Oil does plenty of important things inside the engine. It keeps it cooler transferring heat away from the combustion chamber, seals the gap between piston rings and cylinder walls, and lubricates engine components to prevent their premature wear. Moreover, while doing its job, oil collects different particles that may abrade cylinder walls and other engine parts. To remove those contaminants, your engine is equipped with an oil filter that allows oil to do its job properly mile after mile. If you’re looking for a quality powersports oil filter, we offer you a wide variety of great products from the most trusted brands in the industry.

An oil filter is a metal can with a filter element inside. The can’s plate is sealed with the gasket and perforated with the holes. The central hole is threaded to combine with the assembly. The oil moved by the pump comes to the filter via perforated holes, where the contaminated oil is pushed through the filter media, usually made from synthetic material, that catches particles that are as small as few dozens of microns. Then the oil gets back to the engine via the center hole.

The majority of today’s oil filters feature a spin-on design. Such filters are easier to change compared to earlier filter designs. If earlier one had to remove and clean the housing, discard the element, add a new filter and reinstall the whole assembly, now everything you need to do is to remove the worn-out filter and screw on a new one. However, since the superior qualities of oils have allowed for extending the oil change intervals, many automakers get back to earlier oil filter designs where a replaceable element (a cartridge) is fitted inside the metal housing. This also makes such filters more environmentally friendly.

There are two major types of oil filters, including full-flow and bypass filters. Full-flow ones are the most common type of oil filters which is able to stop particles between 20 and 30 microns, which is less than half the diameter of a human hair. Full-flow oil filters have a high-flow rate even when the oil is cold, protecting the engine from oil starvation. These filters come with high-performance filter media which ensures excellent filtration without sacrificing oil flow. It means that the oil starts working from the very first seconds of your engine operation.

Bypass oil filters were some of the first filters used on vehicles. They ensure the highest level of oil filtration and are able to stop particles that are just 3-5 microns in size. However, they are not able to clean all oil that comes through the filter at the given time, which means that a significant amount of oil returns to the engine unfiltered. Plus, they can restrict oil flow compared to their full-flow counterparts, which is why they are not used in high-performance applications, but they can be found in some powersports vehicles when used in tandem with full-flow filters.