Challenger Oil Filters

[Llewtrah381]

I saw a post or two about Challenger reusable oil filters. Shame on me - had never heard of those. They sound like a good option, filter shortage or not.

What experiences have people had with these? It sure seems like any flight school that’s aware of them would be using them - is that true? If not, why not?

 

[Gary Ward]

I bought one for my lycoming this past spring, but I have not used it yet. So I can't speak from first hand experience as far as the oil filters.
I did buy a Challenger air filter about 3 years ago and have many hours on it. It get's used hard as I do a lot of grass landings and it get's dirty and cleans up great. I do oil analysis every oil change and the silicon numbers are always lower than averages so I feel it is doing a good job.

I have also used stainless screen oil filters on racing engines for many years with excellent results.

Then lastly I am a challenger fan since 1976 when I bought my first challenger.

 

[Tom J]

At the shop I work at, we've been pushing them for folks that actually fly a decent amount. We do have a guy planning to install next oil change, but they are on back order. We've had 2 on order since May, so not much better than Champion and Tempest. And for our shop, unfortunately we have a few customers that don't even put 50 hours a year on their planes.

 

[Gary Ward]

At the shop I work at, we've been pushing them for folks that actually fly a decent amount. We do have a guy planning to install next oil change, but they are on back order. We've had 2 on order since May, so not much better than Champion and Tempest. And for our shop, unfortunately we have a few customers that don't even put 50 hours a year on their planes.

I fly about 200-250 hrs a year, looking forward to the savings now that filters have gone up in cost so much now.

 

[Jim K]

We discussed them a bit in the oil filter shortage thread. Flight school at my field has switched to them due to the filter shortage. The shop that does their mx does mine as well and they report being happy with them. It's a bit of work to clean them out, but apparently not much more than cutting and inspecting a paper filter.

The filter media is supposed to be replaced after 1250hr or 5 years, so the savings isn't huge, and if you fly less than roughly 200hrs/yr, it'll cost more over the long run. Then you have to decide how confident you are that challenger will be around and still selling the elements in the future. Like their air filters, they don't filter quite as well as fiber filters. Whether the difference is significant is up to the user I suppose.

 

[Llewtrah381]

Thanks for the inputs so far.

I fly about 200-250 hours a year, so there’s an economic argument for one. On the other hand, I have yet to meet a metal coffee filter/screen that doesn’t put sediment in my cup. Not 40 microns, I’m sure, but still…

All that said, I’m leaning towards trying one out.

 

[Lndwarrior]

Love mine. Easy to clean at every oil change.

 

[Pinecone]

A report on Mooney Space of one that had the seal slip out and dumped all the oil from the engine.