Does the oil filter brand matter!

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petal_91, Jan 23, 12:35am
Have been changing my own oil for a while and was wondering if the brand of filter made much if any difference! I've just been buying either the Repco/Ryco, FRAM or Valvoline filter appropriate for my car from either Repco, or Supercheap depending on what was cheapest on the day. Could I buy some sort of super high quality filter instead! Car is a 2001 Mitsi Galant VR-4, by the way.

elect70, Jan 23, 12:45am
well on the packet of those it says garanteed to meet manufacturers equivelent. . I have cut openOEM &Rycofilter & cant see any difference . Feck ripco , prices for BMW E36$54SC$15

poohy99, Jan 23, 2:01am
The better filters use a synthetic media but don't seem to be available in NZ.Purolator Pure One, Mobil 1, even K&N.The Mitusbishi OEM filter might be better than the aftermarket ones you are already using.

sw20, Jan 23, 2:06am
Heh the genuine filter from BMW is less than $25.

carkitter, Jan 23, 2:46am
Hondas require an oil filter that has a valve in it to retain oil pressure when the engine is switched off. Not all aftermarket filters have such a valve.

paul271, Jan 23, 2:51am
Not a big fan of Ryco filters. Everyone I remove has leaks coming from it. My preference is Fram, they cost a little more, but are good quality.

franc123, Jan 23, 3:03am
Yuck Fram, wouldn't bother, after using Valvoline branded ones I made the mistake once of fitting a Fram due to SCA being sold out of Valvolines at the time, my car developed bad lifter and timing chain noise when it was cold which didn't go away for several minutes, the oil pressure also dropped a full bar on the gauge in all conditions, even though I used identical oil to what had been used previously.The noise was that alarming that I went to the nearest place that sold oil filters and fitted a Ryco, which instantly got rid of all those problems.Apart from Valvoline, the other one that has been good is the Group 7 filters from the warehouse, they are a rebranded Purolator.

elect70, Jan 23, 3:52am
May be but 100K round trip to get 1cost me more than than that in fuel .

russ6, Jan 23, 3:55am
Mann following some gooogle research.

paul271, Jan 23, 4:49am
to be honest, that would point to me that the engine had oil pressure problem/loose clearances. If the Fram had a thicker filter medium in it, that would make an engine that was low on pressure struggle even more to make correct pressure, hence the lifter noise and timing chain rattle that it made (wasnt a SR20 was it!). I guess the only way to know for sure would be to install a factory filter onto it and see what it did. The problem with that is that manufacturers change their filter suppliers quite regularly over the years, and every filter manufacturer has a different opinion on the "correct" filter medium to install into their filters.

cuda.340, Jan 23, 5:10am
i use the Fram HP series filters, they're their best filters & rightly so. cut one of them apart & compare to your Valvoline or Wix. have to admit i use the Valvolene oil tho, it's a good product.

im_andrew, Jan 23, 5:19am
Nah I (and others) have found the same problem with the cheaper fram filters, they are pretty well known for being inferior quality. Cut one open and compare to a ryco and you will see why they are crap.

I personally only use RYCO and luberfiner (sp) filters.

sw20, Jan 23, 5:30am
A courier bag is $5.50.

skyline_guy_r34, Jan 23, 5:38am
100k round trip suggests to me that he could be rural. I dont know what couriers charge for a rural delivery 50kms out of town!

Also the OEM filters for my v8 are cheaper than any non OEM filter. Thats a company that knows what they are doing.

mrcat1, Jan 23, 5:47am
The best filters to fit would be the 1) OEM,2) Fleetguard, 3)Donaldson then Baldwin! The only way to tell if a filter is working properly is to do a oil sample, end of story. CAT produce 3 grades of the same filter depending what conditions the machines are working in.

clark20, Jan 23, 9:03am
Just getting 4 x K&N ones in from the states US$10 ea, that will do for 60,000km

pandai, Jan 23, 9:20am
Interesting, I didn't know this.Dealer here uses Hamp filters.

whqqsh, Jan 23, 9:33am
best comparison Ive seen was after an engine reco I used a Purolater filter, after run in period oil was still pretty clean. Changed oil & filter again with Purolater & ran for quite a while with the oil staying really clear (had to look hard for the level on the dipstick). After quite a few months the oil just started getting a bit brownish, a mate offered me a good price for the car I couldnt refuse. He changed oil & filter & within a few weeks I went for a visit & noticed another brand filter (Ryco/Repco or something), pulled the dipstick & the oil was black.

pdc1, Jan 23, 5:38pm
It's not your filter that keeps your oil clear. It sounds like the oil that you were using was crap and the new owner has put decent oil in it that is doing its job.

budgel, Jan 23, 7:59pm
If aftermarket brands were having a high failure rate, I am sure it would be all over the internet.
It isnt, so I feel ok with them, but would be a little more hesitant to use them on a fancy car.

whqqsh, Jan 24, 9:02am
other way around with the oil actually

pdc1, Jan 24, 10:29pm
I don't get what you are staying. You first qualify decent oil filters because it kept your oil clear.(original post is about filters-not oil)
You prove it by saying that when the new owner changed the oil &filter, the oil went black. This has nothing to do with any type of filter the new owner used.
The reason this happened is most probably that the engine was really dirty on the inside (maybe because the oil that you were using wasn't doing its job) and the new owner has put a quality oil in it that is now cleaning it out.
I get the feeling that you are claiming that the oil is no good because it went black! If this is correct, I recommend that you do some research on oil and what it is suppose to do in a modern engine, and then consider what type of oil that you are using!

mrfxit, Jan 24, 10:49pm
Mostly bollocks.
In all presuming reguler oil/filter changes & domestic running (Joe blogg's type)
Grade/quality of oil won't effect an engine of such low km's like that in regards to SUDDENLY cleaning the engine & hardly makes a difference to moderate km engines.
It can make a difference if it's a high km engine & has only ever had mineral oils run in it & you (for the 1st time) run a full synthetic oil.

Been there seen that -= 35 years aound & in the auto industry, also doing 98% of my own work.
Recons/ rebuilds/ s-h cleaned& still to see what whqqshstated, unless of course theres more to the story that even he hasn't been told by the new owner

mrfxit, Jan 24, 11:00pm
It has been repeatidly proven that the better filters can & do lower oil pressure because of using a finer micron mesh to catch the crud.
The trick with moderate to high km engines would be to change the cheaper/ better flowing filters a little sooner then you would with a high end filter.
It's basicly impossible to have a high flow AND super fine micron cleaning filter in a single specific size canister, after a certain point in cleaning abilitys.
Limits are reached with all things & compromises are made after that, get over it already.

Hence why a lot of filters have 2 filter blocks in the can, 1 course & 1 fine mesh, it's called "staged cleaning" (my name, not the oil industrys).
The only way to get better cleaning while maintaining the same oil pressure in any giventype/brand/ top quality spec filter is to go UP a size or 2 in canister size.

Of course you could always run a remote filter & centrafuge as well as the original filter.

Long distance USA truckers already do that

mrfxit, Jan 24, 11:02pm
Agreed +1