Filtration Solutions FS2500
Bypass Oil Filter for Trucks and SUVs
[For many decades, consumers have been enticed to use “special” engine oil filters and additives despite a lack of real evidence for their effectiveness. I was dubious when Joachim Klehe told me of a bypass system from Filtration Solutions Worldwide that might have the potential to double engine life in pickup trucks, SUVs, and full-size Big Rigs, but Joachim makes a convincing case. CP]
The FS-2500 is a remote mounted bypass oil filter which cleans oil at an efficiency of 2.78 microns absolute. This allows the user to extend oil drain intervals dramatically, and most importantly, stop up to 99% of the wear in the engine. Only the bypass filter element is changed app. every 10,000 miles rather than the oil being drained and changed, reducing oil consumption and used oil disposal. Most of the testimonials for the FS-2500 note that the long-haul users change their oil between 60,000 and 80,000 miles. The light pickup and SUV users go between 30,000 and 50,000 miles between changing their oil.
If someone is skeptical about going that long between oil changes, the FS-2500 folks also offer an “Oil Analysis” club where oil can be extracted from the bypass filter via a T-valve and sent to the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, TX.
Maybe the FS-2500 could be adapted for use on a passenger car, but I suspect there would be two major challenges: a safe and secure mounting location, as it’s a fairly large unit, and a means of mounting the oil fitting on the engine’s regular oil filter where there’s sufficient pressure.
— Joachim Klehe
[Since most of the damage inside an engine is probably caused by small particles which act in the same way as an abrasive cleaner, a really good filtration system should make a dramatic difference. Whether it’s worth the money will depend on whether you plan to continue using one vehicle for many years into the future, and if you live in an area where underbody corrosion may terminate the vehicle’s useful life before engine wear. –CP]
Filtration Solutions FS-2500
Price depends on vehicle: Call 888-440-9056
Information (including videos) available at Filtration Solutions
Patrick Hahn writes regarding Filtration Solutions FS2500:
I was intrigued by the oil filter post and did some digging. There are a couple of things about this product (and similar ones) that I dug up. The first is that this is indeed a ‘bypass’ system which does not replace your standard oil filter. Instead of being a high-flowing filter that all of the oil destined for your engine runs through, it is a much lower-flow filter that filters a small part of the oil going through your system all the time, gradually lowering the particulate count in the oil system.
As for the usefulness of these systems, I have no first-hand experience, but I did find some decent testimonials from sources other than the manufacturer.
The first is a story in a trade magazine, Concrete Products which details one large scale installation of these filters on a fleet of heavy equipment. They conclude that bypass filters can be very effective and can lengthen oil change times dramatically but they do require a solid oil testing procedure to ensure oil quality.
Making Mountains Out Of Microns
It seems to me that if you are building or buying a truck that you intend to have around until roughly the end of time or that you will be putting large numbers of miles on (a cross-country RV or somesuch) that any bypass filter would be a sound investment. As you say, even well-made small vehicles usually succumb to rust, body damage and inept maintenance long before any oil-based engine damage can occur.
02/15/06
