Oil Filter Suggestions

[Rich Z]

Well, from what I have read about motor oils, the important criteria to keep in mind is the degradation of the lubricating properties caused by gradual breakdown of key elements in the oil. Basically what this means is that from all of the byproducts of an internal combustion engine that get into the oil, these deposits will cause gradual reduction in the ability of the oil to keep metal to metal contact from taking place. Which, of course, cause WEAR and TEAR. Which is what we DO NOT want taking place. The PURPOSE of lubricating oil is to keep itself between all moving metal parts to keep direct metal to metal contact from happening, and the resultant damaging wear that will take place when such contact does take place.

The purpose of replacing the oil regularly is to compensate for this degradation of the oil cause by the engine itself in operation. And, of course, the question you need to ask yourself is "At what point does my oil lose the lubricating properties necessary to keep this wear and tear from taking place?" Since it is unlikely that this happens like the turning of an ON/OFF switch, it is likely reasonable to assume that the oil begins losing the ability to lubricate the moment you start your engine after your oil change.

With that in mind, my guess is that it is MUCH better to err on the side of replacing your oil TOO often, rather than not often enough. Quite frankly, once my engine is properly broken in, I would just as soon have NO further wear on any of the moving parts at all after that point.

As an aside, I have heard people say that they only replace the oil filter and see no sense in replacing the oil itself. Their belief appears to be that oil will last forever, and they only need to keep it cleaned of particulate matter. This is really not a good idea, in my opinion. Oil filters do remove particulate matter that has gotten into the oil. But the filter does absolutely nothing at all about making sure that the lubricating properties of the oil itself is up to snuff and not degraded by chemical contamination and the chemical changes of the oil itself. My guess is that eventually the oil filters being replaced will get heavier and heavier over time as destructive wear starts taking place, and that filter begins catching more and more metal particulates which is the engine gradually having the metal contact points wearing away.