Do i need a new oil filter?

[Andrew Tollison 3]

I am going to change the oil this coming week on my ST and was wondering if I need to change the filter. I am using Mobile 1 5W30 syhthetic and a K&N oil filter. My father inlaw changes his oil every 3,000 miles in his ranger and does his filter every 6,000 miles. Would it be ok to not change the filter this oil chnage?

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

An imfatic YES!!! You still have old oil in the oil filter, so you need to change it each & every time you change your oil - period; no exceptions. Tell your father-in-law that as well. I am sure others here will back me up on this one. I run Royal Purple synthetic in our ST, and RP says to change the oil every 12k with a filter change & top off every 3k. So your FIL has exactly backwards.

 

[Ryan Y]

It may be okay not to change it, but why not? It's only a few extra bucks.. I change mine every time I change my oil (3,000 miles)

 

[Michael Cacioppo]

Change the filter. If using full synthetics you can use an extended oil change interval, but that does not apply to the filter.

 

[Andrew Tollison 3]

What kind of oil do you use, and what type of filter. I will change the filter but dont know if I will use K&N again this time.

 

[Stephane Bolduc]

Absolutely; like Roger said there's a good amount of oil in the filter; almost 1/5 of the total. By not replacing it, it would take less than 2 minutes to make the new oil look like the old one.



You will see all over the web debates about brand and viscosity. Some people swear by names just because they have been using it for 20 years. The reality is that even though it's the same name, oil is improved every other month. So the worst oil today is better than the top quality of 20 years ago. Just do a oil AND filter change every 3k/3 months with a generic filter and whatever oil they have on special that week and you truck will run smooth for a very long time.



I also use Royal Purple synthetic and I choose viscosity based on what the average temp is going to be in the next 3 months.



I would also stay away from all "additives"; let it be for fuel and/or oil.

 

[douglas brandin 2]

YES!!! I run Mobil 1 and change the filter every 3000 miles even though I change oil every other filter change. I only use Ford filters. Their too cheap not to and then there's no question about warranty. Besides that, they are designed for the engine.......my 2cents........doug

 

[Tom Schindler]

You would be better off replacing the filter every 3000 miles and changing the oil and filter every 6000 miles.



I change my oil once a year. About 15,000 miles.





Tom

 

[Deleted deleted]

Andrew: don't waste your money on K&N Filters.... the Motorcraft filters work great and cost about $4.

 

[Andrew Tollison 3]

whats the paty number for the motorcraft, I am going to go buy one tomorrow and where I get my filters from there books are crappy.

 

[Allen Brandt]

Motorcraft filter is FL-820S, cost is under $5.00. Not worth risking an expensive engine for that little money.

 

[john main]

Changing the oil filter every other oil change is how it use to be done 30 years ago, I don't know how good of an idea it was back then either. A looooooooong time ago I worked in a sercice station and the old guys allways did this. Here is a link to some good oil/filter info, my advice would be to run Mobile 1 and a WIX (NAPA) filter and change it every 5k miles or 6 months. Just my $.02

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

I alternate between K&N & Napa oil filters. Find out who makes Motorcraft filters. Never, never, never use a Fram filter of any kind, period; thery are junk.

 

[Johnny O]

Not changing the filter accomplishes a couple of things:

1. Saves you about $4.00.

2. Adds about 1 quart of dirty oil to 4 quarts of clean.

3. Ensures that much if not all of the oil runs through the bypass instead of the filter as the filter gets plugged up.



That said, I'm not sure about Ford but I worked at a GM dealer in the early-80's and GM at the time was calling for 7500 mile oil changes and a filter every 15,000, mostly so they could advertise a low cost of operation on their cars. However if you read the manual and severe service schedule of 3000 mile oil and filter changes, you would see that almost everyone qualified for severe service.

By the time any long-term damage reared its head you were off warranty and GM didn't give a hoot.

At my dealership we'd always change the filter with the oil. For all it costs there's no point in skipping it.

Reminds me too, I was having a chat with a service writer at the Ford dealer last week who informed me that waiting 100,000 miles for spark plugs as per the manual can be a bad idea, especially if you have aluminum heads. The plugs sieze into the heads real well and no matter how careful you are it's possible to strip the threads out of the head.

 

[Andrew Tollison 3]

Got my filter last night, going with the motorcraft and Mobil 1.