Oil Filters

[RWEST]

Yesterday, over at BITOG, I happened to click on a thread about the cost of oil filters for lawn tractors in the Oil Filter section cost of lawn tractor oil filter - Bob Is The Oil Guy and noticed some guys mentioning the use of Motorcraft FL400 filters on their engines, so I got to wondering if they'd work on the 25 HP Kohler 'Command' engine in my nephew's Craftsman garden tractor.

Long story short, it will, as will a bunch of others. Crossing the Kohler 1205001 part # at the Wix site, we come up with WIX #51056 (NAPA 1056) as an exact replacement; the FL400 will fit, although it's about 2" longer (if space is a problem); then another guy mentioned the Super Tech ST3614/STP S3614 (crosses to WIX 51348/NAPA 1348), which is about 3/4" longer than the OEM filter. They're all 3/4-16 thread, 2.734"/2.430"/0.226" gasket, same flow rate/bypass setting/filtering efficiency, etc.., although the 51056/1056 does have a higher burst pressure rating than the others, but I sincerely doubt the Kohler's oil pump is capable of putting out enough pressure to hurt either of the alternative filters mentioned - the FL400 was designed for use on various Ford auto engines, after all.

The reason for choice, obviously, is cost/availability. I paid $12/each for the Kohler branded filter a couple years ago. The ST3614 and FL400 are, what, $3 or $4 each at Wally's? We don't change filters every month, so it's not that big a deal, but it IS nice to have a money-saving alternative, y'know? Wallys is everywhere, usually open 24/7 (for those 3:00 AM oil changes ), as opposed to the lawn/garden guy who closes at 12 noon on Saturday (still can't figure that one out), etc...

This tome (rant?) is obviously about my Kohler engine, but it might be worth some consideration for anything else with a filter on it. Find the number and plug it into the WIX chart.

What really bugs me is I've used that WIX crossover chart WIX filters, WIX oil filters, WIX air filters, WIX fuel filters, WIX Heavy Duty Oil Filters : Filter Look-Up a bunch of times for my diesel/auto/motorcycle applications, and never even considered it for this one.

This is just my $0.02, your mileage may vary, use other filters at your own risk, etc., etc.

 

[GarthH]

Good catch.

This is really common. You do need to watch for the by-pass valve setting. Sometimes the valve can have a really low setting resulting in the valve opening when the tractor has higher oil pressure. This results in simply the oil bypassing the filter. Baldwin has a really good cross reference which usually details the pressure setting. Crossing through multiple books sometimes looses some of the details so in each book try to see what they do with the exact cross and then look at the product details and watch for the pressure settings - they don't have to be exact but need to be close.

Garth

 

[JSharp]

The Kohler spec'd filters are all heavy case thickness high burst pressure models vs. the more standard automotive type filters like an FL-400S. I can't imagine that being a real issue though in 99.9999% of the applications.

The bypass setting shouldn't matter either. It's set to protect the filter media and it'll do that at any reasonable flow rate and oil viscosity. Even when open there will still be some flow through the filter element. And it shouldn't be open often unless you're using heavy oil in very cold temperatures or if you let the filter media get plugged. We'll assume neither of those situations is something any of us would do. So as long as the flow rate of the replacement filter is similar to the original filter you should be OK in that area.

One thing to watch is the nominal micron and beta rating of the filter. Sometimes a filter will "fit" mechanically but be much worse at filtration than other filters.

In this case though I don't see much of a problem. The ratings on the Wix 51516/FL-400 cross are about the same as the Kohler filters it will replace. 19 micron for the smaller filters vs. 20 micron for the 51516.

 

[Pennsylvania Weldor]

Wix are good filters. NAPA filters are made by WIX if you can't find what you're looking for elsewhere.

 

[Sully2]

Wix are good filters. NAPA filters are made by WIX if you can't find what you're looking for elsewhere.

Only problem I ever had in over 40 years was with a WIX filter...woukdnt use one on anything now.

 

[tsterkel]

Wix are good filters. NAPA filters are made by WIX if you can't find what you're looking for elsewhere.

Minor Quibble, NAPA "GOLD" are the same as Wix. Other NAPA, no claim of who makes them.
Also, I buy 2 - 3 years for all vehicles, hydraulics, tractors, etc. at one time from FleetFilter.com, and get prices lower than Fram at Wally World.

 

[RWEST]

Only problem I ever had in over 40 years was with a WIX filter...wouldnt use one on anything now

Sully - What was the problem?

We've used them (NAPA version) for quite a while on some pretty expensive (to me, anyhow) J-D equipment, and never had any issues.

 

[DieselPower]

Holy smokes, $12 for the factory Kohler filter. Sounds like you need to buy your filters somewhere else. I just picked up 3 of them yesterday and they were only $5.95.

JSharp - I have to disagree on the reason for the bypass function of a filter. The bypass is there to protect the engine not the filter. If the filter should get plugged the bypass allows oil to bypass the filter media so oil flow is not restricted from the oiling system. No bypass and you can wipe a engine in under a minute if the media should plug.

 

[JSharp]

Holy smokes, $12 for the factory Kohler filter. Sounds like you need to buy your filters somewhere else. I just picked up 3 of them yesterday and they were only $5.95.

JSharp - I have to disagree on the reason for the bypass function of a filter. The bypass is there to protect the engine not the filter. If the filter should get plugged the bypass allows oil to bypass the filter media so oil flow is not restricted from the oiling system. No bypass and you can wipe a engine in under a minute if the media should plug.

Yes, they protect the engine too. I probably could have phrased it differently or more completely...

Oil pumps are positive displacement pumps. They'll provide positive flow and pressure up to the pump bypass pressure. Without the filter bypass mechanism and provided the pump has sufficient displacement, if the element becomes restricted or there's some other problem in the system like oil viscosity too high, we'll see increasing pressure up to the pump bypass pressure appear across the filter element. In all likelihood that will rupture the element and also likely cause engine damage as the destroyed media flows into the engine.

So yes, they protect both. First the filter, then the engine.

But, the filter bypass pressure is chosen by the filter manufacturer to protect the element first. The element is designed for a given flow rate at less than a given differential pressure. The bypass mechanism is designed to keep the differential pressure less than that value that will allow damage to the filter element.

Even with large filter differential pressure we'll still have the same flow through the system, provided the pressure is less than the pump bypass setting. It can't work any other way because the oil pump is a positive displacement pump. The oil will continue to move through the system.

A lot of guys building Chevy engines are to this day disabling the in block filter bypass thinking that will better ensure oil flow through the system. It doesn't. What it in fact does when something goes wrong is give them ruptured filter elements and an engine full of filter crap or worse, catastrophic failure of the filter canister and the resulting zero oil flow through the engine as it instead flows out on the ground...

 

[JSharp]

DieselPower: I re-read my last post this Am and was going to edit since I'm still not sure if what I was saying was clear. But instead -

Yes you're correct. The filter bypass will allow oil to potentially flow around restricted media thus protecting the engine. But I don't believe the filter bypass pressure setting is chosen based on parameters for any particular engine. I believe it's chosen based on the media construction to ensure that the filter differential pressure will never exceed a value that is damaging to the media.

Sorry to the OP if this got far off track...