I see.
So the point your making is that " cheap " filters use a different, ( or drastically reduced ), filtration medium to that of genuine ones ?.
I'm fairly sure there is no " tank breather " filter on the TD5, but I could be wrong.
I've never opened up an old filter to see the difference between original and non.
I thought ALL filters had to reach a certain standard to be sold in the UK.
I have always been happy with Coopers filters, as they seem like fairly big players in their market.
I change my oil and filters every 6 months now as my car reaches 100k, so the oil doesn't get too poor.
I'm going to dig around a bit about this filter thing now. ( I dont want to shorten the life of my engine for the sake of an extra £ 50/60 a year ! ).
Cheers.
Del.
Hi Del, I would like to offer a little perspective on this debate if I may? Bear in mind that Land Rover, like all other car makers, don't make filters, they buy them in.
To protect your engine and other mechanical parts the single best measure you can take is regular oil changes. So long as the oil is suitable for the application that is point number one.
Number two: which engine oil? Semi synth fully synth, 5-30; 10-40 etc.
I use 5-30 fully synth because I can buy it for 23euros for five ltrs. I change it every 10,000kms or 6 months whichever is the sooner. At the same time I change both engine oil filters.
When I do the oil change I leave it to drain for a long time. A mate told me this but I didn't believe until I saw it with my own eyes. I will leave mine to drain for maybe an hour. The difference this makes is that there is less old oil left in & the new oil stays cleaner for longer.
Theoretical tests may prove that one filter is more capable than enough, but in the real world we have to just do the best we can. As far as I'm aware there are no "bonded glass fibre media filters" available for our engines, never come across them anyway.
It's a bit like saying "Well I don't know why the engine failed, it gets regular oil changes" - well the engine failed (in my hypothetical example) because the engine oil pump bolt come undone!!!
What I'm trying to say is, look at what could reasonably affect your engine in a bad way and deal with that.
Sorry for the rambling but I know loads of Discos with 300,000mls plus on them and all they ever get is regular oil & filter changes.
Cheers
Dave