Spinner II vs other extended oil systems?

I don't have a problem doing that if it's cost effective and beneficial to the motor. As for the rest of the PM stuff, I lube everything myself anyway and change fuel filters too. The only reason for me to take it to a shop all the time is the oil change. Getting rid of 10 gallons of oil is no easy task for me. Changing a filter like the FS2500 and adding a gallon once a month is something I could do anywhere.
I think I'd still change it all once a year tho regardless of the reports.
What's the cost of the FS2500 and can it be bought locally anywhere or order online only?

 

Eating all the oil? It's not a Cookie Monster...

 

Not disregarding it for others, just not for me and what I do with the truck is all. When loaded, it is working it's butt off and the oil "looks" like junk at the 10k mark. I know it isn't a sample etc, but it's just what I have always done.
Oil samples are a nightmare when parked in a corn field on a wind site etc, and the truck still needs my attention underneath.
Getting rid of oil is a doddle. Take it to any parts store and they take it with a smile unless you can use it yourself.
Been talking about putting in an oil furnace in the shop for a few years now, maybe one day I will get around to it

Martin

 

Ok, a lot of misperception by those that have no experience with this kind of thing, and a misperception about what goes on with oil in general.

Yes, it is a good thing to use some form of bypass filtration. Soot is the primary reason. It isn't that you need to get the filtration down to something like 1 micron, it is that you need to get soot out of there so that it does not bond with itself and create larger carbon chains that can indeed cause excessive wear. It has been determined by those that study these things, that once soot particles get larger than 5 micron, they are the size that they can cause wear scars on bearings and such. A typical full flow standard oil filter on an engine is only going to filter to 15-21 micron, depending on brand. A typical bypass will filter down to anywhere between 1 and 3 micron.

I realize that the marketing folks at Filtration Solutions say to change their filter at 10,000 miles, but after using on two different engines, Cummins ISX and Detroit 60, running dozens of used oil samples on each engine, I am quite comfortable in stating that the filters are quite effective to 20,000+. The folks at FS want to sell filters. Can't fault them for that. I don't change the FS2500 filter until I change the oil between 20,000 and 25,000 miles. At that point, the soot level of my used oil is still well under 1%. And in that time, my engine uses a total of 2 quarts of oil. Not too bad for a factory remanned Series 60 to use only 2 qt in over 20,000 miles. It was similar for my Cummins ISX. It might get between 1/2 and 1 gallon used at the typical 25,000 miles I went for an oil change even at the almost 900,000 miles I had on that engine.

Just changing out oil at 10,000 miles does not solve the problem of soot bonding. It happens the minute your start your engine. Only a filter that can get down to the single digit micron level can get this stuff out of the oil. Else, during that whole 10,000 miles, you have soot wearing at the engine. And that same soot, by bonding into larger particulates, can interfere with effective sealing of the oil ring on a piston. That would explain some why some folks experience increased oil consumption when going over, say, 10,000 miles on the oil. It has larger soot particulates that are interfering with the oil ring effectively sealing the oil from getting in the combustion chamber on a piston stroke. By getting the larger soot particles out of the oil via a bypass filter or centrifuge like the Spinner II, oil consumption follows a fairly predictable and consistent pattern over the entire oil change interval.

But it does beg the question, what is so special about 10,000 mile oil change? Why not 5,000 miles, or even weekly? And every OEM has a recommended oil change interval of at least 15,000 miles on the older engines, and a minimum of 25,000 miles on anything made past 2004. Yes, even the Cat C15. Go get a Cat lube manual and check it out. I have read it plain as day. My Detroit 60, made in 2000 has a recommended drain interval of 15,000 miles / 300 hrs. I take it to 25,000 or 500 hrs and the oil still is in good condition, the engine barely uses any oil, and it shows no appreciable wear. I am not advocating that folks go out and try that stuff you read in magazines ads about how someone never changed their oil in 500,000 miles. It can be done, but only in the right situation, under certain conditions. Most of those ads are put out by Gulf Coast Filters, but the details behind the scene tell another story. They don't say how, when one changes their filter at 10,000 miles, you have to replace 2-3 gallons of oil. Well, duh! No wonder they never had to drop the oil! They were putting a fresh 2-3 gallons in every 10,000 miles. Hell, you could go for 1 million miles and never change the oil at that rate of oil replacement.

I run an oil sample on each oil change. I have varied the length of change from the OEM recommended 15,000 miles, to 25,000 miles a little at a time. I track the numbers very closely. At 25,000 miles, the oil is still good, wear metals are well still fairly low, but I notice some of the various numbers starting to trend away from the normal track. Slight spiking of various numbers. So I put my limit at 25,000 miles or 500 hrs on an oil for my engine. Reading oil samples is not only a science, it is an art form. You have to run several samples over time to see how things trend and make a determination on the results you see in the trend line. Each engine is different.

 

Cowpie1, are you changing your fuel filter at 25k as well or sooner?

 

For what it's worth. I bought this truck New, never changed the oil under 25k miles, and more often than not till much more. Tore it apart this August at 1.1 million miles. Bearings looked new. Piston skirts were smooth as glass. Domes had a bit of carbon build up tho, that's most likely from idling to much. The liners even still had the cross hatches in them. Oh, and no bypass filter. The only conclusion I'm left with is that oil is just so much better today than thirty or forty years ago. That whole change the oil every ten or fifteen is just a leftover from a generation ago. Technology has come a long way.

 

Depending on fuel contamination, the primary(one you can see thru) is often getting quite close to full before this. If you're going to use an oil filtration system that greatly prolongs the oil, you're going to need fuel filters changed on a different schedule. I change my fuel filters and lube the truck myself now and always carry a set of fuel filters with me to change when needed.
I also realize todays oils are much better and the reason I change mine when I do is like cowpie said, around 10,000 miles is when mine will start to use it. That's why I change it when I do. I figure it's cheap insurance to keep a clean motor and minimize any engine wear. The added filtering is great if it does what they claim and I'm all for it.

 

Daimler has a 50k oil change interval recommendation for OTR DD15 engines. I have a friend that just got a new Pete last month with the Paccar 13l. 60k interval for OTR.


But who do you trust when it comes to products? What is sufficient to do the job when it comes to bypass filtration? I mean, getting the job done as cheaply as possible is the name of the game for us!

I'm leaning towards the OPS-1 eco pur, myself.

I've heard good things about centrifuges. But is it REALLY worth the money?

 

What was the reason to tear the motor apart then???

 

I had the spinner II on my last truck, this truck has the FS2500. Filters for the FS2500 are expensive, I think the service kit for the spinner was like $7.00. The FS2500 is very easy to install. The service on the Spinner is a little messy, you have take things apart, much easier doing it cold. When you take the Spinner apart you can see the cake it has spun out, looks like paste shoe polish. The FS2500 you can inspect the filter when you remove it. The Spinner II makes a very cool sound when you shut the truck off. You would be very happy with either one. If I were to buy another, I'm not sure what it would be. But it would be one of these two.

Upon further reflection I would buy the Spinner. That sound was way cool.