As we noted in Dr. Diesel”s Shop Kink # 17, a lot of the calls coming in to our Tech Support people are about oil. This Foley Tech Tip suggests 8 different reasons why you should consider installing a remote oil filter location kit on your engine. These kits come with all the hardware, color-coded Goodyear hoses (red in, black out), filter base, etc.

The most common reasons to install a kit is to:

1. Facilitate oil changes.

Moving the oil filter off the engine and onto a bulkhead should make future oil changes much easier. Our Dr. Diesel suggests that you record the date and the oil weight on your PDA or scribe it with a permanent marker on the new filter. On our Foley field service trucks we use the Julian Calendar date to easily monitor the days since the oil was last changed. When the difference between today”s date and the date on the filter is over 100, the Mobil 1 gets changed ASAP.

2. Increase oil capacity.

If you install a remote oil filter system with a larger filter or two filters you can increase the lube oil capacity by up to a half-gallon. Running a half- gallon more of oil in your system helps with lubrication even if you are a quart low and you don”t have any Mobil 1 in the tool-box. (Better to run a quart low for a short while than to put in a 99 cent quart from K-Mart).

3. Increase cooling.

Lots of engines run borderline hot, e.g. the 4108 Marine Perkins. Or they are air cooled engines which in all reality are oil cooled, e.g. the VH series Wisconsin. Increasing the lube oil capacity with a remote filter kit by up to a half-gallon means cooler oil. The rod bearings will live longer on hot days when you”ve got it pegged. (This is especially true in the Melroe Bobcat application). Please note that some early V4 Wisconsin”s lack any oil filter and no filter kits are available. (Please don”t do away with your oil cooler if you now have one).

4. Cleaner Oil.

If you increase the filtration levels by using larger than stock filters in your remote system you will have more square inches of filter media. (Cleaner oil is better oil).

5. Run two oil filters.

Install a remote filter and you now can run two separate oil filters, each as large as one quart. Two separate filters are better than one large filter because if one becomes plugged the other filter is still functional.

6. Change filters not oil to extend drain intervals.

Running a remote filter assembly should make changing the filter itself much easier. If you are running a premium synthetic oil with a larger than stock filter, you could consider changing the filter not the oil at every other drain interval point. This is a cost effective strategy given that six quarts of Mobil 1 totals about $30 and a premium filter is only about $5. Besides saving a few dollars, this strategy also eliminates having to dispose of the old oil as often.

7. Can help when swapping in a replacement engine and the stock filter is in the way.

The very popular Perkins 4236 and 1004 series engines are no longer in production. If you have bought a remanufactured one to replace your existing engine and the oil filter is on the Ðwrong side¼ you have two choices:

A. Drop the oil pan and switch the internal oil pick up tube plumbing and pressure relief valve from one side to the other and then reinstall the oil pan and gasket.

B. Much more easily, install a remote filter kit.

8. A surrogate oil cooler.

If your oil cooler is plugged and you”ve got a remote filter kit you can splash water on the filter to cool the oil. In Viet Nam, the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier running the Chrysler 413 Hemi V8 gas engine would cook the oil on hot days. Enterprising GI”s would immerse the filter in a helmet full of paddy water to cool down the oil. (Walking home to Soc Trang was not an option).

Copyright 2001