SRT Oil Filter

One of the best things that you can do for your Hemi engine is to change your oil at the factory recommended intervals, or sooner, and to use a high quality oil filter. Clean motor oil is important because if the oil were left unfiltered for a period of time, it could become saturated with tiny, hard particles that can wear surfaces in your engine. This dirty oil can wear the oil pump’s machined components and damage the bearing surfaces in the engine.

Here is how an oil filter works. The outside is a metal can with a sealing gasket that allows it to be tightly held against the engine’s mating surface. The base plate of the can holds the gasket and is perforated with holes around the area just inside the gasket. A central hole is threaded to mate with the oil filter assembly on the engine block. Inside the can is the filter material, most frequently made from synthetic fiber. The engine’s oil pump moves the oil directly to the filter, where it enters from the holes in the perimeter of the base plate. The dirty oil is passed (pushed under pressure) through the filter media and back through the central hole, where it re-enters the engine.

Choosing the best oil filter for your Challenger is critical. Most oil filters look very similar, but small differences in the threads or gasket size can determine whether or not a particular filter will work on your car. Generally speaking, the more money you spend the better the filter is. Lower-cost oil filters can contain light-gauge metal, loose (or shredding) filter material, cardboard end caps and poor quality gaskets that can lead to failure of the filter. Some filters may filter out smaller bits of dirt a little better, and some may last longer.

So, what’s the best filter? The SRT engineers worked with many of the filter suppliers to get the best features. Some fell out for various performance reasons but they ended up developing the current SRT filters with Wix, a mainstream manufacturer.



The high flow oil pumps in our large engines (Viper is the biggest) can overpower the internal relief valve. When this valve opens it allows some of the high pressure dirty oil to bypass the filter element in order to keep the filter from being damaged. The SRT filters have a higher pressure differential bypass valve to make sure all the oil delivered to your engine, at cold starts and high demand, is clean.

Watch this informative video about bypass valves:

The Ugly Truth About Your Engines Oil Filter - It Will Let You Down When You Really Need It The Most - YouTube

The housing is also slightly thicker than many of the brands out there to handle the pressure but is not the thickest. The real thick ones tested by the SRT engineers failed their development testing (fractured at the crimped flange). The media used is one of the latest synthetics that allow for very fine filtration, more debris capacity, and much lower restriction than the standard Mopar filter and just about every other filter out there.

In addition to providing maximum protection for the street, the SRT filter is ideal for track use day where it will allow your engine to sustain proper oil pressures in extreme cornering conditions.

Originally designed for Viper applications, it fits the 5.7, 6.1 and 6.4 Hemi engines (SRT M0-041, Part #05038041AA). So, for about $10 more, why not take advantage of the SRT engineers’ developmental testing and get the best protection? Your Hemi deserves it!

Here's a cutaway and a video comparison of a standard 899 Mopar oil filter as compared to an SRT filter.