The micron rating in a full flow filter means almost nothing because as soon as the oil system is restricted it goes into bypass and you get unfiltered oil the the internal engine parts.
Now a by pass oil filter filter system is a whole different animal, and will actually keep the oil clean to 1 micron. The full flow filter system that the engineers designed is just a little better than no filter at all because it allows the 5-10 micron dirt (the size that does the most wear to engine parts) to recirculate hundreds of times wearing internally lubricated engine parts every time it passes between the wear surfaces it abrades bit by bit until the parts are worn out.
My own 6.5 diesel had the oil changed in 2011 and I ran it 25,000 miles only changing the by pass filter and topping off the oil when I changed the by pass filters. This summer an oil cooler line came loose and I ended up refilling the crankcase because it just about emptied the oil pan. I know of no full flow oil filter system that can run oil in a diesel for over 4 years and 25,000 miles without harming the engine. If the oil line hadn't come off I would be still running the 25,000 mile oil and just changing filters regularly. There is no full flow filter made that will allow safely extending oil changes to that extent and keep the oil analytically clean.
I also run one on my 2005 LS2 GTO and have over 10,000 miles on the Pennzoil Platinum oil and it is still a dark amber color just a bit darker than when I changed it. No full flow filter will keep the oil clear at that many miles in a gas engine.
Blackstone Labs (one of the top oil analysis labs in the USA) has written an excellent article telling the virtues of by pass oil filter systems over the inferior full flow system. They don't sell oil or filters so they have nothing to gain by suggesting a by pass system over a full flow system:
Quote:
We receive many oil samples from clients who don't understand what is required to run unusually long oil use intervals in their engines. The accumulation of wear metals, blow-by materials, and oil oxidation products in their oils is alarming. It has been our experience that one cannot simply add oil of a particular brand or base stock and expect it will be useful for an extended period of time, lubricating, cleaning, and cooling as required. Oil that becomes contaminated needs to be changed promptly. In our opinion, there are no magic oils or additives.
There are, however, auxiliary systems you can add to your engine's lubricating system that will keep the oil clean enough to use over an extended period of time. By-pass filtration units are the most common system used for this purpose.
In-line oil filtration, which comes installed on your engine from the factory, filters oil entering the engine down to roughly 30-40 microns (millionths of a meter). This is about as finely as in-line filtration can filter, because when the oil is cold or the filter is partially plugged, a finer filter would cause too great a pressure drop, forcing open the filter by-pass valve and allowing unfiltered oil to circulate through the engine.
By-pass filtration works differently. When this type of auxiliary system is installed, some of the sump oil by-passes the in-line filter system, passing continually though a by-pass filter and then returning to the oil sump. Using this method, sump oil is constantly being cleaned any time the engine is running, and it can be filtered down to a very fine size. All you have to do to maintain the system is occasionally change the by-pass filter.
Not only do the by-pass filtration units cleanse the sump oil of blow-by and oxidation products, they also reduce wear metals and silicon accumulations, both of which are abrasive. Oil does not wear out. Its usefulness is limited by contamination. By-pass filtration removes most of the contaminants.
How long can an oil fill be run using by-pass filtration? We've heard claims of large (Class 8) diesels going 1,000,000 miles on the same fill of oil with no harm done to the engines. We have analyzed oils which have been in service 240,000 miles and found nothing unusual in the analysis, other than higher than average iron and lead (from steel parts and bearings), and these wear accumulations were not intolerably high.
After having run many tens of thousands of diesel engine oil samples, it is our opinion that a by-pass oil filtration system is one of the most important factors in extending oil drains. If you are interested in extended oil drains, we suggest you investigate adding this type of system to your engine.
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Please don't take my word for it, educate yourself of all the benefits of a by pass filter system over the compromised factory full flow system. There is lots of information on the web about the subject.
Comparing a full flow filter system to a by pass filtration system is like trying to keep insects out of your house with nothing but chicken wire for screens. The finer the holes the smaller the insects it will keep outside the house.
Wix and Napa along with Baldwin are good quality filters as far as not coming apart and clogging the system up. They all leave a lot on the table as far as actually removing and keeping the fine abrasive from re-circulating and wearing out the internal engine parts prematurely.
When your spending $5-10 a quart on premium oil it's nice to not have to dump it out every few thousand miles and replace it just because the filter isn't doing what it's name says it's supposed to be doing. Filtering all the oil contaminants, not just the larger abrasives out.