Rixram wrote:
Sorry to hijack.
Hey, I just bought the T-6 Rotella 5w40 yesterday. I'd like to get a really decent oil filter to clean a lot of the darn soot out of the oil.
I've heard of bypass filters, regular filters efficient to "X" microns and snake-oil salesmanship.
Can someone smarter than me please let me know what is the ideal filter for my CRD? Thanks.
I have done oil sampling on my CRD at 7000 miles on OEM filter at various times and haven't found the soot levels to be that big of an issue. True, we do not like the look of black oil. An oil bypass system is not a bad idea, but probably not necessary. Putting one on the Jeep may be more of an expense and hassle than the benefits it produces. Diesels are built to higher standards than gasoline engines and there is ample evidence of EGR equipped diesels going well into the 700,000 to 800,000 mile range with no major problems using standard oils and OEM filters. The CJ-4 standard diesel oils do a really great job of keeping the soot from bonding and making particles large enough to be a real problem. Most soot is below 5 microns and only soot particles larger than 5 microns are a real problem. A good synthetic mesh full flow filter, like Amsoil, Donaldson, etc will do a pretty darn good job of keeping the larger stuff out of the oil, compared to a cheaper paper style filter that does not have quite the uniformity of filtration. You have to keep in mind that as a filter gets used and collects more particles, its cleaning effeciency actually goes up. Air filters are "dirtier" early on compared to after being in service for a while. As they collect more dirt, they actually are able to better collect dirt beyond that. Same is true for oil filters.
I really like the Amsoil EO filters. They are made by Donaldson (same manufacturer filters I use in my semi). The Wix brand is a very reputable filter (this is also the Napa Gold filter). There are others that do a good job, but these are the only ones other than OEM that I have real experience with. If one is bound and determined to go with a bypass, then only two choices seem to be practical for the CRD... the Amsoil bypss or the FS2500, due to limited space. The FS unit has a complete kit with hoses, fittings, ect designed for the CRD (this is per a conversation with FS I had when I bought one for my Semi). Whereas, the Amsoil unit requires you to get your own hoses made and is more of a Popular Mechanics style of project. Both units do a pretty good job. Initial cost for the Amsoil unit may be less, but filters for the FS unit are considerably cheaper so over the long term it would all balance out. Don't get all caught up in the 98% effeciency at 2 micron arguments. My real world experience with the FS unit on a semi over 300,000 miles has shown that it keeps soot levels down to less than .3% average which is more than enough real world protection. Only when soot levels go over a full 3% - 4% is soot a real issue. I have never seen my CRD approach those levels without a bypass.
The only true benefit of a bypass unit is if one is going to really extend their oil drain intervals well above anything the OEM recommends. If you are sticking to the owners manual recommendations, I wouldn't recommend a bypass unless you have money lying around and don't know what to do with it. The cost vs benefit is just not there.
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