Trasko Oil Filter......WOW!

[Ridgeman580]

This company with headquarters in Japan, Korea and the U.S. has developed
a spin-on oil filter that is so revolutionary in its design that it filters out smaller impurities than conventional filters, helps reduce oil temperature and increases mileage between oil changes. The filter housing has 36 built-in cooling fins that reduce oil temp. by 20%. It also has a bypass valve to maintain constant oil flow. 40% of all dirt particles in oil are smaller than 20 microns-the level at which most conventional filters operate. The Trasko Filter, however, filters to 1/10th of a micron. It also absorbs any water that may have found its way into the system. Moreover, Trasko says that their filter allows a vehicle to go 10,000 miles between oil changes. Available in three basic sizes, the Trasko Filter costs between $70 & $72. Then, replacement elements are $9.95. To learn more about the Trasko filter, call 904-381-8229 or go surfing at www.tasko-usa.com.

[mason]

I don't know anything about this filter so I won't comment but, if it seems to good to be true...

Here's a link to a good oil filter study.

Oil filter study

[Ridgeman580]

Have found out that Subaru was involved in the Trasko Filter research and testing.
This, coupled with astounding testimony
from people who have actually used the filter on a long term trial and attest to its
quality, leaves any other filter offered anywhere as being vastly inferior. To be able to capture particles as small as 1/10th of a micron in repeated documented tests, as well as having no
other filter manufacturer being able to dispell the validity of these tests, leads me to believe that this filter should be used by everyone. Why would anyone want to substitute a filter that only captures particles ranging from 40 down
to 20 full microns when they can have one that captures those as small as 1/10th of a single micron? Add to this the water absortion properties, and the 20%
cooler oil temp. ability of the filter and
we should realize that, at present, this is the best oil filter offered....by far.

[mason]

Originally posted by Ridgeman580
[b] The filter housing has 36 built-in cooling fins that reduce oil temp. by 20%.

In what cars? Adding fins will increase the surface area for cooling and ability to heat sink but unless the oil filter housing is in an area for air flow it could just as easily provide a heat sink for engine compartment heat into the oil. Oil coolers are usually mounted in the front of a car (or in the Elise in the side) at a place in the path of air flow. On the 2ZZ-GE the oil filter is on the side of the block away from any air flow.

It also has a bypass valve to maintain constant oil flow.

All oil filters have a bypass, but they are only necessary for when the filter elements get plugged. The bypass opens when the oil pressure increases due to engine oil not being able to flow through the filter media. Bottom line a bypass means that you're bypassing the filter and not keeping the oil clean. It's better than stopping the flow...

40% of all dirt particles in oil are smaller than 20 microns-the level at which most conventional filters operate.

I looked up some SAE ratings on basic paper oil filters and typical numbers for paper element filters are 40% at 10 microns, 60% at 20 microns, 93% at 30 microns, and 97% at 40 microns

The Trasko Filter, however, filters to 1/10th of a micron.

Sounds good but the how much particulate can it filter at that level before the filter element gets "blinded"? Then once a filter has been blinded by small particles the bypass opens and filtration goes to almost zero. In filtration it's always a trade off between depth of filtration and flow rates. You can't have it both ways, unless you greatly increase the surface area. Is this filter 10 times larger?

It also absorbs any water that may have found its way into the system.

How? I don't understand how a membrane filter with in a closed system can trap water molecules. What does it trap them in? Usually the main contaminant of engine oil besides particulate is fuel contamination.

It seems like you are more than a casual user of the product (providing phone numbers, prices and web addresses)... Maybe you have access to some independent studies corroborating these claims. I'm not dismissing you claims it just that a lot of your statements seem very grandiose without seeing the science behind them.

I'm very familiar with filtration as I have run and consulted on many different kinds of food manufacturing filtration systems. Including systems that provide sterile filtration.

[Ridgeman580]

If you go to Google and plot in'Trasko
Oil Filter' you will find abundant technical information. Why don't you pose all your
questions to their site, including your
technical assertions? I'm only the messenger.

[mason]

I apologize if you felt like I was being hostile towards you. I was simply asking questions because it seemed like you had a more intimate knowledge of the product/process from the tone of your post.

I posted that I wouldn’t comment and then you posted again making statements about the way the product works. I figured I would ask a few questions as it seemed like you had some answers. Again, I apologize for putting you on the spot. My intent was not to attack you but to try and clarify some statements (I assume from Trasko marketing information) that could to be true but perhaps a little misleading.

I wasn’t doubting you I was debating some of the statements that Trasko was making about their product.

