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Acids in the atmopshere are not particles that can be filtered out. Most acid components in the air are removed as rain fall. Some of the acidic componets come from NOX emissions from engines. Most of that is dealt with in the 1st stage of the cat which turns NOX into N2 and O2. The liberated O2 then is used in the second stage of the cat to oxidize HCs and CO. So there is more NOX in the engine than the exhaust. And any sulfer will tend to produce acids as well. These do get into the oil, mostly as blow by gases. Engine oils have addatives, mostly based on calcium, that neutralize acids. And the acid load from air pollution is insignificant to the engine produced by the engines own combustion. So forget the whole thing about acid in the air. And note that the paper filters did not block or neutralize that either.
There are people who use oiled element filters who do oil analysis. The results are good. There are engines with high miles that have been using these fitlers. Are you suggesting that this cannot happen?
Are you suggesting that no particles of the smallest sizes get through a paper element filter?
Your engine oil filter does not filter out particles smaller than 20 micons very well. Are you stating that if you use a paper air filter that there would not be any particles of this size in the engine oil?
Much of the particulate mater that gets past an air fitler does not get into the oil, but goes out the exhaust, along with ash from the fuel.
Engines do wear, and a well cared for engine will always have and will produce wear metals. These are typically so small that they pass though a full flow oil filter. These recirculating metal particles do promote wear of the softer metals such as piston skirts, bearing shells etc. The also promote wear of cam lobes and followers. Much of this wear is created by wear processes that exist also in the absence of any dust loads.
If you want to worry about something, worry about that. A very strong magnetic drain plug can remove most of the iron and steel wear particleas, those are hard and damaging. A bypass filter would be best, but hard to locate and install in a cramped engine bay.
If you have a leak in the intake system downstream of the air filter, oil analysis will detect elevated levels of silicon from intake dust. That is a problem. I would not be comfortable in using a oiled element filter in a very dusty environent, I would not be comfortable with paper either. I would hesitate to run an open cone filter in a fender well. In my 9-5, the air intake is at the top center of the grill, which is probably close to idea for avoiding dust uptake.
Many folks who use these filters are after performance, not simply the greatest possible engine life. They also are particular about what oil they use, what filters, changes etc. One could argue that many of these performance engines are maintained better than the average engine with paper filters. Note how the 2.3L NA engines are seen sludged up to a much higher degree than the turbo engines. The only differerence that I can see is the the way that the owners maintain the lube oil.
It is not a black and white situation.
posted by 65.68.10...
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