Oil Filters

I've always used Cummins Fleetguard oil filters on my Cummins 6BT's but they are expensive and not commonly found. I was thinking of using a comparable NAPA filter.
Comments?

Tony Athens told me to use Fleet guard.


I order them from him so they are easy to get. There are several filter stores on the web. In fact I order all my parts from SBmar because I know I'll get the correct part.

I've used NAPA filters on a lot of different engines. No complaints here.

I wish NAPA's web site had listing for diesel parts.

No problem using Wix/Napa on a b-motor. You can cross part numbers on the Wix website. Most oil filters sold by Napa are made by Wix, and I consider them good quality.

I stick with OEM for C-series as they have a novel venturi-forced bypass filter inside the big can. No such thing on the B.

I have never had a problem using WIX , NAPA or Baldwin in any engines over the years. Often I will cut the old filter open to see what is in there and a by product of doing that is to see the filters construction.

Ski in NC said:

No problem using Wix/Napa on a b-motor. You can cross part numbers on the Wix website. Most oil filters sold by Napa are made by Wix, and I consider them good quality.

I stick with OEM for C-series as they have a novel venturi-forced bypass filter inside the big can. No such thing on the B.

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Hmmm, that's interesting to know. Been using Wix on my Cummins 6CT 300 HP for 12+ years now. But then I change filter and oil much more frequently because I run it 300 off the max 90% or the time.

If you're buying Wix in bulk, FleetFilter Secure Store - Wix, Fram, Baldwin, Luberfiner is great price wise.

Ted

O C Diver said:

Hmmm, that's interesting to know. Been using Wix on my Cummins 6CT 300 HP for 12+ years now. But then I change filter and oil much more frequently because I run it 300 off the max 90% or the time.

Ted

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Nothing wrong with running a Wix on a C, it's just my preference to use OEM. Lots of c's run Wix and never heard of an issue. My local Cummins dealer gives me decent prices, too.

What interval do you change your oil on the 300? I run my 450 at about 200-250hp at cruise and an oil sample at 200hrs still looks good. I normally go 300hrs.

Ski in NC said:

Nothing wrong with running a Wix on a C, it's just my preference to use OEM. Lots of c's run Wix and never heard of an issue. My local Cummins dealer gives me decent prices, too.

What interval do you change your oil on the 300? I run my 450 at about 200-250hp at cruise and an oil sample at 200hrs still looks good. I normally go 300hrs.

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Change oil and filter every 50 hours.

Oil is solid black on the stick by 25 hr. Might consume half a pint since oil change by 50 hr. Around 75 hours I'm adding oil every other trip. Unscientific: At 50 hr pour the filter through a plastic funnel leaves little residue as the carbon / soot seems all suspended in the oil. At 100 hr the oil leaves a residue and doesn't feel slippery. To my unscientific mind, the oil is lubricating less; the soot isn't well suspended; the engine is consuming oil. Oil change is <$100. Fuel burn is $1,500 ($2.60 per gal.) for that same time frame. Running Rotella T 15/40 for oil. Guess I'm about 10 years and 4 or 5K hours on the rebuild.

Ted

Ted- Take an oil sample at next change at 50hrs. Costs 15 bucks from cat. Oil might not be as bad as you think.

Also- is engine blackstacking at all? If wet exhaust you can tell by spill water being grey. On mine at 1900 it is grey, at 2000 it cleans up. If it is blackstacking, oil will pick up soot much faster. Sometimes a small change in rpm gets it to clean up.

Ski in NC said:

Ted- Take an oil sample at next change at 50hrs. Costs 15 bucks from cat. Oil might not be as bad as you think.

Also- is engine blackstacking at all? If wet exhaust you can tell by spill water being grey. On mine at 1900 it is grey, at 2000 it cleans up. If it is blackstacking, oil will pick up soot much faster. Sometimes a small change in rpm gets it to clean up.

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Will get an oil sample test.

Don't know what Blackstacking is. Think my spill water is clear. Will look tomorrow.

Ted

Blackstacking is just another term for diesel black smoke. Sometimes you can see it in your wake, sometimes it just darkens the water spilling out the tailpipe. Some engines black smoke almost constantly at cruise like the high hp 3208's. The C is usually pretty clean, but can do it based on which engine and boat load and power setting.

timjet said:

I was thinking of using a comparable NAPA filter.
Comments?

