WHY DO I CHANGE OIL?

“OIL CHANGES” – SOME POINTS TO CONSIDER

When should Engine Oil be changed?  According to American Petroleum Institute (API) Publication #1507, page 13, engine oil should be changed before additive depletion and oil contamination can begin to affect engine performance and life.

When do engine manufacturers recommend changing oil?  At different intervals!  They really don’t know how often to change oil but all of them agree that oil should be changed more often if you do “average” driving, i.e., lots of stop and go, idling, pulling a trailer, driving in dusty conditions, etc.  Again, according to API, the way most drivers’ drive, no driver should go the maximum limits allowed by the engine maker.

What is the purpose of the full-flow oil filters?  The full-flow filter was designed to screen out large abrasive particles that could damage the engine.  The full-flow filter was not designed to clean oil, clean engines, or control wear in the engine!!!

1.      SAE Paper #650316 dated January 1966 (presented by J.E. Den Besteu, E.G. Leverenze and C.M. Bloom (International Harvester Co.) stated that in 8 hour tracer tests on a 6 cylinder engine using new oil, used oil, and used oil filtered thru a 5 micron filter, they observed almost no change in wear with the used oil and the used oil filtered thru a 5 micron filter.  When you consider that a regular full-flow filter is only a 15-micron filter it is easy to see how an engine wears out with typical oil change intervals and full flow filters.

2.      SAE Paper #650865, dated November 1965 by P.E. Pfeifer and F.T. Finnigan, Pure Oil Co. explains the findings on valve lifter wear in an 8 cylinder Oldsmobile engine using full-flow and by-pass filters.  The reports stated, “Standard full-flow filters do not remove 1 micron particles and thus do not adequately protect against wear-causing particles.”  Also, “filters must be capable of dealing with particles 1 micron and smaller to control wear”

3.      Mobil Oil Australia Limited Technical Bulletin #863 states: “…oil does not “wear out”, “break down” or otherwise deteriorate to such an extent that it needs to be replaced.  What happens is that it becomes contaminated with water, acids, burnt fuel, carbon particles, and sludge so that it can no longer provide the desired degree of protection for engine components.  But, it will be argued, most modern vehicles have an oil filter.  Why does this not remove contaminants?  The answer here is that a filter can only remove solid particles above a certain size.  It cannot remove water, acids, or fuel dilution, all of which pass through the filter just as readily as the oil.” (Mobil, of course, is talking about the full-flow filter.)

IS THERE A SOLUTION?  Yes!  Install a quality by-pass filter which uses a very dense element to remove condensation (water), which leads to sludge and acid build-up, and which will remove particles in the sub-micronic range (smaller than the particles in cigarette smoke!) which are continuously sandpapering away the precision parts of the engine (or transmission).  This system is commonly referred to as “dual filtration” in that the full-flow is retained to screen out the larger particles that can damage the engine while the by-pass filter with its dense element traps the finer particles which are wearing out the engine and causing oil to become an undesirable lubricant.

You might be asking, if your by-pass filter is so great why aren’t they installed at the factory on new vehicles?  Do you really think the manufacturers want their engines to last many times longer than normal?  If our filters were installed at the factory, and the consumers were aware that their engines would last longer, they might decide to keep their vehicle twice as long.  What would happen to the automobile and trucking industry if the majority of Americans kept their vehicles twice as long?  I would imagine it would cut their sales in half, which would be devastating for them.  What about the oil companies?  Do you think they would like it if the majority of Americans did not have to change their oil?

Without GCF Filters	(which engine do you think  will last the longest)	With GCF Filters

Microscopic Photo @ 100X Of Used Oil Within VRU System Before & After The Use Of The GCF Filter Units

Please study all the information you can on by-pass filtration, including who is using them and why, and I think you will decide what thousands of our customers already have.  Gulf Coast Filters can protect your expensive engine and eliminate routine oil changes.