I have been doing some research on bypass filters and there are few sites that have some clever installations. My question is if you had a limited budget and the 7.3 (2000 F350) is not your daily driver would project would you prefer?

As I understand it there are bypass filters for coolant, for the engine oil and also for the transmission oil. Seems like a tone of filters , but completely understand the value of filtration and benefits. Actually, come to think of, not sure if the coolant filter was for 7.3 or the 6.0. Anyway. Please confirm these are the filter projects and which ones you feel are the correct order. I do have a stock tranny with 136k. Tranny oil was never replaced until I bought it at 125k.

Anyway, looking for comments and currently searching FTE. Thanks for your time and effort.

 

You can make your own with a little fabrication.

Woodnthings Oil By-Pass Filter

Woodnthings Transmission Filter Install

Springerpop Oil By-Pass Filter

Springerpop Coolant By-Pass

Springerpop Transmission Filter

Springerpop Steering Fluid Filter

 

The order I would install bypass filters is

Coolant
Transmission
Oil

And its a very simple reason; stock the coolant system has no filter, the transmission has a bad filter and the oil has a good filter.

Coolant filters can prevent catastrophic failure (and yes, there is one available for the 7.3, I just installed mine a week or so ago.) Trans and oil filters are generally done as DIY setup, but commercial products are available. The addition of a trans filter can help prolong transmission and transmission fluid life, however you will likely never be able to attribute the success (or failure) of your transmission to the addition or omission of a filter solely because of the number of variables. Oil bypass filtration allows you to filter out more impurities such as soot, enabling you to extend oil change intervals, providing other perimeters are withing normal limits, such as viscosity.

So now hopefully you can see the benefits of each system. I likely would never add an oil bypass system myself unless I got a kit or system very cheaply because the FL1995 oil filter is a VERY good filter. The transmission really just has a screen, so that could use the extra help, and as I mentioned, the coolant system is unfiltered from the factory, which is a change made by Ford. An International T444E comes from the factory with a spin on coolant filter mounted to the water pump.

 

I'll 2nd the coolant filter 1st - the non Ford 7.3L (IH/Navistar T444E) comes from the factory w/ a coolant filter and a bypass oil filter setup as std equip.

Pity the bean counters @ Ford didn't see the value to the owner these systems can add. Of course the 444E's are expected to go a whole lot farther than an SD.

 

I went the easy route, bought both the coolant filter kit and the transmission filter kit from dieselsite. Quality kits. I added the valves to both filter systems, on the coolant allows filter swaps with no coolant loss, and for the transmission allows me to easily pump out fluid easily whenever I need to do a fluid swap.

 

As always, this site is AWESOME. I am glad it turned out this way because I wanted to change my coolant to an ELC. I suspect the coolant has never been changed and I just read somewhere about which ELC to go with. I believe its a late 99 model that says its 2000.

Curious although this might be too OCD. Would it be bad to mount the coolant filter further away from the radiator. SpringerBob mounts it behind the front bumper (which logically makes sense). But if you wanted to keep all the filters in ONE general area, similar to where WoodNThings mounts his oil bypass on the frame (amazing instructions by the way).

WoodNThings - thanks again, I hope we get another Oregon Technical day so I can load up on the projects . However I think I will attempt this in the next few weeks. Hope all is well with you, and appreciate your write up - engineering drawings and everything. I will have my co-worker use our scrap aluminum or something and knock those out .

 

Another generic question.... When doing an OIL bypass - to you just keep the standard FL1995 filter as well so it now becomes dual filters? I noticed in WoodnThings he taps into the pressure/return just above the filter, but kept the filter in place. So the bypass really means -- adding one more to be dual. True?

 

the regular filter (FL1995) stays in place - the bypass only has part of the oil flowing through it that gets returned to the oil-pan after being filtered a 2nd time.

 

By-pass means that a certain amount of oil gets filtered to a smaller micron level than the rest. The FL-1995 is rated to something like 30 micron if I remember right. The by-pass filters are usually rated to 5-8 micron. If you tried to run all the oil through the by-pass filter, you would not have the required flow to allow the engine to properly lubricate.

By-pass filters usually have a restriction orifice built in. You have to have dual filters to make it work properly. One full flow and one by-pass or restricted flow.

Coolant by-pass is the same way. You are only filtering about 10% of the coolant each time, after an hour of running you can filter all of the fluid several times though.

 

Thanks my friend. Appreciate the thorough explanation. I have printed your write ups and added to my notebook. My coworker will love the "engineering level" drawings. He works in our property dept. and has access to all the cnc equipment, virtually everything to keep a 300+ million dollar company running, and they allow "appropriate" use of the tools for personal projects. Gotta love it.

 

After what I have read and then personally seen in my own coolant bypass filter, I don't think any diesel should be without one. Definitely a deficiency from the factory.

In terms of "order", think about it this way; the oil has a filter, the tranny has a screen, at least. The coolant has nothing.

 

FWIW, the fl1995 is rated at 18 microns absolute...

powerstrokediesel.com/index/10403

 

I live in Alberta Canada, and thus am subject to very cold weather. Would there be any uncertainty running these filter systems in frigid temperatures?

 

Shouldn't be any issues running byp in cold climates, we've had temps here down to -2 and i've not had any trouble with either the coolant or oil byp, just make sure you get good high quality lines made for the byp systems. Bursting a line in either system won't shut you down immediately but it'll definitely leave a mess behind!

 

I have run mine in temps to -37F and no problems what so ever. The engine bypass system does take w while to warm up as there is very little flow thru it, however it does get rather warm to the touch after an hour on the road in the wind indicating oil is flowing thru. Since it is a bypass system that returns clean oil to the pan, it would not affect anything if it did become blocked.

I ran a DIY coolant filter for a couple of years. They will cause slow warmups because coolant is allowed to bypass the T-stat and pass thru the radiator. Mine would not even stay warm in around town driving or at idle. If you want normal warmups in the winter cold, go with the Dieselsite water pump. http://www.dieselsite.com/1996-2003f...terpump-1.aspx I switched to this pump and love it. I can now keep my cab warm at idle in the sub-zero weather.