Possibly relevant. Our wash machine was making weird noises and luckily a new belt and brakes saved the 22 year old speed queen. Looking at troubleshooting it was found washers were produced at an inferior quality for wally world, and many of the 3 year old washers had problems due to the cheapened structural steel alone. Shortcuts and cost savings were made to be able to sit at wally world and I wonder how many others sacrifice quality to get on the floor of wally world.
I’ve heard of 1 instance in which the oil filtering material came apart and the oil filter was blamed for engine damage, it was 30-40 years ago. If I recall correctly it was a Lee filter
I’ve never seen major appliances at any of the Wal Marts around here, but I will say that the stuff I see there is pretty much the same crap as I see anywhere else. I thought the Super Tech oil filters were nicely made. I really can’t imagine a company cheapening their product just to get on the shelf at Waltons. I have seen things like small appliances that were made exclusively for Wal Mart by well-known brands, but as far as I can see, they seem to work. I just bought a Rival electric griddle that is exclusive to Walton’s (it actually has the Wal Mart logo cast into the bottom). I can knock out six pancakes at a time on it!
The only filter problems I’ve ever seen in over 40 years of car ownership were operator-induced. I’ve seen an incorrect filter used, I’ve seen a filter with two gaskets (one still stuck to the engine from an old filter), I’ve seen a filter left loose, I’ve seen filters severely overtightened, and I’ve seen filters cross-threaded. There is absolutely no excuse for any of these problems to have happened except poor workmanship.
I’ve never seen a filter fail of its own accord. With billions of filters used yearly, I’ve no doubt that one occasionally does, but I’m guessing it’s pretty rare.
As to filtration abilities, Mike’s right. You can’t tell squat visually. I’ll also posit the theory that any brand name filter is more than capable of meeting the needs of a modern engine, assuming it’s replaced with every oil change, as it should be.
Three suggestions:
- use a brand name filter from a real store…any brand name filter…no fleamarket finds.
- use good workmanship practices.
- change the filter with every oil change.
My flea market finds were AC Delco filters for $1. each.
On the other hand, I bought a yellow gold Rolex at the fleamarket for $70. It must be okay. It says Rolex right on the dial. It’s spelled correctly and everything.
There’re tons of phony “brand names” in fleamarkets.
Chritian Dieore handbag for your daily squeeze? Only $20!
The Purolator factory makes filters…
Then sends them through the printer and prints upon the same batch of filters such names as;
Havoline
Maxlife
Group7
Promotive
Powerflow
Quaker State
Advance Auto
Pep Boys Pro Line
Motorcraft
Superflo
On the tail end of ken green’s comments, I did a few minutes of poking around about super tech filters. They’re made by Champion Labs who will print Super Tech on them - as well as Champ Labs, or Mobil 1, or K&N or AC Delco…there were a few others. They can also change up from time to time too. So I think they also used to make Bosch, but don’t anymore.
None of that means they necessarily produce exactly the same thing for each brand. I don’t have that level of info.
Re: the anti-drainback valve on the Fram (or lack of one), I think he cut open a bunch of filters that were interchangeable, from different manufacturers. So omitting this feature is just cheapness. No, I can’t tell the quality of materials by looking at his pictures. But I didn’t cut them open, he did. His comments on the quality, having done the dissection, seem relevant.
While there maybe hasn’t been an engine failure directly linked to a bad oil filter in a while, there possibly hasn’t been a case of food poisoning linked to a restaurant that failed all its food service inspections either. That doesn’t mean that everyone that ate there felt just great, and using a cheap filter may not be doing a spectacular job of protecting your engine either. For that matter, if you use an empty can with no filter material, your engine might still last 100K or more as long as you change the oil when you should. For an extra buck or two, I’ll buy a better filter. (IMHO) And I didn’t make up my statement about the start up rattle on my car going away when I switched from Fram to another brand.
“the same mountainbike” the filters I got from the flea market were old stock from a grocery store that had previously been in the building and went out of business and were not knock off filters I think the owner of the store sold the building and all remaining merchandise together and the new owner made a flea market in the building selling those items and others. Some of the boxes were torn and discolored from age, but the filters were fine. I also bought about 10 cases or Pennzoil motor oil for about $.65 a quart which I split with my dad. All this was bought several years ago and all but a few quarts of the oil have been used in our daily drivers and several of the filters have also been used.
the anti-drainback valve on the Fram (or lack of one), I think he cut open a bunch of filters that were interchangeable, from different manufacturers.
EVERY FRAM filter I’ve used on my vehicles that required a anti-drainback valve had a anti-drainback valve…I’ve used fram a few times on my 4runner…where the filter sits on top of the engine facing down. When I remove the filter during an oil change…oil pours out of the filter. So not only does it have one…but it works. Some manufacturers may put the anti-drainback valve on ALL their filters…even for ones that fit a vehicle that doesn’t need it. From my experience if your vehicle requires a anti-drainback valve…the Fram filter that fits your vehicle will have one. Been that way for over 30 years.
Cool, Fordman. If I knew the origin of the filters I’d do the same thing you did…stock up! But for those cases wherein people don;t know where the filters came from, I’d recommend avaoidiing fleamarket filters.
I do love that Rolex, however. It’s an automatic movement and has run flawlesslyt for quite a few years. Needless to say, much of the “gold” has worn off and the stainless underneath is showing. Still looks pretty good though.
@ken green
Purolator may make those filters under the different brands, but they aren’t the same identical models, some might use synthetic filtering media like the Pure One’s some might use conventional media like the Premium Pluses, Some might have a nitrile rubber anti-drainback valve some might have a silicone valve. They are all aren’t the same filter. Purolator builds them to the specs the vendor’s wants. If you compare a Purolator Pure One oil filter to a Havoline-marketed one, if you open then up, you’re see some significant differences.
A couple years ago the Motorcraft filters were a screaming deal, they had the innards of a Pure One , but the can was from a Premium Plus, and they were about half the price of a Purolator-branded Pure One.