Bypass Valve on Stock Oil Filter Console, Looking for relief pressure of bypass valve to help with design of remote oil filter and cooler Options

[Mr Beckstar]

Hi all.

I have a 4 cylinder 2 litre and am adding a remote oil filter and oil cooler circuit via a spin on adaptor attached to the stock oil filter console mount. But I noticed the oil filter bypass valve in the stock oil filter mount (circled in photo below) and now I’m concerned that, at high rpm, I’ll be bypassing the remote cooler/filter circuit. Does anyone know the bypass valve relief pressure setting? Knowing that would at least allow me to judge whether it’s an issue.

[Superhawk996]

Where in the world did you come up with 3 psi?

I appreciate the idea that you’re going to try to measure the pressure drop across the filter but I’d seriously suggest you look into the accuracy of the gauges you’re using to do the measurements. If you’re using conventional dash mounted pressure gauges, the measurement will be lost in the noise and inaccuracy of the gauges. As a mechanical engineer, I will tell you that if I were trying to do what you’re proposing, it would be done on the bench and the test would be done on the filter console only without bringing an bunch of other variables into the test.

If you’re that worried about bypassing the external cooler, you should be using a full flow cooler and should not be using a spin on adapter.

[Mr Beckstar]

Where in the world did you come up with 3 psi?

Montreal914 and Chris Foley said it’s “a couple of PSI” so I’ve taken 3PSI as a bypass valve setting. I can’t find any better information.

I appreciate the idea that you’re going to try to measure the pressure drop across the filter but I’d seriously suggest you look into the accuracy of the gauges you’re using to do the measurements. If you’re using conventional dash mounted pressure gauges, the measurement will be lost in the noise and inaccuracy of the gauges. As a mechanical engineer, I will tell you that if I were trying to do what you’re proposing, it would be done on the bench and the test would be done on the filter console only without bringing an bunch of other variables into the test.

Sorry, I mustn’t have been clear. I want to measure the extra backpressure created by the entire remote filter/cooler loop attached to the standard filter console. That includes the hose, the hose fittings, the remote filter mount, the oil cooler and the remote filter. I’m also a mechanical engineer and done a fair bit of test work/condition monitoring in my life; I’m comfortable I can get the necessary accuracy to achieve a practical result. I mean, if it turns out it’s less than 5 PSI and hard to see the drop on the instruments, then it’s probably just a case of making sure the modified stock bypass valve is set to about 10 PSI and it will be all good. And yes the accuracy of these gauges is not awesome, but I can reverse the connection points and take the average to make sure the conclusions aren’t too far skewed.

If you’re that worried about bypassing the external cooler, you should be using a full flow cooler and should not be using a spin on adapter.

Yes, that makes sense to me now. However, it was already installed by others. It cost me a fortune through a highly experienced VW shop that’s been trading for 50 years. I just spent a small fortune fixing all the poor workmanship, poor material selection and poor routing of all the hoses. I didn’t know about the filter bypass and nor was anything mentioned to me about the limitations of the system when I paid for the job to be done. It’s only when I worked on it myself that I noticed the filter bypass valve. I’m quite disappointed about the whole thing.

Anyway, moving forward, I'm happy to spend a bit of time and effort making it work better. I don’t really want to spend another small fortune redoing the whole thing again unless I have to.