Dear Ross,
It's your car. You are the Mechanic-in-Charge. You appear to have found a solution that has worked for 35 years. I strongly suggest you continue as you have begun.
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But for everyone else... :-)
Oil filters became a standard feature on car engines following the Ford Motor Company's publication (in 1956) of the results of a study started in 1940, deferred during the War and not completed until
1955. The study, which was printed in the Journal of the Society of Automotive Engineers showed that a full-flow oil filtration system resulted in less wear, compared to simply replacing the oil periodically.Why this is so becomes pretty obvious in hind-sight and the tale begins with the fact that in normal use engines generate abrasive particles, mostly metal wiped from the cam & tappets, but also worn from the cylinder walls. These particles then circulate through the engine until they are trapped in the sump when the engine is shut down, where they are hopefully removed when the oil is changed. But the tricky bit is the fact the engine re-circulates its oil several times per minute -- with the Volkswagen, having 2.5 liters of oil in the sump and the output of the oil pump being approximately 12.25 liters per minute, meaning any abrasive particle is going to passed through the oil pump about five times a minute. And each time it does, it's not only going to wear the pump, it has a good chance of being deposited in a bearing, where it can do some major harm. But with a full-flow oil filter ALL of the oil coming from the pump must pass through the filter before any oil is delivered to the engine. That means those harmful particles see ONLY the oil pump. They are NEVER sent on to the engine. (The pump is easily replaced, by the way.)
Not only is this good for your engine, it's good for your pocket- book :-) Using Ross' thirty-five year span as an example, the cost of oil & filters would be about $1,155... compared to his $7,280. Had Ross put the difference into a Postal Savings Account (which only pays about 3.5%) it still would have earned him more than $10,000 over the past 35 years.
Then there is the environmental factor. Ross' method requires about
1,208 gallons of lubricating oil, which must not only be purchased but disposed of. On an early Volkswagen fitted with a full-flow oil filtration system, you would expect to use only about 90 gallons of oil over a 35 year period... and about half that amount for a modern, water-cooled engine, which use oil-change intervals as long as 10,000 miles. Perhaps this isn't a problem in Canada, which has about the same population as California. Here in southern California Ross' method would not only be too expensive, it's liable to get you lynched by the tree-huggers :-)As for the accumulation of water vapor due to short trips in a cold climate, Volkswagen offered 'high latitude' packages for its customers in the frozen north (which to me, is anywhere north of Los Angeles :-) The high latitude package included an annular shutter for the blower's intake, chromed valve covers, push-rod tubes & sump plate, plus a special thermostat and choke coil. With those items in place the engine reached its normal operating temperature even in sub- zero climates... or short runs.
The problem with acid build-up is kind of interesting because the 'acid' is produced from combustion products getting into the sump past the exhaust valve stem and the piston rings... which only happens because of excessive wear and when the engine is operated below its normal temperature range. The key word here is 'build-up.' Acids are a normal by-product of combustion but are not a problem unless they remain trapped inside of the engine.
So... there's my thoughts, as requested. And thank you for buying the Sermon file.
-Bob Hoover