Okay, heres a new thread for this www.oilguard.com Some of the comments regarding "toilet paper" bypass filters are that the paper will channel oil and not filter correctly. The paper is contaminated with lint. The quality of the paper is variable. etc, etc. The Oilguard product is fairly reasonably priced, the replacement filters aren't the cheapest but they would appear to be at least of uniform quality. Any thoughts on these being better than the "TP" filters? If the MB filters have in fact become junk, filled with rocks and twigs, maybe it makes sense to install one of these, and do the extended drain thing after all? Thoughts? RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

Clearly this is a better product than the standard toilet paper filter. However, the real question is how much better. If the toilet paper filter does 75% of what this filter does, do you really need the benefit of this filter?

Is this filter worth the additional $11.00 per element change? If you could go 10,000 miles between element changes, I would suggest that the $11.00 is insignificant in the whole scheme of things (you spent $800.00 in fuel to go the same distance).

I additionally notice that this filter has what appears to be a "drain plug return". I take this to mean that this filter uses the original drain plug to run the return line to the pan and does NOT require you to drill and tap the pan.
This would be a distinct benefit, IMHO. I do not want to drill and tap the oil pan, and I do not want to run the drain line uphill to the valve cover.

Hmmm, I was hoping more people had seen these units. I have seen the Gulf Coast "TP" units as well as Amsoil's product which uses stacked discs of filter media. The wound depth filter from Oilguard seems like it would offer the most consistent filtering media of the three designs. Yes, Oilguard has setups that can drain back through the oil pan drain plug but there are other options too. I don't really see a problem with the "drain" line running uphill. Its a pressurized system, just a small inline restrictor to limit oil flow to the filter, not pressure so running the "drain" or return line uphill should be no problem at all. It would be a very simple job to drill and tap the valve cover when it is removed for the return line. Even if you decided not to run the bypass filter in the future a simple pipe plug would seal the valve cover back up nicely. RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

I'm concerned with oil backing up inside the filter if the drain is higher than the bottom of the filter. It's a pressurized system, but the pressure on the downstream end of the filter is just about zero. At that point, you need gravity assist, IMHO.

My Gulf Coast Filters bypass filter seems to be working fine, with no leaks and no drilled hole in the oil pan. do a search and you'll find the previous posts Brian and I had about it. Fits right next to the WW fliud and looks almost stock. The people there are concerned about service and I like the attitude they have....

Brian,

The pressure is still the same at the downstream side of the filter as it is anywhere else (assuming something blocks it up to create the pressure) it just has a very low flow rate. Kind of hard to explain but if you took the hose on the downstream side and plugged it up with a pressure guage you would have the same pressure as you do on the upstream side. Anyway, the Oilguard is a very high quality filter, I have one on my F350 and it works great. Oil analysis has always showed low levels of insoluables (soot), less than 0.3% at 10,000 miles. I was using Amsoil HDD 15W-40 at the time because I was driving over 5k a month and didn't want to be changing it all the time. Now I'm using Delo and changing every 5k so I haven't been testing the oil lately.

__________________
1985 300D Turbo ~225k
2000 F350 (Powerstroke) 4X4, SWB, CC, SRW, 6spd ~148k
1999 International 4900, DT466e (250hp/660 ft/lbs), Allison MD3060 ~73k

The bypass filter, by definition, is a tightly wrapped medium that severely restricts the flow of oil. Therefore, there must be a pressure drop across the filter. My guess is that there will be a very severe pressure drop across the filter. If the filter restricts the flow of oil to any great degree (which it is designed to do), then the pressure on the upstream side will be the normal high pressure in the system (3.0 bar at 1500 rpm and above).

Downstream of the filter, the pressure will drop to something less than .5 bar (I'm guessing here). It might drop to less than .1 bar, if the filter is restrictive enough.

The only possible way that the pressure is the same both upstream and downstream is that the filter has no restriction whatsoever and, therefore, the pressure downstream of the restricting orifice is very low. I don't believe that this is happening.

Brian,
I believe you have it wrong. The bypass filter media doesn't or is not designed to restrict flow. The flow to the filter media is restricted by a very small orifice on the supply side of the housing. The one I saw, I think it was an Amsoil, the orifice was about 1/64" That is small. The idea is the filter media operates at a severely restricted volume. Since the inlet itself is restricted there is very little if any pressure drop across the filter media. As long as the inlet restriction is higher than the flow restriction provided by the filter media there will be no pressure drop and the oil will continue on its leisurely pace to be returned to engine nice and clean. Since the return hose simply dumps the oil back into the engine there is neligible pressure unless the hose was plugged! If the filter media itself was subjected to full volume/pressure there would be two problems at least. One would be the filter media would be forced apart or simply destroyed/eroded by the volume of flow. Imagine toilet paper subjected to a jetstream of hot oil..... And two there would likely be a loss of oil pressure and volume for the critical engine parts like bearings, etc. The small inlet orifice allows only a small volume of oil to flow through the filter media so it may be cleaned thoroughly.

Wasuchi,
How long have you had the Oilguard? What is the life of the filter element? What model filter are you using? What year is your truck? What lab do you use for oil analysis? Thanks, RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

RT,

There are only two possibilities:

1) If the orifice is small enough, say 1/64, and the filter is not restrictive for this very small volume, then the pressure downstream of the orifice is effectively zero. Imagine if you removed the filter completely and put a pressure gauge downstream of the orifice. It would read zero. No way around that. The very small flow would simply flow back to the pan. This is especially true if we are using larger lines (1/8 or more). So, in this case, the oil will definitely back up into the filter if the drain runs uphill.

