Anyone using a reusable oil filter?

I'm wanting to try a reusable oil filter. Don't know if I want to pay $90 for the Scotts though. I see Moose makes one for $30, but i'm hesitant to pull the trigger on it. I can't seem to find any reviews online. Anyone?

Can't help ya. I've always wanted my oil actually filtered so I use stock filters.

skierd wrote:

Can't help ya. I've always wanted my oil actually filtered so I use stock filters.

+1

$90 for a reuseable filter seems much....you can get'em cheaper....and yes, they're good, wash them well...just watch the rubber sealing ends, eventually, they wear out and create a bypass...

I wouldn't use a screen mesh "reusable" filter because they do not catch the smaller particles like the stock pleated fiber style filters do. Besides at $90 you can buy about 13 Yamaha filters which will give you 39,000 miles worth of oil changes plus peace of mind. Even at $30 you can buy around 4-5 filters for 12,000 to 15,000 miles of oil changes.

Fuzzy Wrench wrote:

$90 for a reuseable filter seems much....you can get'em cheaper....and yes, they're good, wash them well...just watch the rubber sealing ends, eventually, they wear out and create a bypass...

I've seen them go for $30 as well. I'm just hesitant on the quality of those. What are you using?

sswrx wrote:

I wouldn't use a screen mesh "reusable" filter because they do not catch the smaller particles like the stock pleated fiber style filters do. Besides at $90 you can buy about 13 Yamaha filters which will give you 39,000 miles worth of oil changes plus peace of mind. Even at $30 you can buy around 4-5 filters for 12,000 to 15,000 miles of oil changes.

Paper and mesh filters take a fundamentally different approach to filtering. Mesh filters filter down to a certain size, and for practical purposes, no smaller than that. They do, however, only require a single pass to filter to that level. They work by simply having a very strictly controlled mesh size, through which a spherical object larger than that size cannot pass. They are rated in "absolute" terms, as with the Scotts (35μm "absolute"). This rating tells you that nothing larger than 35μm (35 microns) will pass through it. (1 micron, or micrometer more correctly, is 1/1,000,000 of a meter, or 0.001 mm, or 0.000039")

Mesh filters are able to achieve this level of filtration with remarkably low resistance to fluid flow as well, which in the case of the Scotts means that the bypass valve will not open on cold starts, and there will be no appreciable pressure loss across the filter.

"Paper" filters are different. They can stop even finer debris than mesh filters, but they also allow some larger debris to pass. They filter somewhat the same way a thick shrub catches objects thrown into it. Most tennis balls get stuck, but not all. An occasional golf ball gets caught, but an occasional soccer ball passes through to balance that out.

The random arrangement and density of the fibers in the element create odd and irregular gaps through which debris can pass. This creates little crotches of sorts that enable the filter to catch extremely small debris, but also creates gaps that allow it to pass ridiculously large material at other times. The paper element media is also three dimensional to a degree, whereas mesh is essentially two dimensional; if something passes through one opening in the mesh, it's through, which isn't necessarily the case with fiber media.

Fiber, or paper, filters can stop debris as fine as 20 microns, or even less. But, they won't stop it all on the first pass. Worse yet, they won't stop all of the debris even as large as 90 microns or more on the first pass, and some particles occasionally come free of the filter to re-enter the oil stream. They are usually considered multi-pass filters, which carries the expectation that the same debris will pass through the system multiple times before being intercepted. They will be given "Beta" ratings like "80/25", which tells you that it will stop 80% of all 25 micron particles on the first pass. However, they will rarely publish the fact that they may very well also test at 85/35 or 85/40, and certainly will not mention that they tested at only 95/60 (95% of 60 micron debris).

Additionally, paper filters resist oil flow, particularly when cold, a great deal more than does mesh, and cold starts often cause a paper filter to bypass. In the Scotts filter, a one inch square of the mesh media they use will flow 1.9 gallons of cold 90 weight gear oil per minute at only 1 psi pump pressure (70 degrees F). The YZ filter contains about 15 sq/in of mesh, which means that the media itself has the ability to flow over 28 GPM of cold 90 weight. The pump at the corner gas station is only about half that fast on a good day. That figure is also far beyond the delivery capabilities of the engine oil pump in any case. That basically means that unless you run half a shop rag through your engine, the Scotts filter will never bypass under any conceivable circumstance, and will filter at full capacity regardless of temperature. This is often not the case with "paper" filters, which commonly open the bypass valve during warmup operation.

So, it isn't a black and white, indisputable, one's better than the other kind of choice, but in my opinion, the 35 micron stainless mesh is the way to go, and Scotts makes the best example of that type of filter. Let me also point out that there is a huge difference between the medical grade stainless steel mesh used in Scotts filters and the OEM brass screen filters used in YZF's up until '03. The brass filters will filter no finer than 70-80 microns absolute, which is not nearly acceptable, IMO.

it seems like you have a wealth of information regarding oil filters. Sure was an interesting read.

The conclusion that I draw from that however is that it doesn't really make a difference what you use

most members here use the stock yamaha or other paper filters and thus far no one has had any problems. I think the lack of problems with the paper filters is what doesn't want to make people change to a reusable one. Plus it's more work as it has to be cleaned. So really I guess it's your choice. going either way, as long as you buy a good reusable filter, your motor will probably be fine.

that's the conclusion I draw from this

Purchased one for about $25 almost 2 years ago. But still afraid to use it.

Honestly I have been using Tusk filters. $4 and I change it every time I change the oil. When I can buy filters this inexpensive I have trouble trying a reusable one. The OEM filter is still relatively cheap at under $9 (I buy my filters from RockyMountainATV.com) but I tried the Tusk as a "test" and have been happy with them so I even started using them on my wife's DR200Se too.

Coop wrote:

Honestly I have been using Tusk filters. $4 and I change it every time I change the oil. When I can buy filters this inexpensive I have trouble trying a reusable one. The OEM filter is still relatively cheap at under $9 (I buy my filters from RockyMountainATV.com) but I tried the Tusk as a "test" and have been happy with them so I even started using them on my wife's DR200Se too.

How do you measure happiness with an oil filter (aside from price)? Is it that the engine didn't seize when using them, so they must be OK? Or do you send oil out for analysis and compare to oil run with OEM filters?

Some of this is a bit old, but should be relevant anyway:
http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Filters.html#OilFilters

I have never used re-usable oil filters, but the post above sounds like the Scotts may be an excellent product.

I do make sure I am buying either OEM or well-rated filters. I do change my oil approx 3 x more frequently than the manual states, with filter changes every other oil change.

The original owner of my bike changed oil and filter every 500km! And he rode almost all street.

Everyone has opinions about motor oil, right?

I'm an A&P aircraft mechanic and on every jet engine I have ever worked on they all use reusable oil filters. You clean them with alcohol and pop them back in with new O rings on them. I like the idea of not carrying extra filters on long trips because in other countries parts can be hard to find or downright impossible to get :\

The WRR filter is shared with Yamaha's off-road bikes, it's pretty common worldwide.

A (used) KLR I bought came with a reusable one. I had it 10 years without any issues. But I wouldn't buy one myself, I'll stick with the disposables.

gnarlynate wrote:

I like the idea of not carrying extra filters on long trips because in other countries parts can be hard to find or downright impossible to get :\

Where do you get the cleaning chemicals on the road, and what do you do with them after you have cleaned your filter? Carry them with you?

And where do you actually clean the filter? On the side of the road? In a motel bathroom sink? In California at least, disposing chemicals like that is illegal.

Reusable filters seem to have far more problems than disposable ones.