Monday - April 21, 2008

Do it yourself and save!!

My car was badly in need of an oil change. The local shops want $29.95 plus tax for the job, and for that you get a no-name filter and some no-name oil, with the hope they match your proper viscosity. I used to do all my own car repairs but I got out of the habit. Sooner or later you get tired of the skinned knuckles, the ruined clothes, and the gritty dirt that gets ground right through your skin. So you pay somebody else if you can afford it. Well, I can’t afford it anymore. So I got out the tools - an adustable wrench and a rubber strap wrench, and did my own oil change.

For the same amount of money as the shops charge I was able to get a quality filter, a 5 quart jug of Mobil 1 Extended Performance synthetic oil, and a drain pan. And thanks to the internet I found the “easy” way to change my filter - jack the car up, turn the wheel to the left, take off the front passenger tire and pop out the plastic fender liner. Then I could reach right in and grab the filter. The only other way to get at the thing is to put the car up on a lift.

Total time - 1 hour. Oil spilled - 5 drops. I hardly even dirty. Amazing. I’ll take the old oil down to the gas station. And I’ll see if this synthetic oil stuff gets me any better mileage. Regular is going for $3.35 a gallon here, so suddenly I’m really interested in more efficient operation. Time to check the tire pressure too.

Next up is cleaning the EGR module and doing the brakes. Then it’s time to replace the oxygen sensors. That’s expensive, but they’re 12 years old now, and new ones are supposed to get you 15% better mpg. Plus they’ve been giving me those annoying Service Engine Soon engine codes, so I know it’s time to do that job.

Once a geek, always a geek. You don’t think I just went to the store, bought whatever, and slapped it on the car did you? Ok, actually I did. But then I did my research afterwards so I’ll know better next time.

Good luck trying to figure out what a “good” oil filter is these days. Just try and find the Multi-pass “Beta Ratios” and the result of all the other
kinds of certification tests they all claim to have passed. This is hard to do.  If you can find out who actually built the oil filter - and there seem to be only 6 or 7 companies worldwide that repackage them for everybody, AND you can research up the Beta Ratio, what you’ll
probably see is something like “2/20=21/37” which is nearly meaningless. If your engine is built to 0.001” tolerances, and most are built AT LEAST that close these days, then a 25 micron particle of dirt
can get jammed in that 0.001” gap. Give a little room for the oil film that sticks to the metal surfaces, and you should be looking for a Beta test that uses a particle half that size - 12 microns. Tolerances
of 0.0005” are not uncommon, which implies a filter that can stop 6 micron sized particles. So you would like to see test results using pretty small particles.

Actually catching the dirt would be nice too. Or most of it. A beta ratio of 2 means that only 50% of the dirt bits of the tested size or larger get caught, while a beta ratio of 10 means 90% get caught and a beta ratio of 20 = 95%.

So what the “2/20=21/37” data means is that the filter catches 50% (Beta value = 2) of particles 21 microns in diameter, and 95% (Beta Value = 20) 37 microns and larger. Well, isn’t that special? No,
not really, since the particles are too large and the capture percentage is too low. This data was from a premium filter too.  The one on my car is the size of an On The Rocks glass. When I was first driving an oil filter was almost the size of a 1lb coffee can (and you got a whole pound of coffee in that can too!).  Since the filter technology hasn’t changed very much in the past 30 years, these mini-filters can not last as long as the old big ones. One more reason you have to change your oil more often.Bottom line - most oil filters are crap.

I think my takeaway here is that cars are designed to wear out. Yet the big tractor trailer trucks last for millions of miles. A big part of it must be that they have multiple oil filters, because those engines
are made out of the same metals car engines are, and they use motor oil just the same way. And they’re all diesels, often with turbos, so they run at much higher pressures too, which ought to wear out
rings and valve seals faster. But even though they get run all day every day, and get hotter, they last 10 times as long. Better filtration. What else can it be?

Posted by Drew458     on 04/21/2008 at 03:43 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
• Comments (16) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner