Oil filter cutting tool
Cheapest insurance, best practice, and my personal non-negotiable
By Chelsea Smith
For less than $100, an oil filter cutter gives you some of the best insight into your engine’s current health—it’s hands-down one of the best diagnostic tools in your hangar.
Before you jump into a teardown, consider sending the debris out for scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. It’s a deeper diagnostic step that can help pinpoint where the metal is coming from. If you’re not finding metal but want to stay ahead of engine wear, I highly recommend participating in a spectrometric oil analysis program (SOAP). This isn’t a one-and-done sample—you’ll submit multiple oil samples over time so trends can be plotted.
Your engine is always making some microscopic metal; SOAP checks what metals are showing up, how much, and whether that wear is normal or abnormal. It’s like a blood test for your engine.
Filter inspection is a habit worth forming. Our engines talk; it’s up to us to listen.
If you don’t perform your own oil changes, make sure your maintenance shop is cutting the filter for examination every time it is replaced. You can also request the shop save the filter media for you; just ask them to bag it in a ziplock bag so you can review it yourself. (Always inspect with good lighting or sunlight.) An oil change without a filter cut is like throwing away the important half of the story.
Chelsea Smith is an A&P/IA and a commercial pilot.
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