For users of Amsoil in their trucks

[Markerboy1]

I am looking at converting to Amsoil and was wondering what others have done with the oil filters. Are you using the specified Amsoil oil filter replacement or are you using one of the other major brands? I run around 12k per year and would like to change oil/filter once per year

[Ralph Wiggum]

I've been running Amsoil in my Honda Accord for the past 30K miles and have just been using either Bosch or Purolator filters with nothign but good experiences!

[polarsusd81]

I have been running Amsoil in my car since new and have nearly 80k on it. I have used the amsoil filters with it and they work great. They really are not much more than a regular filter and having the piece of mind knowing the filter was designed with that oil in mind is nice. I would just go with the Amsoil filter.

Tom

[Whoaru99]

I ran the oil a long time, but changed the filters more frequently.

I used non-Amsoil filters. On one of my cars, I use a fairly expensive Donaldson filter that has much finer filtration capability than a standard filter.

[theoilman]

Yes, there is a lot of difference in the quality of filters on the market.

What size particle causes wear? Particles under 5 micron are so small that they float in the space between the shafts and their bearings that they don't scratch or wear the surface. So ideally you would want to filter to that small. The catch, a full flow oil filter is too restrictive at that small filtration level to allow enough oil flow to lubricate your engine. So particle size removal versus flow is a compromise.

First of all, the AMSOIL oil rating: It depends on which AMSOIL engine oil you are using. The XL series is rated 6-month/7500 mile or vehicle manufacturer interval whichever is Longer; the XL is AMSOIL's lowest grade.

For the rest of AMSOIL automotive/truck engine oils (gasoline or diesel) the rating of the oil is up to 1 year/25,000 miles whichever comes first normal duty, 1 year/15,000 miles whichever comes first severe duty (and almost all of us drive in severe duty). Exception, the Series 2000/3000 are rated even longer.

If you use a conventional paper or paper blend filter, you should change the filter at the car manufacturer's recommended interval (for most of us that would be 1 or 2 extra filter changes when using AMSOIL engine oils).

The current AMSOIL oil filters - the EaO series are a full synthetic nano-fiber media - that will trap more and smaller particle dirt than ALL other filters on the market. The EaO filters are rated to go the full 1 year oil change. (If you still have the previous series SDF, the rating was change it 1 extra time mid oil change interval.)

Technical: First of all a definition: A filter is defined as absolute at a specified particle size if it removes 98.7% of that size dirt (filter industry definition). There are several different tests being used by various filter manufacturers today. AMSOIL is using the ISO 4548-12 test because it defines efficiency by the particle size removed. The SAE HS806 series uses a defined 'test dirt' that generally is around a 25 micron particle. AMSOIL has dropped using the SAE HS806 tests because the test doesn't test for dirt in the size that the AMSOIL filters can remove. The AMSOIL EaO filters are 'Absolute Efficient' at 15 microns. (The Donaldson ELF series are similar to the AMSOIL, but the only ones that test as good.) Most of the quality filters on the market, those typically priced $7.50 to $12.00, paper-synthetic blend, are around 80% efficient at 15 micron, include Wix, CarQuest Blue box, NAPA Gold, Pure 1, most Fram (though because of poor quality of construction I personally hate Fram) and others. Most of the cheap filters, typically under $5.00, traditional paper only, test at under 40% efficient at 15 micron (including CarQuest Red box, NAPA Silver, almost all store branded filters).

If you want to be really serious about filtration add a secondary bypass oil filtration system. AMSOIL's bypass filter is 'absolute efficient' down to 2 micron, even removing most of the black carbon in diesel engines. The catch, it is pricy - initial installation kit and filter over $200.00 and there are some other brands on the market at over $400.00 and they don't test as good as AMSOIL's. If you want more info e-mail me privately.