[Ridgeman580]

No apology necessary. You may want to
check out the following three listings on the Google 'Trasko Oil Filter' lead page:
* Rigorous Field Tests
* Tom's VWPages (with an article on Rod Bearing Failures by Stuart MacMillan who worked in the microfiltration business and
speaks about Trasko.)
*Likely (article on Bypass Filtration by
John Wickerham who speaks about Trasko)

[deryl]

Altering the oil filtration system in such a way will more than likely void your engine warranty. My company has specifically voided warranties and walked away from engine failures when these type systems have been installed on engines.

Typically the warranty provided by these systems is a new filtration system should a failure occur. The owner is left with the engine repair bill.

[Tripledigits]

I've been using a dual oil filter system for years now, which consists of a full flow filter (like OEM filters) and a bypass filter which takes 10% of the oil flow and filters out the small particles (less than 1 micron). The trouble with the fine particle filters is that they, the last I read, were unable to handle full oil flow as a primary filter. Intuitively, this makes sense when you consider that to filter out smaller particles, a filter element would resist flow more than a filter designed to filter only larger particles. Maybe someone has come up with a way to have their cake and eat it, too, or maybe someone has stretched the truth. Only time will tell.

Like teflon in the oil for reducing wear, I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig on this one.

BTW, the dual filter system's filters are about $5 for the full flow and $20ish for the bypass (fine) filter. Recommended change intervals are 6 months for the full flow and 1 year for the bypass, up to 25,000 miles per year.

Jeff

[deryl]

First off all my databased knowledge is based on compression ignition (CI) engines used in on-highway, construction/mining, and marine. CI and SI (spark ignition) oils have different additive packages, BUT……Bypass filtration has been used for years in larger CI engines and you are correct in your background knowledge. The primary filtration is typically in the 30-40 micron absolute range while the bypass filtration is typically in the 8-10 micron absolute range. Absolute is usually defined as 99+% of the particles bigger than the micron rating are removed. Do note that even a 30-40 micron rated filter media will still remove 10-40% of 10 micron sized particles. It varies depending on how the media is designed in cooperation with the engineers designing the engines. Trust me filters are not something that are just slapped together. The bypass filtration also typically takes out sludge as the flow is generally slower across the media. Sludge is more prevalent in CI engines and can significantly impact time to rebuild.

The on-highway trucking fleets have tested a bunch of these type systems with detailed oil analysis. As background information imagine a 3,000 truck fleet, 100k miles driven per year per vehicle, 15k service intervals, 8 gallons of oil per change, $30 filter, and disposal cost for the oil/filters. The costs quickly add up. Fleets are also concerned with time to rebuild on the engines. Generally they have found no benefit in these systems and only increased risk as the engine manufacturer does not cover any lubrication related failures. The one thing they did find is synthetic oil used in conjunction with standard design ESI (extended service interval) filters can double or triple the oil change intervals because the additive package doesn’t breakdown as quickly, but it has to be VERY carefully monitored. They saw no benefit (measured in time to rebuild) in going to synthetic oil using standard oil change intervals.

The theory about these systems absorbing water is smoke/mirrors as it is unneeded. The small amount of water that gets into the engine from condensation will evaporate at normal engine operating temperatures.

So it boils down to soft benefits that are extremely hard to prove vs the down side you are voiding your engine lubrication warranty. I’ve got faith that the Toyota engineers designed the best system for their engine if I use the engine/vehicle under normal conditions (racing is a different condition). I’ll also stick with the OE filters so that if even that $0.05 gasket was improperly installed in the filter causing an engine failure I can go back to Toyota/Lotus and say YOUR filter caused YOUR engine to fail. Trust me I’ve seen it in $100+k engines in mining applications where the mining company saved $1 on a will fit filter, but it cost them $120k to rebuild an engine. I’ve also seen our company step up and pay for that rebuild when our filters are used.

[stevej]

A few years ago Consumer Reports did a cool test using New York City taxi cabs. Each group of cabs was put on a different oil change schedule, including never changing the oil (only adding oil), using synthetics, etc. After tens of thousands of miles the engines were taken apart and measured for wear. The result was no difference. I used to drive an old Citrone (a true mid engine car) and rebuilt the engine and ran it for 150,000 miles. This engine did not have an oil filter. What I did was change the oil every 1000 miles. With the Elise just change the oil every 3000, use an OEM filter and worry about something else - lots of other things can go wrong with a fast car and attempts to drive near the limit.

[mason]

deryl,

Great reading thanks for the interresting insight.

Mason