Filter technology has extended the time of the traditional oil, filter change

Technical innovations in automobiles are ever increasing, making the life of the average technician a lot more challenging, as they have to keep up with the industry’s best practices and latest recommendations. A prime example of this are oil and air filters. For years, shops have been able to sell what is now being referred to as the “traditional” oil change as a basic service that a customer had to follow in order to keep their car in good working condition. But over the last few years, that traditional oil change has begun to undergo some profound changes, which has brought a number of challenges for technicians.

Why the ‘traditional’ oil change is no longer traditional

It used to be every few thousand kilometers or after some three months, a car owner was told to pull into their trusted service shop and have an oil change. That is was the rule for years and it provided a steady stream of revenues for shops. But that has all changed. The reason for the change is due to some manufacturers now recommending longer drain intervals in oil changes, thereby changing the way the service is delivered. This is happening for a variety of reasons, mainly to the more functional and technical oil built into the cars. What used to be a steady service to sell every 5,000 km, has now become a service which OE manufacturers are recommending be done every 10,000 km.

“Shops need to change the way they promote and understand the traditional oil change because we have factory recommended oil changes from 10, 20 and even 30,000 kilometers with different vehicles,” says Domenic Ninni, technical product support and training for ACDelco. “The service isn’t really about an oil change any more. Now it’s about doing preventative maintenance and inspections. It eliminates the smaller shop from having vehicles just come in and having an oil change done. When the vehicle does come in, due to the longer mileage interval, you are selling more of a complete vehicle maintenance inspection versus a traditional oil change. You don’t see the $19.95 oil change anymore. That’s gone to the quickie lube shops.”

The reason manufacturers are recommending longer drain intervals is because of better oil and filter technologies. Another reason is because with most of the modern computer controlled vehicles, the fuel air mixture is very precise meaning that you don’t see the residual gases getting past the piston rings and into the crank case. As a result, the break down of the crank case oil isn’t the same. As well, the quality of oil has dramatically improved over the last twenty years. When you combine good modern oil, with modern fuel air mixtures, improved filtering technology what you soon find is you don’t need the same amount of maintenance.

“Oil companies have come out with synthetic oils that don’t break down the same way. Some companies, at one point, said they had oils that could last 50,000 miles. They then realized that you can’t go that long because you need to clean the system of contaminants,” says Renard Howard, business development in North America for K&N Engineering Inc. “With K&N, we’ve enhanced Performance Gold Oil Filter to use resin impregnated cellulose fiber media, which not only improves the contaminant filtration ability, but also allows for higher flow rates. It works well with the latest synthetic oils.”

But one thing technicians need to stress to car owners is while some vehicles now come with long-drain intervals, it is important to remember that these intervals are recommendations. Oil and filters still need to be changed and that change often depends both on what is recommended by the vehicle manufacturer and by the oil and filter producers, but as well on the driving conditions the owner is putting the vehicle through. Customer need to be reminded that oil over time does become contaminated and that contamination soon will affect the oil filter which will become clogged. So the thing to avoid is to try and push the oil and filter change too close or past the recommended change interval, if that interval is 5,000 kilometers or 15,000 kilometers. So it is critical to pay attention to what the service interval on a car is so as to best recommend the optimum change interval.

“They can’t stretch out their oil change just for the sake of saving a few dollars,” says Gary Bilski, chief engineer at Honeywell Consumer Products, maker of the popular FRAM line of air and oil filters, adding that shops should stick to OE recommendations; but that they should know what service intervals they are dealing with. “Now, some severe duty cycles are still 5,000 km, but OEs are recommending a regular duty cycle or 7,500 km.”

But technicians do have one advantage today and that is many filter manufacturers have a wide-range of high-quality oil filters at their disposal. For example, ACDelco has their Duraguard oil filter which is designed to filter particles down to 10 microns, one-third of the width of a human hair. It’s filter media is also made to improve efficiency, flow management and durability. Robert Bosch, which handles the popular Purolator line of oil filters, has the PureONE filter that uses a micronic filtration media to remove particles and the K&N Gold filter uses a resin-impregnated fiber media to improve filtration. As well, Honywell’s Fram division manufactures the Fram Extended Guard oil filter which is rated by the company to provide premium filtration for up to 7,000 km.

