blown oil filter - what do you use?

So after struggling over the past week or so to get the Olds 394 to fire (problems were bad coil and 180' out of TDC), it finally runs and then starts puking oil out of somewhere. Probably about a pint or so every 10 seconds.

Checked the oil filter and it seemed fine - was super tight. Spent about 30 mins under the car getting filthy looking for the source of the leak.

Finally lose it and drain the oil and remove the oil filter (which I had to hammer a screwdriver through to get off).

Anyway the gasket had a bulge and a tear in it. This filter was on the engine for a year, where it sat - no mileage at all on this one... It's a Honeywell Defense which I just found out is made by the same company that makes FRAM. Total POS... + my garage floor is a mess now.

What spin-on filters do you guys recommend?

 

Wix

 

I thought Fram was the best rated by Consumers Report. Is that still true

 

I haven't read consumer reports lately, but you should be aware that it is a magazine and driven by advertising like all magazines.

Justin,
I have yet to have a problem with a fram filter, knock on wood. I know that other people have had a problem with them. My question is what did you smear that gasket with when you intalled it to make it swell like that?

 

After all of the horror stories I switched to Wix and have been happy with them. I understand that the NAPA Gold filters are made by Wix also.

 

It was over a year ago since I installed it, but my normal procedure is to put a little oil on the gasket and some copper anti-seize on the threads.

To be clear, though - it wasn't a FRAM branded filter that failed, it was a Honeywell Defense Filter that supposedly is made by the same company.

 

Consumer reports has no advertising.All costs are supposedly paid by subscribers.......They also tell you a Japanese car model is great even if real world experience proves it's a shitbox.

I use Delco or Wix.

 

Wix or NAPA Gold, same difference

 

Wix for me and Fram at the bottom of that list. A friend lost a engine because of issues with a Fram.

 

I like the K&N. My engine builder recomends them.

 

Wix,Puralator,A.C.Delco in that order. Never Fram.

 

Fram filters plugged up on me several times., Diffrent engines and makes so I know its just not a bad lot number. I wont put one on if it were free.( I've thrown away ones that were.) I use mostly Purolator. Delco Napa or Wix are good too.

 

K&N and Mobil 1 are the same filters. The only difference is the nut welded onto the bottom of the K&N.

There is a definite difference between the Fram "PH" filter and the Fram "HP" filter. Everyone runs out to WallyWorld or some other cheap-ass discount parts store and grabs the "PH" filter. If you want a good Fram filter then you want an "HP" filter.

And for the record, the WIX, NAPA Gold and the Fram HP filters all run down the same assembly line at DANA.

By the way, if Fram was such a P.O.S. then why is it here:

 

Only engine I ever lost to an oil filter was a WIX filter. Sucker came apart inside & filled the oil passages with fibers & goo. Apparently it was "not cured properly" They gave me a new filter, just can't bring myself to put it on an engine - rebuilding a 300 inch ford with under 50k miles on it really hurt.

Anybody can make a bad filter. Make several million and the chances of a bad one making it onto an engine are there.

Use whatever filter you like. I would rather find a fresh Fram than a 5 year old faded & rusty any other brand on a engine.

The bigger question is why did that filter seal swell? Something in the oil? Bad elastomer? I had a similar issue with a friend's GM 350 - could not get the filter off, tore the can off with a good wrench. Wound up making a driver with two pins to engage the plate to get it off. He claimed he had put some sort of additive in the oil I had never heard of, so that may be it.

B.

 

What makes Fram so bad? So far just anecdotal evidence from what I can see. BUT,just to be safe, I run a Wix on my Nailhead.

 

Wix or Napa Gold. The Napa Gold isn't that much more expensive than the Fram for a similar application.

As far as having to fight to get the filter off, I'd say that has more to do with over tightening the filter when it was put on rather than the brand. Back when I was doing a lot of oil changes in a shop I had to battle with a lot of oil filters to get them off and the brand didn't seem to matter much in that respect. Some people just over tighten them to the point the gasket distorts.

