California uses Fram X2 oil filters in their cars, and they change the oil every 10,000 miles. Apparently the Fram filters work well enough.
I bought Toyota OEM filters in a 6 pack from Amazon. They were cheaper than dealer and I didn’t have to drive to the dealer.
My 71 VW bus had no fuel filter from the factory which I didn’t discover until it started running badly and the dealer charged me $100 for a carb cleaning (Not covered by warrant) and then tried to charge me $60 to install a super micronite fuel filter. I stopped at a parts place on the way home and bought a generic clear plastic filter for $1. It was 1971 after all.
The gasket and oil screen I only changed once because I didn’t see how anything big enough to be stopped by that screen could make its way through the engine to damage anything, There was a bolt in the center of the plate you were supposed to remove that let you change the oil.
Of little interest to anyone, my 59 Bug had the bolt in the center of the strainer to drain the oil. But they said in 63 or some year later, they didn’t put the drain bolt in anymore in order to force people to clean the screen. Kinda like changing oil in a transmission then every 3000 miles with no drain plug. Ya gotta admit, us Germans don’t screw around. Ya don’t clean the screen, we’ll make it so ya hafta.
I would like the person who started this to return and let us know what he decided to do.
I discovered, through experience, that the cheapest Fram filters don’t appear to have the anti-drain-back valve that more expensive filters and OEM filters have. Since learning that, I’ve opted for other brands.
The Fram web site shows the ADB valves in all the filter diagrams. I guess some Xtra Guards have them, some don’t.
I discovered, through experience, that the cheapest Fram filters don't appear to have the anti-drain-back valve that more expensive filters and OEM filters have.
When I use Fram filters I’ve always used their cheapest filters. And every one of my engines that would require the filter to have a anti-drainback valve…the cheap Fram filter had one. On vehicles like my Pathfinder where the filter was upside down…there was no need for an anti-drainback valve…so the cheap Fram filter didn’t have one. Neither did the Wix filter or the Nissan filter.
I have heard enough from people who have taken apart various filters including FRAM to conclude they are not the best filter out there. On the other hand, they probably won’t kill your engine either. I knew a guy who ran a 4.0L inline six Jeep motor up to 300,000 miles by never changing the oil and only adding oil when the low oil pressure light came on. Sure, it burned oil and smoked when he junked it due to rust but it still ran. I don’t suggest anyone else maintain their car this way either!
I have seen pictures where the filter material isn’t joined and oil can bypass in some FRAM filters that were taken apart. Again, this might not kill your engine but isn’t ideal either. I have heard that the basic orange ones are the worst about this while the upgraded lines of FRAM are actually better.
I run a motorcraft FL1A on my F150, partly because it’s a good filter, but mostly vanity…it’s only $0.80 more than the Purolator at WM, and at that price, it’s worth it just to look “right.” (Wouldn’t pay much more than that, though.)
There are lots of stories and videos of people who take apart oil filters and then determine quality based on what their naked eye observes.
Should we conclude quality of filter types based on that one narrow data point?
I have heard enough from people who have taken apart various filters including FRAM to conclude they are not the best filter out there.
Taking apart a filter and LOOKING at it and concluding that it doesn’t do a good job filtering oil is NOT good engineering or science. You can make ZERO conclusions on how well a filter will perform from that.
Not all companies use the same filtering material. Some may look the same, but don’t filter the same.
There are REAL engineering tests conducted by REAL engineers in lab and real-world situations that give a more realistic view. Look up the ISO 4548-12 oil filter test. This is THEE oil filter test to determine the quality of an oil filter. Most oil filter companies build their filters to this standard. How they do it (visual inspection) really doesn’t matter. Just as long as their filters meet this standard…why should it matter to you.
I knew a guy who ran a 4.0L inline six Jeep motor up to 300,000 miles by never changing the oil and only adding oil when the low oil pressure light came on.
One vehicle means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I seriously doubt less then 10% of all vehicles made or sold could do that. I suspect most engines would be junk in just a few years. That kind of data is just thrown out. It’s totally meaningless.
Any company that becomes the biggest in a market will be subject to criticism and attack. IMHO that is all the criticisms of Fram amounts to.
As a device to tell time, a solid gold Rolex is no better than a $100 Invicta. I feel comfortable in saying that if you were to tear them both down under magnification, you might find finer detail and greater perfection in the Rolex’s parts, and under magnification the Rolex might appear to be higher quality. But that does not make it a better time-telling device.
A Rolex IS, however, a more beautiful piece of jewelry. If I had a '32 fenderless hot rod with an open engine, I probably wouldn’t use a Fram (at least not without a chromed cover), but I don’t care about the looks of the filter on my current car.
I find that backyard examination of oil filters cut open on a picnic table and proclamations that it’s inferior to be amusing at the least.
One person does it and that leads to an entire procession of “filter analysts” cutting open filters and posting their eyeballed results all over the internet and Youtube while complaining about “cardboard” being used.
If “cardboard” is allegedly an issue with oil contact I have to wonder why the complainers on that issue have not considered the “cardboard to oil” contact issue with differential gaskets, transmission gaskets, valve covers, timing covers, intakes, oil pump gaskets, etc, etc.
If anything, the “cardboard” used in Fram filters is more durable than the “cardboard” used in gaskets.
Despite everyone saying that dissecting oil filters proves nothing, you do get an idea of the quality of the materials and workmanship that goes into them from taking them apart.
Here is a dissection of a lot of the commonly available filters if anyone is curious:
300cforums.com/forums/general-discussion-issues-trouble-shooting/31190-oil-filters-dissected.html
With a new engine and clean oil, if you just ran the bare minimum filter material or even an empty can with no filter, the engine still might last 100K miles or more, who knows?
I can corroborate that when using a Fram filter on my old car, which at the time had 200K on it, that I would get some bearing rattle on the first cold start of the day. When I switched to a Wix filter, the problem went away. Clearly the Wix had a better anti-drainback valve at least. That was enough for me to make that the last Fram filter I bought.
Despite everyone saying that dissecting oil filters proves nothing, you do get an idea of the quality of the materials and workmanship that goes into them from taking them apart.
If you’re a materials engineer then MAYBE. But a materials engineer won’t just LOOK at the materials. They’ll run detained analysis of the materials. Just LOOKING at the materials tells you nothing.
NOTHING in those pictures has anything to do with the ability of those filters to clean oil. Would a CNC-machined filter body and filter end caps look neater? Sure, but it would be a waste of money. “cardboard” end caps obviously work just fine.
If somebody would run each of those filters through appropriate filter tests, and one failed, then I’ll pay attention.
I’m sure cardboard does work just fine. As others have mentioned, there doesn’t appear to be an epidemic of Fram oil filter failures. But oil filters aren’t very expensive. I’ll happily shell out the extra $1-2 per 5K miles for a Wix filter over Fram’s cardboard and poor anti-drainback valve. The extra $8/year isn’t going to break me. I’ve never much cared for the color orange anyway…
If you prefer Wix, than that’s what you should buy.
Regarding people cutting the canisters apart in their home garages and comparing the parts, that proves absolutely nothing. But I applaud their desire to actually look into things. It may mislead them into a false conclusion on oil filters, but it will serve them well overall.