I build high performance motorcycle engines. As a result, I'm on a lot of forums and see this thread everywhere.
Just like A/H's, we all have opinions and this is mine on this subject so no need to write back "because someone on the internet is wrong" LOL
I'm very aware that oil/filters are the blood of your engines. Changing oil AND filters VERY regularly is thee single most important thing to do(not revving a cold engine is #2) if you want the engine to last. Luckily, most engines built in the last 25 years will easily live for a quarter million miles provided that that oil is always cleaned and changed, removing wear-inducing particles from the engine.
For used cars/trucks, I've always used regular Valvoline oil & Purolator filters. For my new SLK I used the correct insert filter and Mobil 1 synthetic. That car now has 190,000 miles and I had the cam cover off over the summer and took some close-up high-res photos. I showed these to a friend who owns his own shop which has a top notch reputation and I asked him to guess the mileage. He was wrong by 4 times...he guessed 30-40K! The cam wear was minimal at the most! Not too shabby for a supercharged engine!
The oil in my cars never gets dirty, ever.
I recently read several comparisons of oil filters. One has to read from several sources since many have their own agendas. The conclusion was that the Purolators(motorcrafts are the same filter) are very good for the money, Amsoil & Royal purple also showed very good or better results. I didn't decide this, just telling you the results. Fram, not so good BUT not terrible either as long as you change them!
Keep these two facts in mind....that despite what your charitable wife or girlfriend tells you, size matters...this goes for oil filters too. Those tiny filters used on many small 1.6L engines must be changed very often because they only have so much area to collect dirt before they go into bypass mode. The big PH-2 used on the 5.4 can collect a lot more because they have a lot of area to collect the dirt. If you ever doubt the amount of dirt your engine produces, pull & weigh that old filter and fill a new one with oil & compare the two!
Second...if you wait too long to change your oil filter, it will simply go into bypass mode which is supposed to recirculate your dirty oil but because of how they are made, often dump all that collected dirt BACK INTO YOUR ENGINE!
My GF's car had one of those 1/4 filters as I refer to them and even at 3,000 miles, it was full of dirt.
As long as you use a good quality correct viscosity oil, stay away from "Joe's filter" or other off brand filters and change both often, you will be in good shape! That's the bottom line. Try to stick with the same oil for the life of the engine as using a different oil will cause different imprinting on the metal to metal surfaces, not damage per se but different. If you must use a different oil, try to remove and replace it with your usual oil as soon as you can.
For my new '17 Expy,Mobil 1 /Motorcraft syn(made by Kendall) Ford FL500S, or the Purolator Classic L22500 are my two choices for filters and oil.
jeff
References:
http://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...ilter-testing-results-thread-4g63t-4b11t.html
http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/oilfilterstudy.html
https://bobistheoilguy.com/
http://www.austincc.edu/wkibbe/oilfilterstudy.htm
