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General Information => General => Topic started by: addautomotive on November 02, 2006, 12:31:10 pm

Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: addautomotive on November 02, 2006, 12:31:10 pm
Fellahs,

I remember a while ago there was a debate about oil filters. Someone stated that some of the cheaper brands don't have a bypass, so if they plug you get no oil flow.

Well, I want one. If I can find one, I'd like to try it for filtering vegetable oil. I could then use a VW filter mount.

Anyone?
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: Jetta Fan on November 02, 2006, 12:47:22 pm
I remember years ago someone telling me the filters from Canadian Tire had no by-pass. Not sur eif it's true or not, but might be worth investigating. I'm not sure who makes their filters now.
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: saurkraut on November 02, 2006, 01:11:59 pm
The stock VW diesel oil filter has no bypass.  Best of my reclection on the bypass in the gasser oil filters are to prevent oil starvation on cold starts.

If you change oil on a regular basis, i sincerely doubt that you will ever plug a filter.
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: addautomotive on November 02, 2006, 04:57:21 pm
Hmmm, crappy tire sells Bosch. I'll check and see if they actually have a motomaster brand filter.

If it does have a bypass, it would just be a spring loaded disc at the bottom, correct? If so, I could check without taking it apart
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: addautomotive on November 02, 2006, 04:59:09 pm
Quote from: saurkraut
The stock VW diesel oil filter has no bypass.  Best of my reclection on the bypass in the gasser oil filters are to prevent oil starvation on cold starts.

If you change oil on a regular basis, i sincerely doubt that you will ever plug a filter.


I'm not going to use it for an engine oil filter, but as a veggie oil filter. That's why I want to make sure it doesn't have a bypass. I want to make sure it would plug instead of just opening up.
Title: newsflash
Post by: addautomotive on November 02, 2006, 06:54:51 pm
Just cut apart 2 VW diesel oil filters:

-Fram has a spring loaded bypass

-Bosch has no bypass (Edit; I was wrong, see below)
It's actually a good thing the Fram filter has a bypass, I bet it has 1/2 to 2/3 the surface area as the Bosch. I'll post pics this weekend.

So, I think these oil filters could be very useful for filtering vegetable oil. I'll have to double check the specs, methinks they're 10 micron
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: Jetta Fan on November 02, 2006, 07:00:17 pm
Canadian Tire sells Bosch filters?????

I don't remember seeing them there. They do have their own brand and that is what I was referring to.
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: addautomotive on November 02, 2006, 07:41:39 pm
Whoops, posted too soon!

I just did some digging online, which said that the Bosch 72174 DOES have a bypass. I just went back out to the garage and had a closer look, and sure enough, it does. It's just in a different spot than on the Fram.

FWIW, the difference between the Bosch & the Fram are surprising. for years, I've heard people say Fram is crap, but I didn't expect the differences to be so noticeable.
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: macsdub on November 02, 2006, 08:29:52 pm
its not having a bypass or not
its the pressure it "breaks " at
fram and cheapos break at like 8-20 psi
and vw filters break like 45?psi or so
that equals more filtering capability over the life of the filter
just dont use a cheap fram/wix-etc
use a good mann or bosch or oem
is a 2-4000$$ engine worth the difference in a 4 dollar vs 8 dollar oil filter?
not to me
i even paid 18 bucks for a filter at a dealer once,cause the local import store was out
yea flame me for it,but my engine was happer that i did it :roll:
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: addautomotive on November 02, 2006, 08:57:08 pm
I dunno, maybe people aren't reading my whole post, so I'll summarise:

I am looking for a non-bypass oil filter that I can use to filter vegetable oil.

I had been under the impression that some cheapie oil filters don't have a bypass in them. To my surprise, Fram has a bypass.
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: burn_your_money on November 02, 2006, 10:40:17 pm
Would a fuel filter work?

Are you only looking at diesel filters or gas ones as well? (not sure if there is a differance)
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: QuickTD on November 02, 2006, 10:56:20 pm
Any oil filter spec'd for a bypass has one, doesn't matter if its a "cheapy" or not. All oil filters will bypass to some extent on cold startup to protect the media from rupturing under the high pressure differential and to prevent oil starvation due to thick oil that won't flow through the filter media. Some manufacturers incorporate the bypass valve into the filter base, but most place it in the filter. VW puts it in the filter so all aftermarket filters, regardless of cost, must include it in their design or there would be numerous cases of engine failure from cold start oil starvation.

 Some filter companies substitute the ford PH8 filter for the VW diesel filter. While they are physically interchangable, the ford filter bypasses at about 10 psi and the VW filter at 30psi.  

 If you want to be assured of having no bypass use a fuel filter. Generic filter bases are available at your local truck parts outfit that will accept any filter with a 1"-14 thread. Cummins and Cat fuel filters will both fit a 1"-14 base. You can then choose from a wide array of large, cheap and effective fuel filters. The cummins filters without a water drain cost less than $5.
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: LeeG on November 03, 2006, 01:34:13 am
What about some of those home water filters, the ones with the translucent bottom that unscrews to put the filter in?  You can get a variety of filters, so maybe pass it through a series of 3 filters, one a washable screen, one a cheap disposable 'sediment' filter and then a 10 micron.   Then use a quality fuel filter in the car.

The filter bodies are under $20 each as I recall and the media are cheap.    Used to double filter our home water when we pulled it from a lake.
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: addautomotive on November 03, 2006, 09:32:57 am
Thanks folks,

Currently I'm using the screw-on style fuel filters from older vw & volvo diesels. They work fine, but I thought a VW oil filter would offer more filtration area and be better suited for heat.

Plus, if I could use a VW oil filter, I could use one of those VW oil coolers to heat the vegetable oil a bit before it's filtered. But, unless there are non-bypass vw oil filters I won't bother.
Title: oil filters
Post by: fatmobile on November 05, 2006, 12:53:37 am
I've been using oil filters on the stock oil filter mount, to filter my vegy for years.
 I ran a couple in series so the first one is a used one (free) and the second one is a new one. I almost never have to change the new second stage filter and the first used one is ready to change at about oil change time or longer.
 I don't run it much over 30psi, which is the bypass pressure
Title: Experts... oil filter question- no bypass
Post by: addautomotive on November 05, 2006, 10:30:21 am
Thanks fatmobile,

I think I remember seeing a description of your setup... to regulate ~10 psi, you use an oil pressure sender to switch a fuel pump or compressor off?
Title: oil filters
Post by: fatmobile on November 08, 2006, 12:19:30 am
The original plan was to use a switch to shut the air compressor off when it got to 30psi...
 but I've been switching it manually, with a pressure relief valve for when I get busy and forget about it.