Oil is the engine’s lifeblood (or motorcycle, boat, airplane, tractor, and so on). Straightforward. As oil circulates, it gathers up pollutants (in simple terms, dirt). Dirt can harm your engine. Dirt can eventually kill an engine.

Oil Filters Function How?

Early internal combustion engines lacked oil filters, therefore vehicles required regular oil changes. Eventually, the first full-flow oil filtration system was constructed. This configuration allowed oil to run through the filter before reaching engine components.

Most pressurized lubrication systems in internal combustion engines have a filter by-pass to protect the engine against starving. Example: freezing temperatures. Too thick oil bypasses the filter. Plugged filters allow oil to bypass. Even with a full-flow oil filter, these circumstances can prevent oil from being filtered.

First Oil Filters

Early oil filters had interchangeable elements in metal housings. When changing the filter, remove the housing, discard the element, clean the housing, and add a new filter. Midcentury, spin-on filters became popular. Self-contained filter element and cartridge. Changing the oil involves removing everything, discarding it, and installing a new filter. Today, the oil filter design is older. The replaceable filter element in this system may be more environmentally friendly than a spin-on filter. Today’s cars need fewer oil changes than in the past.

Oil Filters Nowadays

There are many types of oil filters available today, and there are certainly many ways to test them. Oil filters aren’t all alike. You get what you paid for.

Do conventional, high-performance, race, and synthetic filters differ? Absolutely.

First, determine the vehicle’s purpose. A racecar illustrates. This won’t need cold starts often (in many cases, the oil is warmed prior to starting). Because engines are inspected and disassembled frequently, oil is replaced often. Once, racecar oil was heavier than passenger car oil, but not anymore. Light oil favors racing.

Race engines often use zero-grade oil. Race performance oil filter require special filters. Race filters without drain-back valves.

Many racing oil filters have an internal media that resists high temperatures and water levels in the oil, which can clog normal oil filter media. Racing oil filters are designed for fast flow and little restriction. Certain 12- or 24-hour racing oil filters use a different medium to catch tiny pollutants.

Paper Or Plastic?

Differing filter medium. Some filters use synthetic media (rather than pleated paper-based media). The synthetic media traps tiny pollutants over time (higher miles). Some synthetic filters have rubber gaskets and drain-back valves. Object? Like filter media, they’re long-lasting. Some synthetic filters have larger (usually longer) bodies than conventional filters, increasing capacity. Some synthetic oil filters last 7,000 to 25,000 miles due to these considerations.

You may want to rethink using high-grade synthetic oil and a high-performance oil filter in a beater. Using cheap oil and filter in a collectible Ferrari makes no sense. Choosing a filter is like choosing oil. Choose one that meets your budget and application.

Factual Filters

• A vintage six-cylinder requires a different oil filter than a 7,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster. Both scenarios require clean oil.

• Filters vary. The application affects oil filter design and engineering. Racecar Oil filters differ from passenger car filters internally.

• Oil reaches the filter pad in a typical passenger automobile engine. From here, it passes through the filter’s outer perforations. At this stage, oil is driven through the filter element from the outside in (going back into the engine through the large threaded hole below the pointer).