Eco mod my predator 459cc times 2

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Did blackstone say what the flakes were? I would guess lousy machine process cleaning

I'm sure it's break in aluminum wear.

[Piotrsko]

Not gonna buy break in wear. Had aluminum blocks before and sparklies in the oil means either something is going to fail by either comming apart or bearing failure. When? is the guess.

[oil pan 4]

All new air cooled engines I have ever had do that.
These aren't chunks of aluminum, they are so tiny that even after sitting for 3 days they are still suspended in the oil and haven't started settling out on the bottom.

[oil pan 4]

To get the most stuff that shouldn't be in the oil out of the oil I found a Baldwin 10 micron hydraulic filter that fits my filter head. Should be grabbing 10 microns at 99% efficiency and have an absolute of 20 micron.
A bt344-s filter.

[oil pan 4]

Since I don't need a temp gauge or an oil cooler I figured I would install a psid indicator that I salvaged off some junked filter heads. Shop air testing shows the needle will start to move at about 5psid and are in the red at about 20psid. So what I'll do when I change the oil is if the filter indicator isn't in the red, I'll take the oil filter off, turn it upside down, drain it and put it back on. As the filter bypasses at about 22psid. Might as well get all of my $13 out of it.

[Piotrsko]

Once you removed all the loose stuff, there shouldn't be any more in the oil unless something is self destroying. Look at your blackstone results on other motors: they don't indicate recurring particles.

[oil pan 4]

I pulled the original mobil1 filter and cut it open looked like a new filter with maybe 2 hours on it.
It was Just break in metal dust.

[oil pan 4]

The stump grinder 459cc has about 10 hours on its oil and on its first oil change.
The wood chipper with 3 hours I would say had dozens if not hundreds of metal flecks catching the light at any moment.
The stump grinder engine with 10 hours has hundreds if not thousands of metal flecks catching the light at any given moment.

[oil pan 4]

Looks like there is a huge difference in small engine life between engines with and without oil filters.
Looks like engines with oil filters last about 8x longer.
https://www.machinerylubrication.com...ose-oil-filter
Searching lawn mower life expectancy for cheap consumer engines is around 400 to 800hrs.
Commercial engines with oil filters are looking at 5,000 to 7,000hours.

If the engine costs $500 and lasts 500hrs and oil costs $10 for one quart that gets changed ever 20 hours that's a cost of up to $1.50 an hour.
If the engine lasts 5,000hrs and change 2qts of oil and a filter for $35 every 100hrs that's 45 cents an hour.
Probably what I'll do is change the oil every 100 to 200hrs and change the filter when it gets close to 20psi filter delta p and who knows how long that will take.
If the engine puts a gram of dirt, soot, metal in the oil every 40hrs it's going to take at least 400hrs to start clogging up the filter.

[bwilson4web]

From my Prius transaxle oil studies:

• < 1000 miles - early change to the left over manufacturing crap out.
• ~5,000 mi - dilutes the residual oil debris from what can's be drained out.
• follow manufacturers recommendation.

For an engine, I would divide all by a factor of 10 due to higher stress and heat.

Bob Wilson