Technical Cheaper alternatives for the Motorcraft FL1A oil filter

Filters and fluids might be cheaper at Wally World but I buy them at my local local auto parts store. They way I look at it is that I'm doing my part to keep the local guy open. Yes I occasionally buy parts off the internet but I always give the local guy a chance to compete. Many times they'll match the online price or come pretty darn close when you factor in shipping costs. And when I need some weird part or to match up a radiator hose for a non stock set up they're there for me. Can't do that at Wally World on on the internet. JMO

 

So if some get changed a few times a year, others don’t. Is the extra 6 bucks or so a killer on an oil change? I used to (when only one vehicle) buy a case of oil (before jugs came out) and a 12 pack of filters.
Now I just do the AutoZone thing with a jug and a filter for 30-35 bucks . Depends on which car.
Not busting your chops, I’d understand if all 6 were in daily use.

 

One is getting the oil changed once a month now that I am driving 100 miles a day to work,might start getting the oil changed at the quick lube place now.

 

Gas is up over 100+% (from $2.85 to $5.85) in the last 18 months or so and everything has gone up accordingly.
Air filters and wipers have skyrocketed. Daughter was home from college over the 4th. Of course her (late model) car was way due for filters and wipers. In a jam, I ended up at the local O'Reilly's. Air filter $25, cabin filter $20, pair of the good Bosch wipers $40. Damn near a C note.
There apparently are some shortages so buy parts in advance if you're planning to do PM or repairs. The days of tooling over to the parts store Saturday AM, to grab parts for the days work are gone. My Son and I just did a 60k on his late model pickup. Gathered up all the parts ahead of time. None of the local auto parts chains or NAPA had the air filter in stock. They said good luck on that one, we can't get them. Finally found an STP brand (one left) at an out of the way store. Auto Zone only had 2 spark plugs in stock. The remaining 4 had to be sent from 2 other stores.

 

If you're driving 100 miles per day, increase your oil change interval. That will help save a little on both filters and oil. Long highway driving shouldn't make the oil dirty like short and in town miles.

 

Just checked my local Wally World yesterday after seeing this post, yeah almost $10 for the FL1 Motorcraft. Something no one has mentioned about the Ebay stuff in bulk is the FAKE official looking name brand parts. When I retired from Chrysler (Fiat/Chrysler of whatever they are calling themselves now) a few years ago there was a whole group within the company trying to root out crappy fake parts with very good copies of factory logos, paint, lettering, boxes, etc, ESPECIALLY filters! One Chinese company was making a filter (poor quality) that they found with 14 different brand names being sold online usually in cases of six or twelve. Dealers were buying these thinking they were getting OEM Mopar stuff and warranty was experiencing a higher number of engine failures due to filters coming apart especially if they got dirty and restricted. Just my two cents, or wait, two dollars now!

 

Nosford has a good point regarding the ebay sellers. I just checked one of those ebay listings for cases of WIX filters, the seller is located in "US, United States", the picture of the filter is very grainy, and the seller's name is just a bunch of initials.... kind of fishy!

Oh, and he has more than ten cases available.

 

If you look at the post that had the chart comparing filter brands ,
you'll see Super Tech ( Walmart brand) rated higher than Motorcraft.
I switched to Supertech when they doubled the Motorcraft price.
Doesn't seem to be a downgrade when I read the testing done on them
I've been changing oil at 5 k , not dirty looking, you can easily read the
writing on the dip stick at 5k , must be cleaning something.

 

Recently purchased a couple of Motorcraft FL-1A filters at the local Wallmart price was still under 5.00 at this location.

 

22yrs selling parts at a Ford dealer, I am still a believer in original parts. in 1975 we had a special if you bought a case of flia's it worked out to $2.00 a piece, normally $4.50 ea. oh for the good old days. have seen 6.0 diesels with warranty problems denied cuz they used cheap filters. I only use Ford filters in my 2018 Mustang & AC Delco filters on the sbc in my 40 Ford.

 

I will have to look into the WM house brand filter but the stores locally never have a catalog to look it up.

 

No house brand filter at WM so I grabbed a couple Frams at 4.20 each.

 

Agreed, I get a 5 qt jug of valvoline synthetic and a motorcraft fl400s( and one individual qt for about 5$) - shipped free for about $40( amazon- I know...)
and I do my own oil change.

 

Try Puralator they make Motorcraft.

