Prolong Vehicle and Engine Life- Franz Oil Filter

[matthewaqui]

Hey Folks, I wanted to see if anyone has installed a Franz Oil Filter in their LS1... since the engine bay is so tight, installation is tricky ......if you were old enough, you would somewhat know about the Franz Oil Filtration system that was popular in the 60s. From what I have known and heard, this filter will prolong your vehicle/engine life through and through where you won't be wasting money on oil change and vehicle repair.

I have purchased this Filter 4 years ago and have yet to install it. More than that, I located and purchased a custom oil filter extension entailing centrifugal oil tap return. This filter I believe is the top of the line that oil and filter companies don't want you to know about for they will be out of business. By the way, typical filters of such are currently in the Saturns... though they don't utilize the toilet paper. I have not installed it for the time involved..........I bet get on this project soon to extend the life of the vehicle and saving on the purchase of oil....

Read more about this filter here:



The OIL and Filters Page



There are some interesting things going on in the Automotive industry, Mechanics are seeing more and more problems directly related to dirty or coked oil. I have personally seen a number of engines that had fewer than 50,000 miles on them that have been destroyed by lack of oil changes. Some car owners think oil changes are optional. The never ending challenge to produce higher mileage and fewer emissions is forcing change, not all of it is good when it comes to longevity.



I offer the following as an example as to why you should consider installing a by pass filter and move to synthetics.



The Hydraulic lifter above shares space with a dime. This little part has made it's way into lots of engines, a common Japanese V6 will have 24 of these. As you can imagine, the little oil passages within this lifter can get plugged up and cause it to fail. In addition, that little 'O' ring you see will eventually get hard and brittle and fail. These little units often sell for $28 each at your dealer... do the math! Mechanics are busy changing out these little guys as I write. Adding a bypass filter and moving to synthetics never made more sense, you'll supply cleaner oil to your engine and lower the temp some, both will assure these (and other parts) live far longer lives.

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At this point I am convinced that BYPASS FILTERS should be installed on anything you plan on driving past 100,000 miles. Or continuos duty generator sets you wish to run versus work on.

I've read accounts of people mounting industrial type bypass filters on cars and driving 500,000 miles without an oil change, they claimed to have sent samples of their oil to a lab for testing and found that it was as clean as the stuff being sold as new oil. How can this be? What about acids, anti wear properties, oil molecules wearing out and all that stuff? Keep reading...

Then one of my friends that works for a well known rebuilder of massive (expensive) hydraulic pumps got interested in filters, He has been using the resources of his Company's lab and their oil analysis program. His conclusion is.... There are indeed oil filters that can filter down to one or two microns in the bypass mode. There is no need to change oil when you have the correct filters in place. The replacement oil during a filter change will keep the additive properties high enough to be effective, the removal of particles in the <20 micron range will indeed help extend the life of a vehicle. He feels the proper name for a full flow filter should be "strainer", because that's all they do.

If you look into this further, you'll find the government is big on by pass filters that use paper towel rolls. In fact, lots of Hummers and other military vehicles use these filters.

"My conclusion"; there are bypass filters that you could install on your generator set along with the regular filter that will greatly reduce particle size in the oil; can this be a bad thing?

There is no doubt (in my mind) that a good filter system could eliminate oil changes if proper filter change intervals are established.

Enter 'bypass filters' into your search engine, check out Gulf Coast Filters, be sure to check pricing before you buy. I have found prices double from vendor to vendor for the same filter system!

If you have an oil filter on a Chinese Horizontal, a Petter, or a Lister, consider sending me email and telling me about it, we need to share the best ways to add filtration for the lube oil.

An interesting note: Years ago; there was an oil filter called the 'Frantz Filter' , it used a roll of toilet paper as the filter element. Some people swore by them, the majority of folks knew it had to be a bad idea, and poo pooed it.

Today, we have the Pentagon endorsing toilet paper and paper towel filters!, oil companies use toilet paper filters in their oil field pump engines. It's time to add a bypass to the things you love.

Here's an email I found on the net, I think this guy is right on target...



Subject: Franz Oil Cleaner

Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997

From: Rod Leggett <tac@hia.net>

The information on your web page is not quite accurate or up-to-date concerning the Franz Oil Cleaner.

Back in the 60's the Franz Oil Cleaner was sold through individual distributors. Kind of like Tupperware. The filter was very controversial. A lot people thought the toilet paper would come apart and clog up the engine. The fact was, the filter was ingenious. It was designed on the premise that oil never wears out -- it just gets contaminated. It wasn't designed to replace the engine's oil filter.