 

OK I didn't want to come right out and say that ratings are bought and paid for by those rated. So I am not good a being tactful.

Justin,
You will find that many car parts come from the same factory with different labels printed on them.
When I was young Bendix had a factory had a plant in independence kansas, [not to be confused with the bomb factory here in KC.] They primarily made ignition parts, the same points that came cheap in the blister pack were also A/C Delco and Echlin/Accel.

That is manufacturing.

 

If possible I always try to use the OEM filter, I use a AC Delco filter on my 455, used a Motorcraft filter on my 302, never had any issues

 

I use oem, Wix or NAPA Gold.....f*#k FRAM.

 

ive built alot of engines in 40yrs and ive used fram. but it was a long time ago. i started reading bad things about fram a few yrs ago.but by then id been using wix.i use to run motorcraft filters even on my sbc.never had a problem with them but my supplier went out of buisness.used ac but my counter man said that they were no longer made in the usa. it was either the filters or the plugs. i just dont remember right now.but ive always fall back on wix.ive cut them all apart to see what they look like. ive bought 2 of the same #s a few times so i could see what i was gonna put on my engines and so far wix seems to be the best one.ihave had a friend that lost a engine due to puraltor filters and i will not use them.he took his engine to 2 different machine shops here in town and they both came up with the same cause for his engine failure. filter.

 

The oil I used was just plain 'ol Shell Rotella Diesel oil. Used the diesel oil cause I knew the engine would sit a while and I figured the extra detergents in the oil might be good.

I may call Honeywell after work and see if there was a recall or something. I still have the original box, maybe there's a date code on it.

 

That's not a tear, old sport. That's two oil filter gaskets stuck together. Apparently, the last person to change the oil forgot to check that the old gasket came off the engine. When the new filter was put on, the double thickness prevented it from sealing properly, because one of the gaskets was in free air with no support ring around the outside. It sat for a year and was never run, which is why you didn't notice the problem until now. When you started it, the oil pressure immediately forced the gasket outward and created a leak.

So your filter is actually not the problem.

 

Well you can scratch the oil off of the list of causes.

I have run many gallons of Rotella T in engines. I used to buy it in a drum when I had the space to store it. Never saw it swell a gasket like that.

B.

 

Will take a look when I get home and take a couple more pics. If you're right that'll be a lesson to me.

 

I agree, that appears to be 2 gaskets, awful thick for one.
I've been reading Consumer Reports for over 50 years and they are one of the few media sources I really trust. Pork Beaner, I'll kiss your ass on the courthouse steps and give you 30 mins to draw a crowd if you can come up with conclusive proof they've EVER taken a payoff!
Fram was ONCE, YEARS AGO, rated by CR as the best. However, you need to follow the news in the multi-national corporate world and you'd know Fram was purchased by Allied Signal. well known for buying well respected product lines, shutting down the plant after letting a contract for build by lowest bidder worldwide. IIRC we had a thread awhile back about Autolite spark plugs going to shit after being purchased by Allied Signal. I know I once bought some great glasspack mufflers made by Mitchell and years later when redoing the system I ordered again from same source. What I received were made by Allied Signal and one look was all it took for me to send them back.
Wix, NAPA Gold, Mobil 1, the better, more expensive Purolator line, AC Delco, and Amsoil are among the quality lines of oil filters, Use Amsoil myself.
Dave

 

There's stuff on the net where a guy was cutting open a bunch of brands of filters & showing the insides & rating them. Think he was with a European(?) car club in the States. Australians have posted India made filters that the bodys are reversed reused fruit cans with the original painted fruit labels intact.

 

Well, that's what I get for not opening a thumbnail. Sure does look like a double gasket. That will do it every time.

Fram is no longer Allied Signal. They are owned by Honeywell now. Fram filters are made in Canada.

B.

 

I have been using a "System 1" reusable filter, it works for me.



http://www.system1filters.com/

 

Been there done that ...Wix

 

It is on there because of sponsoship money and the fact that it is run for less than a minute and replaced after each pass.