2) The orifice is small, but not 1/64. Say it is 1/16. There is sufficient flow to the filter and the flow backs up at the upstream side of the filter, because the filter cannot accept all this oil. Pressure will then develop between the orifice and the filter. This will cause more oil to be forced through the filter. Equilibrium will eventually be established where the pressure between the orifice and the filter will stabilize and a constant flow will be established through the filter. However, on the downstream side of the filter, the pressure is again very close to zero. Again, in this case the oil will definitely begin to back up into the filter if the drain runs uphill. However, this is the better of the two cases, because the upstream pressure will not allow the oil to back up too far into the filter.

One of the aforementioned options is applicable. I am fairly confident that the oil will back up in the bottom of the filter, somewhat, if it has to run uphill, because the pressure is effectively zero.

Brian,

Maybe I'm not picturing what you mean by "backup into the filter", I think you're saying that the oil won't be pushed back to the pan after the filter because the pressure is 0? You are going to have pressure downstream however, just not the flow. You have to restrict flow wherever it is to have pressure (if your oil pump had no restriction it wouldn't make pressure either) just the small amount of oil in the line will cause enough restriction to make the oil flow through the path of least resistance (back to the pan). Whatever the case is, it works. And you're definately right, there is effectively "no pressure" if you stuck a guage in-line somewhere without any restriction.


RT,

I've had the Oilguard for three years, although it was off for a while because of possible warranty issues (don't want to give Ford any excuse not to fix something), they didn't fix the problem anyway! The life of the element, I've only gone for 10K miles but I would guess it's ok for 20K, someone on the Dieselstop told me they used them for 20k and it was still working good when I was researching which filter to get. I've got the EPS-20, truck is a 2000 model, and I use Blackstone Labs. http://blackstone-labs.com/index.html

__________________
1985 300D Turbo ~225k
2000 F350 (Powerstroke) 4X4, SWB, CC, SRW, 6spd ~148k
1999 International 4900, DT466e (250hp/660 ft/lbs), Allison MD3060 ~73k

There are a large number of very good bypass oil filters on the market, but if you get good filters (Wix, Hengst, Mann) you already have one in the Benz. Further, toilet paper isn't exactly a designed filter medium, and $11.00 every 10000 miles is peanuts. Very likely the toilet paper filter has either done nothing or gotten completely plugged long before that!

The restriction is to prevent the high side pressure from collapsing and sealing the filter off -- flow is low because the size of the pores is small, and without some pressure on the back side, the engine oil pressure would tend to crush the filter.

The flow rate will be fairly slow, and that's fine -- you are removing all the very fine particles you can in a small portion of the oil, so you effectively filter all of it eventually.

Some systems can remove larger soot particles as well (1 micron range, maybe smaller), but for our cars, we don't usually put enough miles on them to benefit much.

You aren't going to go wrong with a bypass fine filter, for sure.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

If the return line has to go up and the top of the loop is above the bottom of the filter, I predict that there will be a pool of oil at the bottom of the filter. The height of this pool of oil will be to the bottom of the loop where the loop goes up and above the bottom of the filter. If the pressure on the output side of the filter is effectively zero, then gravity needs to return the oil to the engine. It cannot do this if the return line travels upwards from the bottom of the filter. The oil will pool in the filter and the line.

Now, this whole discussion may be a moot point, because the oil will still get back to the pan. I would simply prefer that it take a direct path to the pan and not back up into the bottom of the filter because of a downstream loop.

Brian,
I fail to see how there can be a "pool of oil" at the bottom of the filter. The whole filter housing should be filled with oil. The oil enters the housing through a restriction orifice. It then flows into the filter media and through it being filtered as is passes. The clean oil is pushed, being displaced by more and more clean oil passing through the filter media, out through the return hose and into the engine. The only pressure in the return line would be whatever pressure is developed by a column of oil being pulled by gravity in the hose as it travels uphill. This would be insignificant since it is only a few inches, or maybe a foot at best. This is very similar to a garden hose when you close the spigot to just a trickle. You can hold the hose up and the water will still trickle out without any pressure just a low flow. The spigot is providing the restriction. Now block off the end of the hose and you will experience a pressure buildup until the pressure equalizes on each side of the spigot and then flow will stop. This make sense? RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

All this talk about downhill or uphill return lines is theory, really. I think Brian's got the right idea, but who cares? AFAIHF bypass filter companies say the return line should be lower than the filter. They have a reason....IMHO. That being said- I installed mine in the IP cooling loop and did not have to drill any holes. No problems after 4K miles.

RT, this is where we differ. The oil can only move if there is pressure behind it or if there is a downhill run ahead of it. My statement is that there is NO PRESSURE on this oil, after it has made its pass through the filter. It would go nowhere unless there is a downhill run to the pan. Since there is an uphill loop, immediately after the filter, the oil will pool. The height of the pool will be from the top of the loop to the bottom of the filter.

You can do the same thing with your garden hose. Just run the water at a trickle, set up a restriction in the line, representing the filter, so that there is pressure ahead of the restriction, and then loop the hose on the downstream side of the restriction. The hose will fill completely with water for the entire lower end of the loop, because there is no pressure to move it along. Gravity cannot work uphill.

But, enough of this discussion. William has the right idea. The filter will probably do a fine job, even if it does run with an uphill loop. Personally, I'd like to install it without the loop because I am very confident that there will be oil pooling in the filter.