Oil fliter - why bother with that dinky thing?

[Swarf_rat]

My 07 started complaining about wanting an oil change so I gave it one. I went to change the filter and WTF? Why bother with something that small? I didn't even have a filter wrench small enough to grab it. Fortunately you can use a small set of pliers.

The picture shows what I mean. Honda in the middle, 240 rated horsepower. BMW motorcycle filter on the right, somewhat BIGGER, 116 rated horsepower. Real filter on the left, Ford truck, 250 rated horsepower.

If you are going to put a filter on that small, why bother at all?

[C25A1guy]

Originally Posted by Swarf_rat

My 07 started complaining about wanting an oil change so I gave it one. I went to change the filter and WTF? Why bother with something that small? I didn't even have a filter wrench small enough to grab it. Fortunately you can use a small set of pliers.

The picture shows what I mean. Honda in the middle, 240 rated horsepower. BMW motorcycle filter on the right, somewhat BIGGER, 116 rated horsepower. Real filter on the left, Ford truck, 250 rated horsepower.

If you are going to put a filter on that small, why bother at all?

And if using fram, might as well throw sand in the engine, right?

[IShootPics]

that's why I've been using S2k filters the last few changes... still "OEM" and quite a bit larger

[northernlights]

Fords need all the help they can get.

[2Hondas]

The oil filter on the 5.6 L Nissan Titan is the same size as the one on the Ridgeline. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[shovelhd]

It's all about the technology inside. It doesn't matter how big the filter is if the material inside is doing its job. With the OEM filter and Fram, it's not much. Use a better filter like a Wix, Mobil1 or SuperTech.

BTW nice mill.

[zroger73]

Honda engines are so efficient and so well designed, there is virtually nothing to filter out. The filter that we do have was only placed there so that the infrequent oil changes still have a conventional "feel" - similar to the reason many CVTs are programmed to simulate gear changes to feel more like a conventional automatic. People don't like change. Old-timers would shun the idea of completely eliminating the oil filter much the way they dismiss the Ridgeline for not being a truck since it a front-wheel-drive, unibody vehicle. My 15 year-old lawn mower runs great and doesn't have an oil filter. In fact, it's only had the oil changed once about 5 years ago.

DISCLAIMER: Some portions of this post may be BS.

[beerkat]

The oil filter on my '01 ZO6 is the same size as the one on my RTL

[dk miller]

An oil filter needs to be big enough to do its job for the expected change interval. Beyond that will be wasted capacity.

My 15 year-old lawn mower runs great and doesn't have an oil filter. In fact, it's only had the oil changed once about 5 years ago.

Yup, I have a cheap, no frills push mower with a 3.5 HP Tecumseh that I bought in 1978. It still starts and runs great. And with the original spark plug, go figure huh! It does get annual oil changes though.

[JCKridgeline]

This is a case where "sizes doesn't matter" and "bigger is not better".