Oil Filter 101: Must watch if you buy, or have bought Fram filters

[Strawdawg]

Napa Gold, Wix, or Baldwin when I can find them.

Wix makes filters to Napa specs, but, they are basically the same...at least they were the last time I cut them open.  They are all made well with a decent bypass valve in them that stays closed unless needed.

[Topcat]

Just put in an order for 8 each of 10-40 Joe Gibbs and a Wix filter.

Start preparing stuff to do before Spring.



Just a quick hypothetical question.

Let's just say somebody mixed a half and half of 10-40 & 5-30.

So what is the adjusted weight?
7-35?

Or does the heavier weight oil become the denominator?

[Chryco Psycho]

you should end up with a 7 - 35w

[cordodge]

I use K&N, as that's what my Hemi came with from Tim at FHO. I believe Wix is also a great filter. They both have great flow along with great filtration.

[RUNCHARGER]

I use SRT ones on the Viper and Mopar ones on the pickup. I used to use the NAPA gold on my Hemis. I haven't used a FRAM oil filter in over 20 years.

[chargerdon]

I would love to know when that video was made?? 

At any rate there are two opposing axioms..

1) You get what you pay for
2) A fool and his money are soon parted.

Regarding "you get what you pay for"...   I recently bought a new set of rocker arms for my small block mopar.   Choose Sealed Power brand and the price on Summit was $7.99 each X 16 =$128 with free shipping.   Decided to check Rock Auto...their price is different for the rights and the lefts, but, including shipping was $88.75   Same brand and part numbers.   Then i checked the local part stores and Advance had them also different prices for the lefts and rights, but, with their always available 20% discount for ordering online the price with free shipping and tax was $52 for the same brand and part numbers (Sealed Power R862 Right and R861 Left).    So, you get what you pay for?  I think in this case number two "A fool and his money are soon parted".

So, this video on Fram sure does tend to scare you...!!!!!!!   Heck, i recently did a camshaft swap and used a Fram Duraguard during the break in.   Now i see this video and it scared the heck out of me!!!!!   Now breakin lasts only about 30 minutes, and after i cut it open to see if there was any metal particles.   There wasn't, and there WASN'T any rust either !   HMMM  I found it incredulous that Fram would have rust inside.  So, i went onto youtube and searched for oil filter comparisons...There were several doing comparisons cutting various filters apart to examine...IN NONE of the others did the Fram or any other brand show any rust!!!     

Regarding quality of filtering, one video said that oil filters are required to filter particles of 20 microns and higher and they all comply.  They also are rated on filtering efficiency and that the Napa Silver, STP,  were all advertising 93%, and the more expensive brands 95%. 2% hardly seems very important (especially if you change oil and filters often).    Another difference is the "life" of the filters... the cheaper ones tend to advertise 5,000 miles and the more expensive models 10 and 15,000.      Part of that is the anti-flow back valve material (rubber vs polyurethane) the polyurethane will last longer and are therefore in all of the higher mileage filters, another is the filtering material itself..the cheaper being made out of stuff that wont last 10,000 miles.   Another difference is the amount in grams of contaminate that the filters can hold.   Again, the higher priced ones can hold a 10-20% more before the by-pass valve opens.   Here again, on a mopar small block the angle the filter is mounted means that the anti-flowback probably never matters at all...Big Blocks mount horizontally and it might be needed more...  They all work until worn out via the heat and cold.

The fram was the only filter NOT using a metal end plates to hold the filter material.   However, in this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_H0Ibzu-iE the maker stated that he had cut open a Fram after 7,000 miles and saw no deterioration at all on the end plates so what difference does that make?   

After watching three videos on the subject i came to conclusion that if your buying a filter for your daily driver and using synthetic oil and planning on going 10-15,000 miles before oil filter change, then buy all means purchase a high quality long life oil filter even if it does cost $15.    However, i am CERTAIN none of us would ever go more than 3,000 miles on an oil and filter change.  That being the case, the cheaper brands such as Napa Silver, STP and Fram costing below $5 are all great choices !!!!  During that 3,000 miles or less they ALL do the same job !!   

Ok...thats my two cents worth !!

[Brads70]

I've told this story before but....
I used to be a tech inspector at our local circle track for 25 years and every year it would always happen . I'd see someone loading up the car before the feature race. I try and be friendly and go over to ask what happened etc..  When they would say no oil pressure I'd look or ask what filter they were running. If it had that familiar old orange glow.... I'd say go over to the parts trailer and get a wix.  I'd usually get the eye roll or some story about how they had been building engines for 20 years etc... blah blah blah.  Most of the time it was the oil filter had failed internally causing no oil pressure.  Once I had a long time seasoned racer with the same no oil pressure that was running down a buddy that built the engine. I was pretty sure it was the fram oil plug... er I mean filter. He said no way. I had to offer to pay for the oil filter if it didn't work before he would unload it off the trailer to try. Sure enough swapped out the oil filter and boom 70 psi oil pressure again.  Fram was a common rookie mistake at the track. Usually wasn't long before someone clued them in though.
Funny story once the fram rep came around offering free oil filters to the racers.... very few even took one. In a polite way I told him why he couldn't give them away. He said he had often heard that but wanted the failed oil filters to open them up to see what the problem was. I guess very few had any time to bother to help them?  I haven't used a fram oil filter in anything for decades....
I'm not saying every fram is going to fail, but it's just not worth the risk if you know about the potential problem.

[dodj]

I go WAY more than 3000mi on an oil change. At least double.

[Topcat]

 

3K oil change interval is over rated.   

4K or even 5K today.

[aussiemark]

Oil goes bad with time and if the car only drives short distances it will get contaminated because it needs to get hot to burn off the build up of contamination  that finds it 's way into the sump. Sometimes people think their engine is using oil when they do a long trip but really they've finally got the oil hot enough for all the build up to evaporate and when it does the oil level drops, if it is just used for short runs the contaminants will just keep building up and replacing the oil used in normal engine operation and they think it's not using any oil at all.

[RUNCHARGER]

I hate changing oil and don't trust anyone else to do it. So, good filters and good oil are a must. I do 5000 miles on synthetic.

[dodj]

3K oil change interval is over rated.   

4K or even 5K today.

Upon second thought, Chargerdon is probably correct with me. I change it once a year and I likely do less than 3000mi per year in the Challenger. Not the case with my daily drivers though.

After I retire in 24 months, I hope to change that with a few distance cruises in the classic.

[Cuda_mark]

For my work truck and my classic cars I change it every year, regardless of the miles. It ends up being less than 1000 on those.

For my 295K mile 2004 Camry, I stick to the 5K routine.

[wldgtx]

It was already stated but you get what you pay for and if you are willing to pay for more the FRAM synthetic or "expensive" model is more in-line with what you get from Wix.

I personally stay away from Fram, mostly because of what I have heard from others.  But I did have a failure in my old Mustang that had a Fram filter... was the filter the culprit?  No, but it certainly did not help the situation (long story).

[TelisSE440]

IMHO WIX is good choice. There are a lot of good affordable oil filters and this is one of them. When i got the 440 it had a Fram in it, tossed it after i had it cut open and saw that the filter had the same cardboard structure. Anyway i got a Wix 51068, it is shorter than the standard 51515, and chose that because, with the horizontal long filters, at cold start up, took about 4-5 seconds for the engine to build acceptable pressure (i could hear the hyd tappets ticking). Anyway i opened one of them (Manufactured in Latin America) and for the country of manufacture it seemed pretty reliable