Oil filter designs

[spider]

Looking at older engines from say the 50's and 60's , it appears that they used a paper element (or a wire mesh!) as their method of oil filtration.

Then we seemed to move in the 70's (before my time so I'm guessing here) to the neat spin on cartridge.

Now it seems we've moved back the past few years or so to more engines having paper elements.


Apart from any cost concern is there any other reason ? , paper elements tend to be more messy to change in my opinion.

I'm aware on the later 8v TU units with their 'manifold-cat' they had to use a paper design as the spin on would no longer fit in the space (I think it should of been on a short extension housing personally though) , thinking about this again the six pot 'beemers went from a spin on cartridge to an element as well as far as I remember.

I'm not really up on what the newer PSA units have though apart from what I can remember from a few years ago. I do remember the upright filter on the 205TD was a messy affair but they had little space for much else really in that case. It would of been a lot better the other way up, although it would of been more difficult to access that way.

[lexi]

I think the advantage of the upside down paper element inside the container, is that you get no drain back. OK ,It is messy. I still
have this on old Land Rover. The cartridge element that sits upright needs a drainback valve in it. These vary in quality. I have had these and the oil warning light went out at different intervals from brand to brand.