wow… i’m impressed; the second conversation that is just out there…
if fram made an inadequate filter they would be out of business by now because they would have been sued into oblivion. if they claim the filter meets OEM spec, i bet it does. like with any thing, there will be some bad bad apples in the bunch, but the error must be kept to a minimum.
whitey, i am impressed that you measure out 3.8 quarts of oil. i know i could not accurately do that once let alone every time… just change the filter.
I did change the filter, and the symptoms stopped.
Measuring out the oil isn’t that hard. I have a quart bottle I marked. There are milliliter markings on the side of the container near the view window. I took the total milliliters in a quart, and divided them by 10, and marked off 0.1 quart, 0.2 quart, 0.3 quart, etc. on the side of the bottle. It isn’t that precise, but it doesn’t have to be exact. Then I wrote on the side of the bottle the oil capacities for all of the engines I maintain. For the Civic, I buy a four quart bottle of oil, measure out 0.2 quart, and pour the rest in the engine, or buy a 5 quart bottle of oil and remove 1.2 quarts and pour in the rest of the oil. The only time it gets difficult is when I buy motorcycle oil that comes in 1.05 quart containers.
So, what brand/model oil filter did you replace the cheap Fram filter with?
Also, I was wondering if anyone has ever cut open the OEM Honda filter for this car?
If the OEM Honda filter has metal end plates on the filtering media, would anyone then recommend installing the Fram filters that use the cardboard end plates instead in an engine where the OEM is not paper parts?
I had a 1988 Honda CRX Si that I bought new, changed oil and filter (almost always the basic Fram) every 3k miles, and sold about 15 years later with 160k+ miles on it. The engine still ran like a Swiss watch and didn’t burn a drop of oil, despite the fact that I beat it pretty severely in one or two years of auto-xing. So, let’s see, 160/3= at least 50 Fram filters…
I’ve maintained 3 vehicles exclusively on Fram filters for well over 250k miles…and not one of those vehicles was burning one drop of oil…
I generally buy what ever filter I can that’s on sale. Lately I’ve been buying Toyota filters for my 4runner because the dealer will sell them to me for $3.50 if I buy them a case at a time.
As for the anti-drainback…ALL Fram will have a anti-drainback valve IF it is required. Never ever had a problem with it NOT working. For my 98 Pathfinder there was no anti-drainback valve because the filter was mounted with the threads facing up.
My wifes Lexus…all you replace is the paper filter element…The anti=drainback valve is built into the canister which you never replace.
Problem I had with Purolator filters a few years ago…was they were making ONE filter that fit several vehicles…while companies like Fram and Wix where making different filters for these vehicles…
Here’s what I mean…
wifes 87 Accord…Purolator listed a filter for that vehicle…it was the same filter number they said fit the Mazda 4-cylinder at the time…Where as Fram and Wix made one filter for the Accord and another for the Mazda…The purolator filter gasket was about 1/32" too small and it leaked…Fram and Wix filters fit PERFECT…
