Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/119523
Custom Rigs Pro Tips A bit on bypass oil filtration An oft-overlooked add-on to help improve engine life is a bypass oil filter. Bypass oil filtration has been around longer than I Upgrading to a bypass oil filtration system can help keep critical engine parts free from dirt damage that might mean a rebuild. have, and I've been in the trucking industry for 44 years. Why do we not see it factory-installed on new trucks? Cost. Bypass oil filters are not cheap. Installation requires time and hoses, but the benefits far exceed the cost – especially on engines that employ exhaust gas recirculation. Remember when coal miners used to get black lung from ingesting coal dust all day every day? Your EGR engine is ingesting soot all day every day, and it's abrasive to the cross hatch on the cylinder liners. Once the cross hatch is gone, the engine will consume oil, and a rebuild is necessary. Bypass oil filters can enhance the life of both the oil and the engine greatly, Bruce Mallinson is the owner of Pittsburgh Power, an engine performance shop in Saxonburg, Pa. and most filter down to 1 micron. The standard fullflow oil filter on an engine is somewhere between 20 and 40 microns. The human eye can see 40-micron dirt, and the clearance between a rod and main bearing while the engine is pulling a hill is about 2 microns. When the engine uses its first gallon of oil, it's indicating the oil filters no longer can filter out dirt, and it's the dirt between the piston rings and the cylinder walls that causes the engine to use oil. Text INFO to 205-289-3555 or visit www.ovdinfo.com 56 | Overdrive | April 2013 Pro_Tips_0413.indd 56 4/1/13 9:57 PM