Ship's Main Engine Lube Oil System Cleanliness of the lube oil is very vital in the Main Diesel Engine Lube Oil System. A strainer is a device that is usually made up of a single layer of course gauze, and a very course wire mesh. This setup is used to filter out large objects that could cause blockage or damage to the lube oil system. A filter is used to filter out much smaller particals. The filtering elements in a lube oil filter has a more complex make-up. Aboard our ship, we have self cleaning lube oil filters along with the standard lube oil filters. The size of the cartridges in these filters us