The unit was mounted usually in a place under the hood that was easily accessible. Usually on one of the tire wells or firewall. It had a chrome cover the size of a roll of toilet paper. You placed a roll of toilet paper inside the cover and slid the cover over a metal tube about the size of the toilet paper core. It attached to a base using a ring-type clamp. It had a rubber o-ring gasket at the base, and when you set the clamp, you got an oil-tight seal. It had two small pipe-fitting connections on the bottom. Using the connectors that came with the unit, you would attach a rubber hose to the opening marked "inlet" on the Franz and the other end to a fitting on the engine that had oil pressure. It came with a fitting that would allow you to unscrew the oil pressure gauge fitting and install the Franz fitting, which had two outlets. You could then reinstall the oil pressure fitting and a fitting that would allow you to connect the Franz Oil Cleaner. The other opening on the Franz was discharge outlet. You usually punched a hole in the oil pan and screwed in a fitting that came with the unit. You then connected a hose back to the outlet on the unit.

The Franz didn't replace the oil filter that came on the car for two main reasons. First, you didn't want to void the car's warranty and second, you couldn't replace the filter, because a car's filter was designed not to restrict the oil pressure or flow to the engine parts. A cars oil filter doesn't clean oil, it just filters small microscopic metal parts from the oil.

Now this is where the Franz Cleaner was ingenious. About 10% of the car's oil would flow through the Franz. It went from the bottom and up through the tightly packed toilet paper into the center tube and back down in to the engine pan.

The toilet paper not only cleaned the oil, it removed water from it. You never had to change the oil, only the roll of toilet paper. One of the reasons I think it didn't catch on was that most of the cars at the time were using oils with additives. The additives would automatically under heat change the color of the oil from fresh clear-looking oil to black dirty-looking oil, even though it was as clean as the day you poured it out of the can. In conducting an experiment using oil without any additives, the oil never changed color. It remained as clear as the day it came out of the can.

The Franz had a metal wire that was in the cleaner top that was placed there before you inserted the toilet paper so when it came time to change, you unfastened the clip at the bottom, removed the top, then you could use the metal wire to pull the paper out of the holder. Yes, if you weren't real careful and didn't know what you were doing it could be messy. If you did know what you were doing, it was great.

Just think about it. When it came time to change the oil & filter all you did was pop the hood, replace the toilet paper in the Franz, add 1 quart of oil to the engine, and you were ready for another 3,000 or 5,000 miles. You never needed to change the car's regular oil filter because no sludge ever built up in the engine to clog it up. You didn't need to drain and change the car's engine oil because it remained clean and free from contaminants. Your cost for an oil and filter change? One quart of oil and one roll of toilet paper.

Franz cleaners were not only used to clean a car's engine oil, they also were used to keep the radiator water clean and the transmission fluid clean. They also made one that held 3 rolls of toilet paper and was used for large diesel trucks or or any large gasoline- or diesel-driven equipment or machinery.

I'm not real sure why the company didn't survive. It may have been its distribution process or the failure of the public to accept it, but one thing is for sure, it worked.

Very truly yours,

Rod Leggett

[Sunset T/A]

Rod, you are absolutely right. When my neighbor showed me that filter on his 1936 Ford, I thought he was crazy, until he took the roll of paper out and unrolled it and showed me the dirt it trapped in between EVERY layer. I was a firm believer immediately. I had one on my 1955 Chevy until I swapped engines.

[mr.yellow]

Nice post! Very informative!

[Fastcar]

Well, if it's the best thing since sliced bread was invented why don't you install your filter on your LS1 and give us a report on how well it works? I hear that you can still buy Marvel Mystery Oil too. Synthetic oil & filter change every 3K miles for me, thank you. Don't tell me that the toilet paper filter media doesn't shed fibers. And, what eliminates the acid byproducts caused by the combustion process? I don't think so...... By the way, additives are added to oil to improve it's viscosity, lubricating properties and to help clean the engine (detergents). Detergents help keep the contaminant particles in suspension so they can be carried to the filter and trapped. An oil without additives has no detergency or cleaning action, so it won't change color. I would be extremely worried if my used oil came out clear - that tells me that it's not working properly and cleaning the cr*p out of my engine. Also, the Pentagon endorses the war and the way Bush wants to run it! If you believe them, I've got some real estate you might be interested in....

[matthewaqui]

By all mean you are correct, viscosity and detergent and the other elements preventing wear from the engine is needed. Here is what you don't know... every time you remove the roll of toilet paper filtration, you add just one quart of oil to replace the soaked up one. In this sense, you are circulating the protective with a new quart every oil change back into the engine.

M.......................

[02WS6dream]

wow...though i'm inclined to write a very sarcastic response to this...I realize that I do not have the knowledge to write an effective WTF!? So..I will just say that I will not be installing a Charmin on mine...and would like to begin a petition for Sarge's input on this. Anyone else feeling this way???

[02WS6dream]

time for another beer...

