Today I went out with a hacksaw and started cutting open all of my old oil filters, I realized now why a lot of them were heavy, they were still filled with oil, I found some interesting things, most of the oil filters media on the side were the oil comes into the filter were black, meaning the liquified sludge was showing up, there was no black goo or pasty material on the filter media, changed an oil filter today and the media was not discolored, this oil filter was one of the new E-Core oil filters, I highly recommend them, so all those times that I could here oil sloshing around in the oil filter that was probably because the filter media was saturated with liquified sludge, I could take pictures but there really is not anything to see, one other observation was that as I was cutting the oil filters open the oil that was coming out was very dark, it was darker than the oil that I drained out of the oil filters when I dumped them, the E-Core media held up fine, the plastic cylinder was perfectly round, there was no distortion in any of the filters and there was no sludge, it seems Frank's product in my case really liquified everything, it seems that the oil filters during the clean and rinse phases were the darkest, I have changed a few during the Maintenance Dose and the media was not dark but I could feel some oilly residue on the media, I think this proves that cleaning is still going on in the Maintenance Dose, I noticed on the oil filter that I changed today that the oil was not that dark compared to the other filters, so when someone says there oil filter felt like a brick that was probably because there was oil trapped inside, once the oil was drained from the cut open filters, I put it back together the best that I could and it was not heavy, weighed about the same as a brand new filter. I am thinking that if I had any issues with the bypass valve or oil pump, which is 2 years old, the oil filter canister would be distorted, hopefully I am coming to the end of getting all of the junk out of the engine.
Sorry, 1 other point, I did not take the media apart, meaning I did not stretch it out like a long piece of paper, if I do this I am sure I will see some things, will post back when I do that.
The current Ecore filter's have two metal plates on the threaded end, the second is just there to make it easier to install. Before opening up a filter it's usually best to remove as much of the oil trapped inside as possible. I will often times try to jam a small object such as a aresol spray plastic tube, nail, or Q-tip up under the anti-drainback valve to release the oil inside.
Jim, that's a new one to me, took the car out an definetly noticed some more pep, I was just wondering that since I am still having some issues that maybe I might need to do another application, I will wait and see how things go. This should be proof to everyone how important it is to go on the Maintenance Dose because cleaning is still going on after the Clean and Rinse Phases are over.
We have no way of assessing the level of deposits in your engine. Many engine, that appear relatively clean (varnish, etc.) may produce excellent results with a one bottle, one time, treatment. Others, with visible accumulations/formations, may require second and even third treatments to be completely cleaned. Surface formations tend to fall into two categories. Pudding-like and tar-like. The gelled formations typically represent a substantial mass and, although more easily displaced, are of such physical volume that they can quickly saturate the host oil's capacity of suspension and load the filter in a very short span of miles. The typical oil filter has around 10 grams of holding capacity. This type of sludge can be many times that amount. Tar like deposits, being more resistant to disintegration, tend to require longer spans for removal. The gel-like fouled engine would benefit from more frequent filter changes while the tar-like engine may not. The application instructions are configured to make the best outcome under most circumstances encountered.
