Other than oil, I tend to do other filters every 2 or 3 years.
I used to do them every year then thought the ones I'm taking out look like new - compared to those when you buy a car that haven't been changed in several years.
Poll: Oil change
- Thread starter AnthonyH
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Poll: Oil change
I used to do them every year then thought the ones I'm taking out look like new - compared to those when you buy a car that haven't been changed in several years.
Another of Andy Monty's excellent guides: https://www.fiatforum.com/guides/how-to-install-replace-the-pollen-cabin-filter.668/
For us older chaps it involves a most uncomfortable wriggle around in the footwell! I'm not sure if non air con cars have them? My boy's 2012 certainly does, damn it!
I think a lot of the problem with trying to asses whether extending oil change intervals is risky or not is that you've no real way of assessing whether the polymer (what makes multigrade multigrade) is breaking down or the additive package is exhausted or not. For many years I've been obsessed with "rescuing" elderly horticultural machinery - so old cultivator/rotavators, lawn movers, etc. The people who operate these machines are very often excellent gardeners but very ignorant about machinery. Low oil levels, failing to do any maintenance, even oil changes, and using the wrong oils is common along with gross missuse of the machines - failing to empty grass boxes on rotary mowers is a common practice and puts severe strain on these small engines when the blade is trying to recirculate the already cut grass which is spilling back due to the grass box being over full. If you want your machine to have a long life then don't let your grass box get much more than 3/4 full before emptying.
Having run my own grounds maintenance squad for 15 years I've seem the results at first hand. A lot of the locals and people associated with my work, got to know I was a "fixer" of dead or dying machines and ended up on my doorstep asking for help. Many of the machines were quite old which was where my interest in even older machines came from. However, back to the point of this rambling. I much prefer to use a single weight oil in these primitive air cooled engines. Some of the more modern machines I bought for use in my own squad were recommended to run on multigrade with 10w-30 often specified. Older machines (side valve Biggs and Stratton and Tecumseh in particular) are pretty much universally recommended to use straight SAE30. What I found was that when the machines were being used on light duties, so on lawns where the grass was being cut regularly and the grass boxes were being emptied appropriately a multigrade oil worked well. However when a machine was working very hard on "stupidly long" grass perhaps or where the operator was repeatedly failing to empty the grass box when full, the engines running multigrade would fail very often with piston ring and bore damage. The ones running straight 30 weight (or 40 weight if an older machine, to control oil consumption) could get so hot not only the head would be smoking and the paint shriveling up but also crankcases might be too hot to touch. If I caught them quickly enough, set the machine aside to run without load to keep the cooling air flowing - DON'T just stop a very over heated air cooled engine, it needs the airflow - then often, once cooled down, the machine would work normally again. My theory is that the polymer in the multigrade and some of the "fancy" additive package was breaking down. The multigrade oil subsequently removed from such machines was truly "horrible" and burnt whereas the oil from the machines running straight 30 weight still looked like, well, oil! Further research revealed that these simple straight grade oils don't contain much by way of additive packages, so, for instance, most are low detergent. I now fill all these types of engine with straight SAE30 and have no problems. I'm not talking here about more sophisticated machines with pressurized oil systems and oil filters where I'd always use the recommended lube - but engines like these are more usually fitted to really professional machines so are less likely to be abused anyway. I also changed their oil twice during the season. For many years I've run this product:
indeed my own old "Harry" rotary mower, with a very ancient, non standard, Tecumseh side valve runs on this oil and I've never had a machine running on it fail due to a lube problem.
Well, I digressed a bit there didn't I, I'm sure noone who follows my ramblings will be surprised at that. Hope someone found it interesting. Air cooled engines are very interesting lube wise, with their own particular problems - such as localized hot spots and much wider operational heat ranges.
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Yup, I know my way of doing it is excessive. Oil filters though MUST be changed at every oil change (as you say you do) Where possible I prefer to use an actual manufacturer's oil filter - not so fussy about the others - but maybe I'm being "silly" because I'm sure the manufacturer's will be farming out stuff like oil filters rather than manufacturing them themselves. I used to use Mahle filters a lot but my pal's motor factors closed down - he got old and ill unfortunately - so now, if I can't easily source a genuine manufacturer's product, I will buy "big name", so Mahle, Bosch, Fram, Mann, etc but I do worry just a little about all the you tube videos which show people who've had problems with even "big name" filters.
By the way, A subject which seems to attract considerable discussion, do you prefill oil filters (canister type) or fit them dry? I always do my best to get as much oil into them as possible to reduce the time on start up that the engine runs with no or reduced oil pressure. I know there's quite a following of the opinion that prefilling oil filters always risks dirt being introduced on the engine side of the filter medium but I just don't buy that. Can't see that where a new filter is being filled from a new can/pack of engine oil there is any risk of "foreigners" getting in - providing you practice reasonable care. I've done it all my life and I'm not changing now.
Given most oil filters fit one sideways, good luck trying to fill them and not wearing it all during the refit. (the GT4 I had the filter point up the way, just slackening it meant oil everywhere)
Never pre-filled them, and start on tickover until light goes out and enignine quiet before revving it.
Never pre-filled them, and start on tickover until light goes out and enignine quiet before revving it.
For sideways mounted filters I fill them half full and don't hang about when fitting them. The oil seems to be retained behind the filter medium and anti leak down seal as you screw it on. I don't have a problem with oil leaking out and it very considerably reduces the time the engine runs without oil pressure. For instance on the Ibiza - sideways fitting filter - which has one of these "silly" ECU controlled oil warning lights - The light doesn't illuminate until, with engine running, a few seconds have passed with no pressure detected - The light illuminates before the pressure can build enough to defeat the ECU whereas if the filter is half filled the light never comes on.
Of course trying to fill an "upside down" filter is not on!
