Filters To Avoid

The following list of filters have known problems. You will see well-known names here and will probably be disappointed. This is because many of these brands have stopped making their own filters and buy from a common manufacturer.


AC Delco Duraguard

AC Delco no longer seems to manufacture oil filters. They are now made by Champion Labs using their new "Ecore" design. See that section below for the details.


Champ (Ecore)

Champion Labs touts their new "Ecore" design as a major advancement in oil filter technology. In my humble opinion, they are a major advancement in cost savings for Champion. I have no data to back this up, but that's what fiber end caps and plastic core tubes say to me. I particularly don't like their "patent pending" bypass valve design, which depends on the stamped leaf spring at the back of the filter to regulate the bypass pressure. One unlucky dent in the back of the can knocks it out of whack, assuming it was correct to begin with.


Fram Extra Guard

Years ago Fram was a quality filter manufacturer. Now their standard filter (the radioactive-orange cans) is one of the worst out there. It features cardboard end caps for the filter element that are glued in place. The rubber anti-drainback valve seals against the cardboard and frequently leaks, causing dirty oil to drain back into the pan. The bypass valves are plastic and are sometimes not molded correctly, which allows them to leak all the time. The stamped-metal threaded end is weakly constructed and it has smaller and fewer oil inlet holes, which may restrict flow. I had one of these filters fail in my previous car. The filter element collapsed and bits of filter and glue were circulating through my system. The oil passage to the head became blocked and the head got so hot from oil starvation that it actually melted the vacuum lines connected to it as well as the wires near it.


Fram Double Guard

Another bad filter idea brought to you by your friends at Fram. The filter itself is a slightly improved design over the Fram Extra Guard, but still uses the same filter element. It has a silicone anti-drainback valve, a quality pressure relief valve, and enough inlet holes for good flow. The big problem is that they are trying to cash in on the Slick 50 craze. They impregnate the filter element with bits of Teflon like that found in Slick 50. As with Slick 50, Teflon is a solid and does not belong in an engine. It cannot get into the parts of the engine that oil can and therefore does nothing. Also, as the filter gets dirty, it ends up filtering the Teflon right out. DuPont (the manufacturer of Teflon) does not recommend Teflon for use in internal combustion engines. Please do not waste your money on this filter.


Fram High Mileage

Yet another bad filter idea brought to you by your friends at Fram! Gotta love these guys. It's a Fram Extra Guard with a weird goo cartridge suspended on the clean side of the filter, blocking the outlet. It's supposed to be some kind of additive package, but if you want a high mileage oil, buy a high mileage oil. I don't trust these guys...sorry.

 

Really doesn't matter to me. When i got this car the filter was stuck on so I just change the oil every 5,000 miles. I figure the filter has been bypassed for years so why worry about it.

 

I don't use anything other than OEM or Mann filters.
I also use them on my Mustang. I like the idea of the check valve in the filter to hold the oil pressure.

 

Same here, I only buy oem filters. BTW I've tried to use parts at autozone or o'reilly that said it was for my car and they are terrible. I thought I'll give it a try, because I had a friend that always brought aftermarket parts and said they work great. Don't use them ever! I just ended up replacing them with oem parts later on because they suck, especially duralast (shivers). Not just the Volvo but also the family Hondas as well.

 

I've yet to hear any engine failure due to fram filter on the Acura RDX Turbo (2.3 4cyl).

Honda uses fram as their oem filter and yes it is garbage, i'd think we'd be hearing stories of failures all day.

..fram still sucks.

 

I have know that Fram filters really suck but what got me mad enough to broadcast it to the world like this was an epsiode this weekend.

I was in a hurry and grabbed a Fram Filter for my 97, BMW, 328i. It's not a spin on rather a drop in cartridge so the pressure valve and drainage holes are not an issue. I dropped in the new FRAM cartridge and for the life of me I could not screw the top back on the cannister. What should have been a twenty minute job turned out to be a three hour ordeal!! I thought I had stripped out the threads on the inside of the cannister? Finally, I retreived the old one from the trash and laid it side by side with the Frammer and guess what the Frammer was 1/4 to 3/8 longer!! Everyting on a BMW is so closely toleranced that there is no room for error.

I bought a Bosch Filter and voila problem disappeared. The guy at the auto parts stores said that are having all sorts of complaints about FRAM products primarilly poor fittment issues. I started to do research on the web and found the FRAM is real s_ _ _.

I used to have noisy lifters on start up with my 850 Turbo but I never knew it could caused by the FRAMMERs tendency to leak back oil. Imagine how many unnecessary oil pan O Ring and valve lifter repalcments may have been done because of this cheap Chinese made junk.