Oil Filter. Which is best?

Gordon Taylor · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 9:19 am **Posts:** 51

Vincent Keene wrote:

Can you enlighten me on how it failed? Did it spring a leak? What happened exactly?

The gasket was not well-bonded to the filter body and blew out all at once. Based on the oil slick behind the car, the oil pump managed to evacuate all five quarts in less than a block at 35 mph. The car had been in McNair Performance to get the oil pump replaced, and that new sucker really had great pressure. Cathie checked the "oil gauge" more religiously than I did, and is the one who originally noticed it was dropping to zero at idle, which is why we took it in. She had the car pulled over and turned off before the last pint of oil was gone.

I have read posts on Miata.net about problems with the seals sometimes remaining behind on the hot engine block, so that the new filter is installed on top of another gasket. This condition will also lead to seal blowout and rapid oil loss. I honestly don't think this is what happened at McNair's, though, as there were also some contemporaneous posts, again on Miata.net, of the same problem, and some discussion of a bad lot of filters. I never saw anything official, though.

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

I use K&N or Mobil 1 filters on the Vette along with Mobil 1 or Red Line oils. Pricey but I don't change oil at 3K miles either. I'm running about 5K miles between changes. On Ann's car I run Mobil 1 oil and filters also with 5K mile intervals.

I've used Purolator and Bosche filters with no problems on my kids cars.

Graham

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Richard Casto wrote:

Ok, then a follow up question.

What are good sources for the Mobil1, Purolator and K&N filters? Local? Mail order? I have seen Purolator and small stocks of Mobil1 while casually looking around at filters recently. Don't remember seeing K&N anywhere, or maybe I was just not paying attention.

http://www.ajusa.com --> great prices and free shipping on K&N.

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2004 2:31 pm

Wes Eargle wrote:

http://www.ajusa.com --> great prices and free shipping on K&N.

[Eddie Murphy=]
That is a bargain for me...I think I will buy one. [/end]

Stephen Westerfield · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2004 2:50 pm

Graham Jagger wrote:

I use K&N or Mobil 1 filters on the Vette along with Mobil 1 or Red Line oils. Pricey but I don't change oil at 3K miles either. I'm running about 5K miles between changes.
Graham

Not to hijack the thread, but on a related topic....

How often does everyone change thier oil on the cars they autocross. I have been trying to change mine after every other autocross regardless of the miles. Thoughts?

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:07 pm

Stephen Westerfield wrote:

How often does everyone change thier oil on the cars they autocross. I have been trying to change mine after every other autocross regardless of the miles. Thoughts?

Let's see the Mister 2 had an oil change about 14 months ago. Hell, I would be changing oil every two weeks.

I have owned that car for three and a half years and have put about 2000 miles on it. It has a pampered life.

Adam Ligon · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:11 pm

jimpastorius wrote:

Stephen Westerfield wrote:

How often does everyone change thier oil on the cars they autocross. I have been trying to change mine after every other autocross regardless of the miles. Thoughts?

It has a pampered life.

Yeah right, pampered

On the Jetta, which is almost autox only now, I do it once a year. Now granted last year it saw right at 1k miles. And I use mobil 1 full synthetic and K&N oil filters only. I just recently did it and it was only slightly darker than new, no where near black though.

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:15 pm

Stephen Westerfield wrote:

Not to hijack the thread, but on a related topic....
How often does everyone change thier oil on the cars they autocross. I have been trying to change mine after every other autocross regardless of the miles. Thoughts?

Why? Seriously, with a modern engine and even high quality "dino" oil there is no reason to change the oil more frequently than your personal preference for "normal" street driving. FYI, I and then subsequent owners put well over 200,000 miles on my 1974 Datsun 260Z with Castrol GTX oil and Fram filter changes during the first 186,000 miles about every 3000 miles. When I sold the car the engine still had about the same oil consumption it had when new. Believe me, oil in those days was no where near as good as it is now! There was hardly a day that went by that I didn't rev that engine to redline (about 7000). I went to a lot of autocrosses and did a lot of "spirited" back road driving and testing also.

Stephen Westerfield · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:25 pm

DickRasmussen wrote:

Stephen Westerfield wrote:

I have been trying to change mine after every other autocross regardless of the miles.

Why?

That's why I asked, maybe I am doing this unnecessarily. The car has 200K miles on it and burns a quart in between changes. It usually sees at least 1500 to 2K between changes, but now that I am daily driving it again, it will most likely see 3K miles over a 2 month period (given I only do one autocross a month).

Adam Ligon · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:29 pm

Stephen Westerfield wrote:

DickRasmussen wrote:

Stephen Westerfield wrote:

I have been trying to change mine after every other autocross regardless of the miles.

Why?

That's why I asked, maybe I am doing this unnecessarily. The car has 200K miles on it and burns a quart in between changes. It usually sees at least 1500 to 2K between changes, but now that I am daily driving it again, it will most likely see 3K miles over a 2 month period (given I only do one autocross a month).

I hope that quart between changes is for normal 3k interval, and not the every other autox. Unless you do 3k or more between them. Sounds like your rings have seen better days. I would think with the extensive high rpms seen during autox it would make the oil consumption worse.

Frank Catena · **Joined:** Wed Aug 27, 2003 1:08 pm **Posts:** 418

[quote="

Not to hijack the thread, but on a related topic....

How often does everyone change thier oil on the cars they autocross. I have been trying to change mine after every other autocross regardless of the miles. Thoughts?[/quote]

Not to sound like a cranky old fart but the best answer is to do an oil analysis and get the TBN number checked. If the TBN is above 2 or so then the oil is still good. Anything else is at best a guess. With an analysis you also get a good snapshot of your engine's overall health. For example, traces of coolant in the analysis just might warn you to get a head gasket fixed before the oil dilutes and you spin a bearing.

The new oils *are* very good, but significant changes have been made in anti-wear additives to ensure good catalyst life/performance. Additives like zinc (or ZDDP) have disappeared in some formulations. The soon to be available SM oil standard *might* continue that trend. Find an oil that works well for your car and stick with it. Dino oils that appear to have good additive packages include Castrol, Pennzoil and Havoline. For synths, Mobile 1 is a good cost effective choice.

Frank

RobLupella · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2004 5:48 pm

Quote:

I have owned that car for three and a half years and have put about 2000 miles on it. It has a pampered life.

No wonder it is so fast. The damn car is practically new :wink:

I change oil about every 4K or season, whichever comes first. Mobil 1 w/Purolator filter

Damn, I can never figure out this "quote" thing :banghead:

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Wed Jun 16, 2004 7:26 pm

I always use Honda filters. Most of the guys on honda-tech swear by them.

www.honda-tech.com < tons of useful info!

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:26 pm

Ever since Honda introduced that new design I've been hesitant to use them. I don't know if it's all of them either, but I have seen quite a few that say "made by fram" on them..... doh!

btw- you are right honda-tech does rule!

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Wed Jun 16, 2004 10:24 pm

RobLupella wrote:

Quote:

I have owned that car for three and a half years and have put about 2000 miles on it. It has a pampered life.

No wonder it is so fast. The damn car is practically new :wink:

I change oil about every 4K or season, whichever comes first. Mobil 1 w/Purolator filter

Damn, I can never figure out this "quote" thing :banghead:

The poor thing already has over 142,000 miles on the orginal motor. I use Pennzoil....Mobil 1 leaks out too fast

... and AC/Delco filter.

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