Quote:
Originally Posted by lewdog998
Im not so sure about that. Lets say for example the Correct filter is 4 inches tall and the one he put in is 3 inches tall....well the shorter filter will not fill that gap between either the engine or the housing....so you would have oil flowing around the filter. The filter has to be sealed against surfaces on both the top and bottom to have ALL of the oil flow through the filter.
I get what your are saying about total filtration capacity, but i dont think that applies in this case.
If he has truly gone 17k miles with it in this condition, I would get a test done for peace of mind...and its only 35$.
go to amsoil and they have a kit for 34$$
|
Correct, there is a face seal on the filter to the housing base so there would be some bypass of the filter. Strangely some manufacturers use an O-ring (see TRD or Royal Purple) and others don't seem to have much more than rubberized adhesive square ring like the Toyota filters shown on OPs post. There is a machined face in the filter housing base for the seal to contact.
However, a majority of the flow will still flow through the filter. There is so much FOS (factor of safety) built into the oil filtration system, it doesn't live on the ragged edge. Assuming OP has fairly normal driving conditions, doesn't live in dust storms and has a functional engine air filter i wouldn't be concerned if it was me. Most of us could greatly extend our oil and oil filter change intervals and never see the increased wear. Think... an engine that needs overhauled at 300k miles vs at 275k miles or 250k miles.
The post shows he was on his third incorrect filter at ~17k, when he realized he had been using the wrong part. With the first filter going 7k and the second 10k.
Spend the $35 if you want, but i don't know what you would do with the information. Say the results show huge amounts of wear metals and bearings are shot. What would you do with the information? Replace all of the bearings?