 

When I had my garage a customer brought his car in for a oil leak . The leak was from the Fram oil filter he replaced the day before . I removed the filter and cut it open it had a small rust hole on side of filter and the inside of filter was rusted badly. I would never use a Fram filter the metal from can may be from China !

 

I've learned to use only OEM oil filters and disc brake pads.
Exception --> I use Wix cartridge oil filter on my 327, because ACDelco cartridges are hard to find..

 

Don’t know what y’all are bellyaching about . At least You can get filters. A lot of Farm equipment and new vehicles filters are unavailable.
I try to buy filters for equipment when the John Deere or AgCo has a sale . I still feel like there’s a vacuum in the check book when I leave.
I also take advantage of NAPA filter sales and my local auto parts store sells Wix filters. They have a sale once a year and I get a few there also .
Baldwin filters I’ve had good luck with on heavy equipment.

 

I tend to go with oem. have noticed the A.C.Delco brand can vary as some have all metal internal construction & others are plastic. Had problems with Fram years ago cross threading.

 

I’m with Okie Pete, I’ve used Baldwin for 28 years and never had problems. That being said, I use Motorcraft on my new O/T F-150. I know legally they can’t deny warranty coverage based on brand alone, but it’s not worth the chance. My wife’s car gets Wix, because our Baldwin dealer (Truck Pro) doesn’t stock car filters.

 

Every filter I get in bulk. Our local NAPA runs 50% off sales BOGO on Gold filters usually every fall.
Sometimes ebay has deals on bulk filters of your choice brand. I can even find OEM filters for less money than some aftermarket ones. I just stay away from the orange ones......

I buy a case (10) filters for everything I own that has an oil filter. My wife's Honda, my diesel tractor, the Galaxie, my old dually C30, my work van, etc.

I figure pretty much everything I own will go through at least 10 oil filters before it's gone, i haven't given away any filters with the sale of anything yet.

Random fact, my wife's 2010 Honda is the same metric thread as my Japanese diesel tractor....so they get the same filter.

I buy washer fluid in 55 gallon drums too....I guess I'm cheap!

For what it's worth, I run Amsoil in everything. Some wehicles get changed every other year. Some annually.

Bob is the oil guy has tested these methods and it works out to be much cheaper in the long run. 200,000+ miles doing that with many vehicles. I use Z-Rod in anything without roller lifters.

 

My Dad ran one of those POS... almost didn't make it back from a Florida Turkey Run trip. When we cleaned his estate, shop..it was sitting in the old tool box.

 

Oh, no, not again. One bad filter doesn't condemn the brand. could have been sitting on a shelf for years before selling, or could be just a misfit. adding up a few dailies and I've run over a million miles on Frams with not a single issue. I buy new cars for cash, run them 'til their not worth repairing-but never because of engine issues. If I can get 200k plus without an overhaul, i figure maybe the filter is working.

 

Not a HAMB car but I just change the oil in my wife's car for the 36th time. OEM filters because their price is the best?

 

On the Fram thing, was all I used when I could no longer get Hasting filters, but then the internet happened, and I began to read about the substandard quality when cut apart, etc.
Now I run the Wix or M1 filters when picking up my jugs at AZ. Necessary? I dunno, but I feel better

Edit: and AC Delco when it’s in stock for my daily.

 

Rural King now has them back in stock for 4.99 so I will get them there until they try to match the new Wally world price. I like RK but they are slow to restock and are also slow to change the prices on the shelves when it changes,a couple weeks ago I bought a 5 gallon bucket of oil that was marked 49.00 but was 59.00 when I went to check out.

 

I buy a case of wix filters at a time... big price cut doing that. I think last time I payed 4 bucks a filter...

 

I thought 9.99 was high at WM but got oil today at RK and that filter went up from 4.99 to 12.99,I can see a dollar or two increase but when it almost triples it is crazy. Kind of forgot about looking at alternatives while I could get them for 4.99 but will be doing that soon.

 

This makes the spin on race filters you can disassemble and clean worth the $. Verify micron ratings..

 

If you like the Wix 51515, you can try the commercial lines. O'Reilly Protec Filters Old # 101MP, New Number PTL51515MP or NAPA Proformer 21515MP. I buy under a business account but they cost me $2.45-$3.28 per filter, I don't know what retail cost is. Master packs are usually the way to go if you buy in bulk.