[Sarge]

By Pass filtration has been around forever. Lots of folks sell bypass filters.....the touchwood is very basic. Under high pressure the "regular" filter works on particles down to say 15-20 microns....a by pass filter is just that....it takes a bit of the oil flow and under low pressure filters down to 2-5 microns....and that is a good thing.....tons of folks made/make by pass filter systems....Amsoil is one.....
But what is the advantage of a by pass filter.....in the big picture not much at all....if you are utilizing a decent oil and a decent off the shelf oil filter your still going to last a kabillion miles and have great performance....If you are utilizing rational Oil Change Intervals and the above methodology of oil disipline then a by pass filter is not going to gain you anything at all.....decent air filtration is more important than a by pass filter.....so bottom line is this.....toilet paper or synthetic media by pass filters do what they claim....but so what....your not really gaining anything at all....

[Smkn_TA]

LoL, actuall had these at the old job I worked at for generators. I laughed the first time my boss told me grab some buttwipe and change that filter. But would not work for me. I live in midwest, huge seasonal weather changes. I go 5w 30 in winter, and 10 30 autum, 10 40 summer/spring. And change it with new fram every 2000 miles.

[SSTODD]

LoL, actuall had these at the old job I worked at for generators. I laughed the first time my boss told me grab some buttwipe and change that filter. But would not work for me. I live in midwest, huge seasonal weather changes. I go 5w 30 in winter, and 10 30 autum, 10 40 summer/spring. And change it with new fram every 2000 miles.

uh oh, the fram is not doing what you think. Switch brands and search the oil and filter discussions for the cut open frams that are a joke.

[Sarge]

uh oh, the fram is not doing what you think. Switch brands and search the oil and filter discussions for the cut open frams that are a joke.

I agree buddy.....Fram filters suck that ass and are cheap POS....but this thread isnt about Frams......different thing But I admire you slamming Fram whenever you get the chance.....Franz is not Fram....
:0 :0

[SSTODD]

LoL, actuall had these at the old job I worked at for generators. I laughed the first time my boss told me grab some buttwipe and change that filter. But would not work for me. I live in midwest, huge seasonal weather changes. I go 5w 30 in winter, and 10 30 autum, 10 40 summer/spring. And change it with new fram every 2000 miles.

I was responding to this post about him using a fram oil filter.

[35thAnniZ28]

your a salesman arent you

[SSTODD]

your a salesman arent you

Who are you asking? I'm not.

[Ratdaddy07]

Hey fast car, where is that real estate? I run several businesses and about to buy another. I do a damn good job but work all the time and it is never perfect. Have you tried it? You might not be so hard on any president about running the most powerful and complicated country in the world if you had. I know we are not supposed to be political but since you started it GO BUSH, let him do it and get the bleeding hearts out of his way and it will be done right. Filtration system? I gotta agree with you on that one.

[Smkn_TA]

Just bought three k&n filters...at 10 bucks a pop you better be right about this damn it.

[02z28ls1]

What's next-curb feelers? Wow- this is stone age- toilet paper filters........... Look -these things were being sold everywhere back in the 60's and early 70's, it wasn't because of poor sales distribution that they failed. And the guy that started this thread hasn't installed his for four years now!!! But he wants everyone to go out and get one? Why? So they can talk about how great it sits in the box? W/E
Next I'll have a mod telling me to be nice to this guy too.........

[Sarge]

No you won't.

[matthewaqui]

I started the thread as a discussion about a product. I'm surveying who is aware and who has used these bypassed filters.

I have not installed it for it does take some time running the oil line without cutting into the oil pan for the return. Other than that, I have not installed it for I only drive my vehicle 1 day a month for some odd 50 miles to charge the battery and circulate all internal fluids.

Do I want to install it? Yes I do.

Does it work, or does it help on the wear and tear of the engine? Yes it does. Since this is a bypass, you have to remember that the existing oil filter will also need replacement upon an oil addition.

Speak to someone who has a Saturn and you will see that they have the exact same bypass as their oil filter. I have this filter stock on my Saturn. These filters are very small, compact, internal, circular and the twice the price of a regular filter. They don't make a mess to replace at all.

Precisely stated would be to say that a Bypass Filter saves money on changing a full 4 or 5 quart of oil and that of having to completely drain.... despite the necessary oil filter replacement and a roll of paper.

All in all, I conclude that this extra filter can not be all bad for engine if better.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

What's next-curb feelers? Wow- this is stone age- toilet paper filters........... Look -these things were being sold everywhere back in the 60's and early 70's, it wasn't because of poor sales distribution that they failed. And the guy that started this thread hasn't installed his for four years now!!! But he wants everyone to go out and get one? Why? So they can talk about how great it sits in the box? W/E
Next I'll have a mod telling me to be nice to this guy too.........

[Sarge]

Well now hold on son.....TBN degrading is what specifies OCI's...not the filtration capability of ones oil filters.....