Washable oil filter?

Learn me.  Are these good?  Bad?

How does one clean one in an environmentally friendly way?  Drain it as much as possible, then hose it off somewhere?

https://www.knfilters.com/oil-filters/ss-1002-oil-filter-billet

I very much like the concept of not generating a bunch of trash.

In. I've always wondered about these, but was never brave enough to try one.

I keep looking at them too but I'm not brave enough to try one on something expensive and too cheap to try one on a beater.

It sort of seems like they'd need to be cleaned using an ultrasonic tank though. We used to do that with P2 filters on the TPE331 fuel control which were also an ultra fine wire mesh.

I've looked closely into it. Short version: They're the K&N filter of oil filters, a cowcatcher. They only make sense for dedicated race cars that get frequent oil changes and engine rebuilds.

looks like a mess, and a pain in the ass, with incorrect or environmentally unsafe cleaning procedures used in almost all cases. 

One of my old Hillman Imps had a factory washable oil filter.  You took the canister off and there was a sort of cylindrical thing made of tightly would loops of wire.  You removed it, washed it in petrol then put it back in!  I'm sure it was almost completely ineffective, but they used to exist!

Nothing useful to add I'm afraid though.

Not really washable, but I used to use the Crosland felt filters - felt in an accordion over a wire mesh core.   On a race car, you could take them and pull the felt part off and stretch it out to read the entrails like a paleolithic priest reading the entrails of a sacrificial animal.  If there was any 'glitter paint' component, the bearings were in need of servicing.

Wouldn't want to try and wash them out for reuse, though.  have you looked for those old J C Whitney filters that take a roll of toilet paper in the canister......

Adrian_Thompson said:

One of my old Hillman Imps had a factory washable oil filter.  You took the canister off and there was a sort of cylindrical thing made of tightly would loops of wire.  You removed it, washed it in petrol then put it back in!  I'm sure it was almost completely ineffective, but they used to exist!

Nothing useful to add I'm afraid though.

I can remember working with aircraft engines that just had an "oil screen" instead of an actualy filter.  You still cleaned/serviced it at every oil change.

We always characterized them as some unable to catch anything you couldn't read the part number off once you found it in the screen.

ProDarwin said:

I very much like the concept of not generating a bunch of trash.

European style cartridge filters are designed to be incinerated.  No plastic or metal.

They were made by a different company before, I can't remember the name. I ran one for maybe the first 100K on my truck. They are indeed a monumental pain in the ass to clean. The truck always had lower oil pressure at idle than I was comfortable with when I was running it and I eventually just went back to conventional filters. My old one is probably around somewhere. Didn't kill anything, but I don't want to do it again. 

I would be totally stressed out by trying to make sure a metal shaving or piece of hard dirt didn't find its way onto the wrong side of the filter media.  I'd never trust it, or me. I think I'll stick to my stock-type filtration. 

wspohn said:

Not really washable, but I used to use the Crosland felt filters - felt in an accordion over a wire mesh core.   On a race car, you could take them and pull the felt part off and stretch it out to read the entrails like a paleolithic priest reading the entrails of a sacrificial animal.  If there was any 'glitter paint' component, the bearings were in need of servicing.

Wouldn't want to try and wash them out for reuse, though.  have you looked for those old J C Whitney filters that take a roll of toilet paper in the canister......

 

I had several old guys tell me how well toilet paper fits in a canister filter that takes the c4 cartridges.  

Patrick said:

wspohn said:

Not really washable, but I used to use the Crosland felt filters - felt in an accordion over a wire mesh core.   On a race car, you could take them and pull the felt part off and stretch it out to read the entrails like a paleolithic priest reading the entrails of a sacrificial animal.  If there was any 'glitter paint' component, the bearings were in need of servicing.

Wouldn't want to try and wash them out for reuse, though.  have you looked for those old J C Whitney filters that take a roll of toilet paper in the canister......

 

I had several old guys tell me how well toilet paper fits in a canister filter that takes the c4 cartridges.  

I think this thread is about washable filters, not flushable filters.

Robbie said:

Patrick said:

wspohn said:

Not really washable, but I used to use the Crosland felt filters - felt in an accordion over a wire mesh core.   On a race car, you could take them and pull the felt part off and stretch it out to read the entrails like a paleolithic priest reading the entrails of a sacrificial animal.  If there was any 'glitter paint' component, the bearings were in need of servicing.

Wouldn't want to try and wash them out for reuse, though.  have you looked for those old J C Whitney filters that take a roll of toilet paper in the canister......

 

I had several old guys tell me how well toilet paper fits in a canister filter that takes the c4 cartridges.  

I think this thread is about washable filters, not flushable filters.

Maybe not but if they would make a bypass filter that would hold the charmin forever roll...

The cartridge filter on my mercedes is messy enough without trying to clean the filter, cleaning out the cannister and replacing bottom cannister crush washer is enough fun for an oil change for me.