I got in a pretty good discussion with someone at work today about oil. I am pretty knowledgeable in this subject. Hopefully others have benefitted from my experience here. After discussing the differences in oil with him (he was interested in Amsoil, but knew nothing about it which is why he asked me about my experiences with it) he mentioned that he uses a bypass filtration system and has done so for almost 30 years. As we all know, Amsoil makes a fantastic bypass filter, but it's just not very cost effective in our cars since the filters are so expensive. He informed me that he uses a Frantz filter and said all you need is, get this Toilet Paper for the filtering media. Very cheap to maintain and it filters to 1/10th of a micron. He has a 1983 Datsun 280ZX Turbo with 270,000 miles and has only changed the oil 4 times. The car runs amazing. He also has a early 90's Nissan Pickup with 311,000 miles on it for his daily driver and too still runs great. His round trip each day to work totals about 120 miles. Does anyone else have any experience with these filters. After reading about them, I found they have been around for a very long time. The website needs some work, but the product appears to have integrity.

www.wefilterit.com

 

I've been reading bobistheoilguy.com and several other forums and everybody says the Frantz and the motorguard (which also uses Toilet Paper for the filtering element) are fantastic affordable filters.

 

tp to clean the oil? thats a new one to me. buy it and tell us all about it!

 

I read for hours last night trying to find both positives and the all important negatives, but all the forums and sites I visited had nothing but positive reviews. Most of the sites were truck oriented sites or offroad related, but many were very informative. It seems to be a very well respected product. I may just try it.

 

Well, crappy crud. I have an Amsoil preferred membership and noticed the Amsoil bypass system is actually cheaper initially than the Frantz and it's a much neater install providing alot less mess to change the filters. I don't know what to do. Talkinghorse was great as usual, and alerted me to find the proper routing and mounting before attempting this. I'll take a look this weekend, but our Maximas are a pain with the oil filter so close to the tire well. Could make it too dangerous subjecting the feed and return line to possible damage, not to mention Nissan didn't leave much room.

 

bobo, you seem to be on bitog more than me nowdays, any ideas?

 

Virus,

The filter package we discussed was the BMK-13 Dual Remote which feeds off of the oil filter mounting port. The filter assy is quite large as it contains both the by-pass element and the full flow, the unit will also accomodate a host of larger full flow filters. This unit receives and returns oil to the engine by way of two very heavy duty hoses that are attached to the filter mounting flange adapter.

You will see in your pricelist and on the web that AMSOIL also offers the BMK-11 which is just a by-pass filter mounting kit. Since this is the by-pass only, it is smaller and will probably be easier to find a suitable location. With this kit, your original full flow is retained in it's current location. The BMK-11 includes a "t" fitting that you install where the oil pressure sending unit mounts...oil is fed to the bypass filter from this fitting by means of a much smaller, yet reinforced hose similar in size to a fuel line. The return line can be placed in a variety of locations, but the bad news is that you will have to drill a hole somewhere to install it...AMSOIL recommends installing the return line high on the drain pan, but i have also installed them in rocker arm/valve covers and in (metal) oil filler caps. Recommend you check out AMSOIL's web site under Product Information for more info. There is also a section on the site where folks have shared their installations... http://www.amsoil.com/bypassfilters/index.aspx This might give you some ideas.

Good luck and pls let me know if you decide to try it...

 

Sorry to be ig'nant, but can someone explain what this does?

How does it differ from an oil-catch can?

 

Don't know about an oil-catch can, but a bypass is a very fine filter that is used in conjunction with your full-flow. Typically a by-pass will remove contaminants down to a micron or less, greatly extending the life of the lubricant. Here's link that will give you a good overview...

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/bf.aspx

 

It's just like kidney dialisys for your oil. It literally removes all dirt from your oil allowing you to go 100,000, 200,000 or more on 1 oil change. It's been around since the late 50's and has been proven time and again.

 

Has anyone installed the Amsoil bypass system on 5.5 gen?
What kit did you go with BMK-13 or BMK-11, and where did you mount it?
Thanks

 

Finding space under the hood and keeping the lines out of harms way are the biggest challenges. I've installed several of these filters on other vehicles, but not on a Max. If you can find the space, a locally fabricated bracket might help in the mounting.

 

Does the oil itself break down? Or is oil basically indestructable( i know, just picked a word) and gets dirty from contaminants, which is why we change it? Like if someone built a brand new engine, sat on a stand and ran it from an outside source i.e. another motor driving the crank, so its filled with oil but not actually using any fuel, would the oil get dirty or break down?

 

No oil is "indestructible". There are a number of factors that will affect oil and chemical breakdown from heat, combustion by-products, and other forms of contamination are just a few. The key with a by-pass filter is to use a quality synthetic oil which is formulated for extended drain intervals, a very good air filter, and the by-pass oil filter to keep the oil analytically clean.

I don't advocate anyone try this, but I installed a by-pass filter on an older car I had. I ran it for over 4-yrs, nearly 40K without changing the oil...just annual filter changes and a lab analysis. I eventually changed the oil as I got carried away with carb cleaner and thought it might have leached into my crankcase and possibly diluted my oil....but prior to that, the lab results were very positive. Many large trucks use by-pass filters to minimize wear and extend drain intervals. It's questionable if it's cost effective on a car, unless you do it just for kicks like I did.

 

IMO, the bypass filters are a good option for certain engines when the owner wants to run very long OCI. I was toying with the idea of trying one on my VQ35, but after running a couple of UOAs with particle counts, I've shelved the idea for now. My oil was already showing ultra-low counts for particles 5 microns and above, so I'd have gained little from the byass. The tightest clearances in a piston engine are in this range. Also, the installation issues concerned me. First, underhood space is very tight (I've got a G35 -- pretty much same issues as on a Max, just 90 degrees out ). My car has a partitioned off "boxy" area behind the driver's side strut where the brake reservior resides. There's room, but I'd have to drill holes. Second, any added external oil plumbing makes me a little nervous as it increases the probability of loss of oil through a leak. If my engine starts producing more and larger particles as it ages (I'm at 18 mos and 50k miles), I might reconsider.

 

Yeah, what's the difference here, turds?

http://www.forums.maxima.org/showthr...&highlight=oil

 

An oil catch can is designed to remove oil vapors from the blow-by gasses being pushed out the PCV valve back into the intake manifold...it's designed to keep that nasty crap from depositing itself in your intake.

A by-pass oil filter serves an entirely different function...it's installed in the oil circulation system and it filters sub-micron sized particles from the oil.