I'm not Rob, but I'll give you my take on that, in lots of applications the oil filter is mounted in an easy to get to location, and often there are more than one filter in series. Most people don't know this, but as your oil filter gets more and more clogged up with stuff that it removes from the oil the less oil actually goes through the filter, when the filter is really dirty, the oil just bypasses the filter, and circulates unfiltered. If you have good filtration most oil never really breaks down, if you can keep it clean it will do it's job for a very long time. I don't know if they do this still, but back in the day Mohawk gas service stations had a used oil collection tank, you could dump in your used oil from your oil changes into the tank, the tank was emptied once a month or so and then the oil was reprocessed, or to put it another way it was cleaned really, really well, then it was mixed with new oil and resold to the public. OK back to why the filter is where it is. A couple of reasons, the main one is money, most car owners don't do their own oil changes, they take it to a Quick lube place they don't have any problem with the location of the filter, but why is it where it is to start with? It is easier to manufacture that way, easier and cheaper, it is also less to go wrong. Your idea of putting it on the fender well is valid, but how many hoses and connections are needed to do that? How many more things to go potentially wrong over the 20 year life of a car? Cheaper, easier and less things to go wrong are a good recipe for the vast majority of car drivers.
Jonathan Shively said:
Second thing to take your thread off topic, why aren't all auto engines built with a pre-oiler system. Without dry starts (no oil circulated) we have achieved amazing wear protection, just think what could be achieved with a pre-oiler!
I'd say that most engines don't need it. What is the use of having an engine in a car that lasts for say 1,000,000 miles but the car fell apart at 400,000 miles? I know that it is warranted in some applications and there they do have a pre-oiler, but for most people there is no point. I remember back in the late 70's early 80's when the Japanese cars were really making an impact on sales of the big three, a friend of my father's was an auto mechanic, and he asked me why I thought the Japanese cars had a much shorter mileage between oil and filter changes than the big three did, I did not know, but he told me that it was because most people are lazy and if you are supposed to change the oil every 5,000 miles once it hits that number few people go in and get it done, they do it maybe at 6,000 or 7,000 miles, while the Japanese cars were say 3,000 miles, so they would get changed more frequently. What does this do, well he told me that at his shop he kept several of the most common starters for the big three in stock, he said the changed starters in cars all the time, but he never kept stock of Japanese starters, because it was very rare to ever change them, he theorized that because the oil was changed more often that the Japanese starters and less work to do than the Big Three starters. I do not know if it was true, but it was his observation. Most cars don't need the extra life that a pre-oiler would give the engine, it's not cost effective.
Jonathan Shively said:
Now to get your thread back on topic, anything that makes getting the oil out of the oil pan easier is not wanted by me on mine. Stuck my truck a couple of times this winter in snow that my door pushed out of the way when opened so I could mutter and cuss as I looked at it and walked to the barn for the tractor. As deep as the snow was and amount packed around the frame, engine, tranny, transfer case, exhaust and other parts, would have probably dumped my oil out and not realized it until the engine welded itself together.