Air and cabin air filters

When selling and replacing air filters, you want something that will protect your client’s engine. Conventional air filters do a great job at doing this but they are denser which means they plug up sooner. K&N air filters not only protect, but they allow better air flow because of the cotton media in between two epoxy aluminum screens. The media is pleated and oiled to allow additional protection. This means that the engine can breathe better and when an engine can breathes better, it isn’t working as hard, and when it doesn’t work as hard, you end up with better fuel efficiency. And that is going to be the biggest selling point right now with car owners looking to get as much mileage out of each litre of gasoline.

ACDelco also has a new ECore filter, which the company says it fully recyclable.

“It’s the OE first run filter on the engines when they build the vehicles. It uses a very unique construction, and under the development process, it’s the only filter that’s fully recyclable,” says Dominic Ninni. “It’s a high efficiency hi-tech filter that just looks like a typical filter on the outside. It uses a new building process that eliminates adhesives and the emissions associated with adhesives.”

Some manufacturers are also adding formulated media to help in the air filter’s ability to capture particles and other matter and to prevent them from entering the engine. Fram’s Tough Guard Premium Air Filter comes with a pre-oiled media to improve the capturing of dirt and particles, a heavier screen to improve durability and a pleat lock glue bead feature that allows for the pleats to “lock” into place for consistent airflow and less restriction to help overall engine performance.

Probably the most neglected filter in a vehicle today is the cabin air filter. Don’t believe it? Why not ask the owner of a car what exactly a cabin air filter is and where it is located in their vehicle? You will likely get a look something between a blank stare to one of “Is this a trick question?” The reality is the cabin air filter is one of the most important filters in a car today. A cabin air filter removes not just dust from entering into the car, but it helps remove mould, pollen and other pollutants that can degrade the air inside the vehicle.

It is often recommended that cabin air filters be inspected and changed every 20,000 km, or more frequently, if owner drives the vehicle through heavy traffic, dust and polluted
conditions. There are a range of cabin air filters on the market, for example, the Fresh Breeze cabin air filter from Fram uses Arm & Hammer baking soda to absorb odours.

Making the sale around new filter technology

Now that you are in tune with the latest technology, you should tailor your business approach to the new technologies and industry trends. While extended drain intervals looks like it might mean a cut in oil change revenues over time, there are ways to combat this trend, and as Bruce Eccles, owner of Eccles Auto Service in Dundas, Ontario, points out, there are some potential benefits for shops.

For starters, take advantage of the idea that clients will visit your shop less, due to the fact that they are no longer following the traditional oil change schedule. This was echoed by ACDelco’s Domenic Ninni, earlier in the article. When a client does come in, sell a maintenance package that along with an oil change, consists of other maintenance aspects like tire rotations, brake jobs, fluid checks and so on. This would also include an inspection of the air and cabin filters as well. Notice that this is essentially what the manufacturer offers car owners through dealership scheduled maintenance.

“Eventually the aftermarket has to follow suit with what’s happening with the dealers. In some respects, this could turn out to be more in our favor than not. Think about the old oil change, or service check. Now, we need to do what the dealers do and offer a service A or service B. It’s not going to be a $40,” says Eccles. “If we do our job right when the car comes in, we’re going to rotate the tires, check the lights and levels, and do a brake inspection. And every other third year, we’re going to do all the other things as well.”

Eccles points out that because of the longer intervals between scheduled shop visits, there may be more work that tech’s can find. He also advises shops to have a customer retention system in place to keep business coming in.

“You’ve got to be sending emails, texts, and remind people that they are due for service. Now with service intervals being longer, time is going to really fly by,” says Eccles. “The after market has been challenged many times, and now with service intervals. If I don’t see you as often in my shop, it’s imperative to have a customer retention system for the shop.”

SSGM

REFERENCE LIST

ACDelco Canada www.acdelco.com Fram www.fram.com K&N Engineering Inc.www.knfilters.com

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