long extension and a wobble socket and a universal and looked me in the eye while reaching into the engine with both hands and the tool. His hands knew where the canister was and how to remove the lid. All I learned in watching him was that he could do this (had to do this) without looking and that I had to make a change.
I installed a kit that remoted the fuel filter up in plain sight and used a spin-on cartridge specked for the previous year truck. There is a filter minder gauge on the assy so you can change filters based on the back pressure to fuel flow instead of months, miles, or guesses, none of which are anywhere near as good as actually knowing filter condition.
Now it takes longer to prime the spin-on cartridge (takes maybe a minute or so) than it does to change the filters. Changing filters is now one of the easiest routine maint item on the truck instead of a nightmare or $75-$100.
No, I don't cut the filter open. The last canister filter element change before changing to the spin-on showed the EVIL BLACK SLIME in the filter canister so I started in with a double dose of Biobor followed by regular standard doses and killed it out or at least controlled it with no recurrences in last few years.
IF you want to talk OLD TECHNOLOGY how about the oil bath air cleaner and the fun of washing them out and re-oiling.
Pat
Sully2
Veteran Member
patrick_g said:
Beat me with a chain....the whip doesnt hurt anymore!!!.....
MrJimi
Elite Member, Rest in Peace
Pat, I remember the old 54 chevy filters, YUK
Egon
Epic Contributor
Pat; what kinda truck you buy? My 96 has a spin on fuel filter straight from the lot. It also has a heater element on the bottom.
patrick_g
Elite Member
Egon said:Pat; what kinda truck you buy? My 96 has a spin on fuel filter straight from the lot. It also has a heater element on the bottom.
Egon, buddy, you skimmed the post too fast. My truck, as we have discussed in the past is a '97 which came with a canister. I upgraded it with an after market kit to remote the filter to a convenient location. This new situation takes the same spin-on filter as your '96. The "UPGRADE" from Dodge for '97 was to go from your convenient spin-on to a POS canister located in a virtually impossible to access location that guaranteed lots of spilled fuel when changing. I now share the luxury of a spin-on that is in plain sight and super easy to change plus has a filter minder gauge and has the electrical connection for water in fuel and a drain valve on the bottom of the filter to discharge water or "vend" a little diesel if you want some on a rag as a solvent or whatever.
Pat
Egon
Epic Contributor
That is regression.
