Kevin Rutherford

Until the Signature glider debacle, I used to enjoy reading Bruce's articles. He liked the fact that bypass filters give you clean oil, but he couldn't understand running past 15,000 miles because of the other things that get done at a pm. I dont have one, but that guy's reason not to, and stating that o/os refuse to use them is ridiculous.

 

Before all these new gadgets came out we kept an eye on the gauges in the dash. A lot can be told by reading them, to many depend on modern technology to do all the work for them, just my opinion though. The term "Idiot lights" came about for a reason. I knew people that use to only change their oil filter, when ask why they responded because, the oil never where's out it just gets dirty..... Really? Everyone has their own preference. Y'all be safe out there, it's a jungle.

 

A guy my dad used to drive for did that.

As far as gauges, when I first got my license, I was driving up and down CA99. My dad yelled at me for being in the wrong gear, and he told me to look at the oil temperature gauge. I downshifted, and let it buzz a little, and it came right down. Truth is, even with older electronic engines that will pull hills real easy, and big radiators like our trucks have, driving by the gauges won't tell you your driving's wrong, it will give you a heads up that you may have a imminent component failure.

 

Back in the olden days up into the 80's a Luberfiner was on most trucks. That was the grand daddy of bypass filters. Oils were different of course, but it never hurt a thing to have that extra capacity of oil for cooling and filtration. Elements were fairly cheap, I still have a truck with one I don't run for work, only to antique truck shows, and I have 2 Luberfiner filters in the wrappers. I think I paid $15.00 each. A cheap date.

Sampling every PM....priceless. That's like a Dr's. office examination. If you don't go...you don't KNOW. They prevent a lot of heartaches, and other aches a little further down the line. On Amazon.com, you can buy SOS kits (Wix) for just about $20.00 each. A cheap date.

 

Using a bypass filter is just smart. Even if you don't plan on extending drains out to high mileage, a bypass filter of 2 microns keeps wear metals out of your bearing surfaces.

Amsoil offers a simple spin on bypass filter fir under 300 bucks.

Oil samples. Also smart. Not sending a sample out to a lab is like not checking your tires before pulling out of the truck stop in the morning.

 

It's interesting how research done by other groups including the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) say a bypass filter would benefit an engine and prolong the life of the oil, but you would have to eventually change the oil regardless how good a bypass filter is. Oil does break down over time and on average the bypass filter will prolong the life of the oil by up to 8 times. To me that seems like a good investment compared to changing the oil that many times!

Here is an article by machinery lubricant that talks about bypass filters in general and does not endorse a single brand.

Here are a few good quotes from the article...

For all those that claim oil doesn't break down, it just gets dirty...

Now, anyone have a good recommendation on a bypass filter aside from the one Kevin pushes?

 

The oil sample will tell when the oil is shot . West Coast is one brand , some don't like it because it takes 2 gal of makeup oil .

 

Im.looking very hard at amsoil. I was quoted 289. It's a simple 2 micron spin on, which i like for ease of replacing the filter. Very simple product, which as a n advocate of the kiss system, i like. The ops eco pure that Kevin is paid to talk up is overly complicated with its heated element and evaporator. That's just more stuff to break and completely unnecessary for those of us not wanting to push our drain intervals out to half a million or more miles. 100k miles is long enough for me.

 

Seems the 2 gal of make up oil would keep the additives replineshed.