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I agree w/ other opinions - lots of good filters out there and a few not so good...
I use WIX/NAPA's on most of my applications and have always had good results - write ups are consistently good and they are made by a quality mfg.

Have you seen this reference on filters - Oil Filters Revealed -
Also several previous posts on oil & filters

Ski in NC said:

Blackstacking is just another term for diesel black smoke. Sometimes you can see it in your wake, sometimes it just darkens the water spilling out the tailpipe. Some engines black smoke almost constantly at cruise like the high hp 3208's. The C is usually pretty clean, but can do it based on which engine and boat load and power setting.

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Never saw smoke after the engine warmed up. Use to soot the transom badly when over propped. Now, very little soot on the transom after a 4 or 5 hour engine running day.

Ted

I put a Fram oil filter on my Perkins HT354 ... smoke all over the harbour. Short story version .....
The Perkins has dry and wet sumps with a scavenger pump and the Fram "equivalent" filter did not have the pressure relief valve that was in the Perkins filter. It took me weeks to find out what the problem was. Think I'll stick with OE filters

I use NAPA on my 3208s and my truck which has almost 300K. No need to buy the over priced filters which are most likely made at the same place as the NAPA filters are.

You can probably find out what a NAPA filter is by asking. Their lube oil is a very good brand (Valvoline) and filters may be too.

I used filters from Klassen (that marineized our Mitsu engine) .. they were Izusu as Izusu was their main brand of engine. I had a remote extra large filter and changed it every third oil change. I switched back to the original Mitsu filter on the side of the engine. It's much smaller and now I change the little filter every oil change. Can't remember the brand but I get it from the Klassen boys in Seattle.

Re the NAPA filters I think they have three grades of filters. If your'e concerned about quality ask them who makes the filter and get their most expensive grade.

Ski in NC said:

Ted- Take an oil sample at next change at 50hrs. Costs 15 bucks from cat. Oil might not be as bad as you think.

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Ski - where do you recommend ordering the Cat SOS sample kits?

Any Caterpillar dealer road or marine will have them. I buy a box of ten at a time, I think they sell individually too. Called Cat SOS for scheduled oil sampling.

If you don't have Cats, use Blackstone labs; they understand all the engines and specs. I like to take a sample at every oil change, a great and cheap way of tracking aging and fending off some catastrophes. A one-off sample doesn't really tell you much unless something Really Bad has already happened.

Blackstone Labs

I use the CAT SOS sample kits all the time. I also have the CAT pump that the bottles screw into for sample taking. Using the pump and throwing away the sample tube on each sample insures no cross contamination. I think we pay like $12.00 per kit with the prepaid mailer. Sometimes I mail sometimes I just drop them off at the local location for their truck to pick up. Results by email in just a day or two. Real cheap insurance. I'm always amazed at how long you can go before you need to change the oil.

Ditto here.


Forky
1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

To get a true picture of how your oil is holding up you need to make sure the analysis gives you things like TAN = Total Acid Number, TBN = Total Base Number, etc. not just particulate counts.

There was a significant thread about this, it included a video of someone dissecting a number of branded filters and grading them on his view of their qualities. Finding it might help.

Found this from February this year, but not the vid I had in mind, which I think figured in yet another discussion on this issue. http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s6/brand-oil-filter-18890.html

BruceK said:

There was a significant thread about this, it included a video of someone dissecting a number of branded filters and grading them on his view of their qualities. Finding it might help.

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BruceK

Here are links to 2 videos - not sure if these are the ones you referred to

9 FILTERS CUT AWAY

11 MORE OIL FILTERS CUT AWAY

I also found this filter supplier website that has a pretty comprehensive comparison tool - provides some data on filters vs qualitative comments found on most sites / videos.

Fleet Filter Comparisons

Buy them from
http://www.sbmar.com/tonys-tips.php.
You will get the correct filter at a great price.

The NAPA filters we use on all our vehicles are re-branded WIX filters. On the three diesels in our PNW cabin cruiser we use Baldwin oil and fuel filters. The primary fuel filters are Racors.

caltexflanc said:

If you don't have Cats, use Blackstone labs; they understand all the engines and specs. I like to take a sample at every oil change, a great and cheap way of tracking aging and fending off some catastrophes. A one-off sample doesn't really tell you much unless something Really Bad has already happened.

Blackstone Labs

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Thanks for sharing. I was getting ready to search for a place.

If you have never seen an oil sample report you can see one here with a little explanation of what it's all about. Oil Analysis