Technical Favorite Oil Filter Brand?

These for me

 

Real partsmen are nonexistent now. Nobody cares. A couple of years ago I was traveling in my motor home , got some bad diesel and clogged my fuel filter in the middle of nowhere. Made to a parts store in a little town. Parked , got up with the chickens , went in to the National chain parts store..... no filter... doesn’t cross to anything they had..... no other parts store in town.
I ask to see his Wix book they keep behind the counter. The manager comes over and asks why I want the book, we told you we don’t have the filter.....Me: give me the damn book!!!
I get the book (smile). Start with getting the dimensions of my fuel filters threads and seal size. ( my filter had a plastic see through thingy on the bottom) I proceeded to find fuel filters that would screw onto my threads.
While I was asking the manager if he had these filters that matched my specs ( went through a lot before I found one ) he asks “ what are you doing? Those filters won’t work, our computer says so! “ Even as a manager of a National chain parts store and after I was doing my cross by specs, he still didn’t even know what I was doing!!! A MANAGER? I think not!
I select and buy a filter. The so called manager telling me “ that won’t work “ I screw it on my motorhome, Fire it up, all the employees of the store at the windows with their mouthes hanging open,watch me leave, I wave. Hehe

It’s a sad state of affairs in the parts arena, now. Nobody gives a shit or knows anything. When I worked at a parts store in the previous century, I tried to be the best partsman in the world, even tho I was just working part time to put myself through school.

Edit : before you guys jump on to me for traveling without a spare filter.... I get it! I now carry two spare filters. Just a brain fart on my part, that about ate my lunch! I happens more often as I get older! Lol



Bones

 

When we were an associate dealer for International truck, we chased our tales for two weeks on an intermittent drivability issue on a Maxxforce 10 engine that would loose HUEI pressure. It turned out that a piece of adhesive from the OEM International oil filter had clogged up the oil feed port for the HEUI pump. I guess it’s possible that any filter can cause problems.


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Wix or NAPA gold...........


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I've been getting those K&N filters at half price when I buy a gallon of Mobil 1.

The nut at the bottom of the filter makes removal and install a snap. I haven't read anything bad about them like the Frams..

 

AC Delco for me. Wix if no AC's available. "Keep your GM car ALL GM"

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Yeah, with the speed of manufacturing and poor quality control in some places, it's possible to get a bad one in any brand. I bought a Fram back in the early 80's that didn't have any threads in it, turned out they let a lot of them get out the door that way back then. Experience will teach you good and bad, you go with what you know as good and shy away from the bad.

My experience with Baldwin tells me to stay away from them. I used them for a while, they were the house filter at Speedco oil change places. After I got to seeing them taken off early, stopped up, sucked together, I decided I'd spend the extra $5 or $10 and get a better quality filter. A Cummins tech told me that if a engine came in under warranty and it had a Baldwin filter on it, they could void the warranty on it. They felt that strongly about it, they had a list of allowable filters, some they sold, some they didn't, but all met their specs. I figured their engineers knew more about their product than I did, after all, they designed it.....

 

AC Oil Filters are now made in China. I use Wix or NAPA Gold.

 

Motorcraft for over 30 years no problem.

 

That's false. There is actually a federal law that prevents this. You cannot deny warranty due to a customer's choice of oil or filter brand, or rather, you can require a particular brand of oil or filter, but then you have to give it to your customer free of charge. It's federal law, applicable across all 50 states.

 

I use K&N on my 2004 Road King, and I have an external FL1A on my 48 Pan. I have no complaints about the K&N oil filters. I like the hex on the end.

 

Mann on my TDI and Wix or Fleetguard on my Cummins,

 

Please do not use the F-word on this site.

We're better than that.

 

Very interesting, guess I will have to go out change my filter and cut open my K&N, I too like the lug.

 

A few years ago I saw an engineering study in a magazine( Can't remember the title) comparing filters. Hands down the best top rated filters where Catapiller. The downside for us is they don't make automotive filters. If you think about it makes sense that they would have good stuff. After you spend $400,000 on some piece of equipment you're not putting a cheap filter on it.

 

WIX
Motorcraft on all the OT Fords.

 

Wix or Purolator

 

I suspect Cat doesn't make their own filters, I'm pretty sure they have them made by someone else and then put the Cat brand on them.

 

I just did a little snooping and found that Cat filters are made by Advance Filtration Systems Inc. The company was established in 1986. I'm sure the filters are made according to Cat specifications.

 

Down our way most filters are made north of the equator [China or Thailand]
That is Wix, Ryco, Fram etc [brands like Baldwin or Purolator are not sold here in mainstream parts houses]

To get a good "Made in USA" filter here in NZ you need to up the game from a $5-00 filter to a $30-00 filter
The FRAM HP series is the filter of choice for racers here ,and USA Made.[Fleetguard also is USA made and available here]

In 45 years I've hung around racers, I've never seen a HP Fram fail or cause engine damage. [racers do change oil more often]

 

Aw Frig, more F-words!

 

NAPA Gold filters are made by WIX.

(Sorry, thought it needed a bump, there may be someone out there yet who is unaware)

 

Wix

 

Car Quest red label

 

I have used Amsoil filters since 1980, excellent filter. For other applications, where the Amsoil filters are not available, I use Donaldson, Wix, or Mann filters, all of which are top quality.
I have seen two failed filters in my lifetime, and both were Fram filters. One was in a boat engine, which not only ruined the engine, but also caused my friend and his family to get stranded in the middle of the Georgia Straight, and had to call for a rescue boat. He was a parts jobber, and that was the last Fram filter on his shelves. He had to go to court to recover the costs, where Fram lost, and was forced to pay all costs, including a new engine. This filter had a pinhole leak at the base.
The other Fram filter that failed, was at the rim, where the can is bonded to the top.
Bob

 

Some people look at the bypass valve design and say that a better design has it near the outlet, not at the end of the filter. The idea (I guess) is that sludge and sediment in a typical downward orientation installation tends to collect at the bottom/end of the filter. A bypass that opens at the far end of the filter may tend to draw unfiltered sludge or particles into the engine when cold, on startup. I don't know how true that is, but different manufacturers do things differently. A good quality oil filter is just as important as the oil itself. Some people suggest inspecting new filters for possible debris left inside during manufacturing, probably not a bad idea.

 

If you would cut a Baldwin apart you wouldn’t use one . They are just a step up from Fram

 

I looked at PP and I could not find a micron size, important fact..I have been using a Oberg for probably near 40 years [since 1980 or so] and 40k miles..It picked out a lot of aluminum from the valve springs gnawing at the retainers that the Fram missed..

 

In the 10 or so months since I made that post, I’ve learned some things about Baldwin that make me question my decision. My first choice is now Fleetgard with Wix being a close second. Fleetgard is owned by Cummins and I figure they got a lot at stake here. Unfortunately, they are not a full line manufacturer like Wix. I also use Motorcraft on our 3 Fords on the farm.


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Another good choice in full line would be donnelson. That is what we sold when I worked for the Freightliner dealership here. That is OE for Freightliner and it is a complete filter line including automotive