OEReplacement News


For generations, an oil change was a weekend afternoon tradition, and everyone knew how to change oil: Remove the oil pan nut, drain the old oil out into a pan, get an oil filter wrench and take off the old filter, put on a replacement filter and fill up with new engine oil. Eventually, synthetic oil became available, if the car owner wanted it. Most people probably don’t change oil themselves now, and instead have it done at an instant oil change shop or the car dealership, but it’s just as important as ever. And now, ecological cartridge oil filters are increasingly part of car maintenance.

Used motor oil is easy enough to dispose of, and can either be recycled or burned in a waste oil furnace, but there’s one problem remaining: what to do with used oil filters. They’re not just full of used motor oil; they’ve done their filtration job and removed all kinds of toxic contaminants. The first part isn’t that hard. Every garage, auto shop and most home mechanics know to puncture the oil filter and drain it, but the filter then gets wrapped in a plastic bag and dropped in the trash, taking its load of harmful metals and chemicals with it. Obviously, there must be a better way, and there is: cartridge oil filters, or ecological oil filters.

A filter cartridge is essentially the inside of a traditional replacement oil filter, but the steel casing never gets thrown away. In fact, a cartridge filter has no metal at all, just the same paper element in a regular oil filter, and two (usually plastic) discs that support it. During oil changes, the casing is taken off, the cartridge taken off and a replacement filter cartridge dropped in. There’s no metal to recycle and more important, all the oil can be easily squeezed out of the cartridge, and the old filter can be safely incinerated. Ecological cartridge oil filters work just as well with synthetic Mobil 1 motor oil as they do with conventional Pennzoil, and instant oil changes like Valvoline Instant Oil Change, Firestone Oil Change, EZ Lube, Jiffylube and Quick Lube are starting to have replacement cartridge filters available.



Filed under: Product News by Josh Razgunas On: January 13th, 2010