Oil Filter

[Zombie Master]

Another advantage of quality synthetic oil is that it pumps better at low temps. No matter what brand name is on the filter, that company might just make various qualities of filters according to what a distributor might order. I don't use Fram for my truck. I've seen some really cheap versions of the same model filter in that brand. How would one know what they are getting without exhaustive research on a particular batch of a brand? I'll buy OEM. I think that's my best chance of getting good parts that fit. Is it really worth the risk to save ten bucks?

[SteveD]

Is it really worth the risk to save ten bucks?

$10 every 10000kms. Nope
Save the money by not spending it on synthetic oil.

[barryh]

I learnt my lesson after crushing a filter and it's never happened again. Synthetic oil for me and take it easy with the revs on a cold engine plus as already said I'm careful about making sure the filter media itself doesn't get compressed excessively and kink the pleats. There is no way regardless of pressure that the tube will get crushed unless the pleats fold flat so the straighter they are on installation the better.

I'm not fussy about OEM filters though, it's not as if BMW make them. I'll use anything that I consider to be a quality filter and you don't have to pay OEM prices to achieve that. Wix is one of my favourites although I've used others. While not well known in all markets Wix has a reputation for quality as good as almost anything else available.

[Zombie Master]

I guess the HI flow filters are TÜV rated. Does that count for anything?

[barryh]

My Crushed filter was a Hiflo but I've used some of them since not least because I had a stock of half a dozen of them at the time. I looked into the company first and saw their claims about TÜV quality:

Hiflofiltro is the world's first and only TÜV approved motorcycle oil filter. Constructed using the best materials available, all Hiflofiltro oil filters meet or exceed original equipment performance levels.


http://www.hiflofiltro.com/fileadmin/fi ... t-2001.pdf

That was good enough for me. I concluded the crushed filter must have been my fault rather than the filters and continued to use the stock that I had without any further problems.

[George Ryals]

Nobody has mentioned the high pressure relief valve in the back of the filter cavity. If this valve is in good working order, filters should never collapse.

[Wobbly]

My understanding is that it's just the /7 models and later.... including the oil cooler models.

[barryh]

Nobody has mentioned the high pressure relief valve in the back of the filter cavity. If this valve is in good working order, filters should never collapse.

The bypass valve opens and protects the filter but only up to a point. Like every safety valve it will have a variable pressure drop across it depending on fluid viscosity and flow rate. For example if the valve opens a 5 psi it's perfectly possible for the pressure across the filter to be 10 PSI. If you wanted to limit the pressure on the filter to the bypass valve set point then the valve would have to be very much bigger in diameter. Anyone who has measured the engine oil pressure can attest that it rises above the system relief valve set pressure for the same reason.

My bypass valve was fine but the incident did teach me to give it a little prod at every filter change for two reasons: to make sure it opens and to check the spring isn't broken.

[Zombie Master]

I use a wooden chop stick to press open and check the bypass valve.