opinions on fram oil filters

I use wix. I only have to change my oil two or three times a year, what's the big deal for an extra dollar or two?

Besides, a lot of people pay someone else to change their oil. I spend slightly less than they do, but have Mobil1 in the crankcase and good filter on the block.

I like the walmart filters. I believe they are made by champion labs and pretty good. Maybe not as good as the WIX, but hey they are cheap and have metal endcaps and anti drain back valve unlike most FRAM's. it's a crappy honda, sue me.

I loved the motorcraft filters for my ford, they were a good design. I've never had a problem with Frams, just never really liked them. the gaskets seem to seep more than other ones.

I've personally had a Fram fail and had three failed ones come in the shop when I used to be a mechanic. Mine was a burst main body (on a 300K+ Nissan truck!). The other three were internal failures (cardboard coming out of them.

Just use a Wix/NAPA Gold. That's what I have on everything but the P71, which has a K&N and even then only for the 1" nut welded on the end so it's easier to change.

I crewed for a road race Integra, and at one point the driver replaced the oil and filter, putting on a Fram. After that, he couldn't engage VTEC any more. After numerous trips to the shop, the filter was replaced with a non-Fram brand, and the problem was gone. Apparently the Fram filter had caused some sort of blockage and the oil pressure sensors prevented VTEC engagement to protect the engine. That's proof enough for me.

I suppose I'll put my 2 cents in. I work in a shop that uses Fram oil filters exclusively. I've yet to see a vehicle come in that is leaking from the filter. Nor have I heard anything that would suggest that Fram sells substandard oil filters. I use Castrol Syntec (another common target from so-called experts) 5W30 in my engine with a Fram extended guard filter. No problems here, and I don't foresee any in the future. Even if you actually open the filter and observe it next to a "quality" filter, your analysis is still a matter of uneducated opinion. And I'm almost certain that, if you look hard enough, you will find negative posts concerning other filter manufacturers.

There's a Service Bulletin from Hyundai showing documented cases of destroyed engines from Fram Filters. I worked for a quickie lube in college tha used fram filters. In th 3 months I worked there, I had one split the case on my 89 Caprice, and saw 3 other split cases, several seal issues and about a half dozen with the filter media poking through the holes.

I will NEVER use another Fram filter.

several years ago i remember seeing a website that had a letter from someone claiming to have been an engineer for the fram folks. he said that they did basically zero QC aside from casing burst tests because the higher ups had decided that there was no way anyone could prove that an engine failure was caused by the filter.

i also heard from a guy that used to build/run drag cars that the last time he used a fram it looked like someone had wadded up a newspaper and run it through the engine with the oil.

~This~ gets a new Fram Extra Guard about every three hours of run time.

So far, so good.

LOL I went back to the $6 Toyota filters because the Mobil 1's went up to $15. I think $6 a few times a year is cheap insurance, I wont bother trying to save $3 on a Fram.

nexvick wrote: I suppose I'll put my 2 cents in. I work in a shop that uses Fram oil filters exclusively. I've yet to see a vehicle come in that is leaking from the filter. Nor have I heard anything that would suggest that Fram sells substandard oil filters. I use Castrol Syntec (another common target from so-called experts) 5W30 in my engine with a Fram extended guard filter. No problems here, and I don't foresee any in the future. Even if you actually open the filter and observe it next to a "quality" filter, your analysis is still a matter of uneducated opinion. And I'm almost certain that, if you look hard enough, you will find negative posts concerning other filter manufacturers.

Supposedly BobIsTheOilGuy.com is the source for oil and oil filter information.

They refer to the base Fram filters as the "orange cans of death", and highly recommend against them.

Since this subject reappeared I'll put another 2c in. I usually use german oil filters on the benz, but I saw what the WIX filter looked like and when I go for mobil 1 using 5000mile changes it will be the 10$ wix filter. It looks so much better made than any of the german ones I've seen. I still use fram on the punky buellster but I change the oil every 1000-1500miles.

I know Jeeps have a problem with Frams. It seems that the filter allows the hydraulic lifters to leak down when the engine is off, leading to lifter noise when you start up gain.

350,000 270,000 and 190,000 on the Neons. Always used Fram filters.

Helterskelter wrote: A friend of mine with a turbo S2000 told me that the S2000 community prefers FRAM filters because they are higher flowing than other filters. When a motor spins to 9000+, I guess flow is a serious issue. So filters are a compromise between flow and filtration. I'm sure they all work fine if changed on a regular basis. I personally lean towards maximum filtration.

This conclusion is bass-ackwards; let me explain, the frams have less filter media than all the other leading brands, or so I have read many times, less filter media means that it will have less flow, and the flow rate will deteriorate more quickly as the filter media becomes clogged. The two factors that will have the most effect on a filters flow rate, aside from the oil it-self, are the porosity of the filter media, and the total surface area of the filter media.

Assuming the filtration micron ratings of the leading filters are similar, If brand F filter has a cartridge that is 2" tall and has a pleat depth of 3/4" and 100 pleats it has a filter surface area of 300 square inches. If brand W filter also has a 2" tall cartridge with 3/4" depth pleats but has 150 total pleats it has 450 square inches of surface area, a significant difference to say the least.

If you have something that causes your filter to clog, the filter with the most surface area will continue to work properly with less oil pressure loss for a longer period of time, conversely the filter with less surface area will become completely clogged in less time and its internal by-pass valve to open, allowing full oil pressurebut with no filtration, and possibly washing out trapped particles back into your engines oil passages.

In fairness I will admit that I have used fram fitters on low performance engines more than once, but they aren't my first or even second choice. Also the only filters that I have ever seen fail completely of their own accord were frams (twice, both on industrial engines). I do think that the grippy surface on the canister is a great invention, but not great enough to get me to use them on any HP or severe duty engine.

just my $.02

nexvick, are you now, or have you ever been an employee of Fram, a Fram subsidiary, a Fram subcontractor, a Fram business associate, advertising agency, or any other company that has received so much as a single dollar from Fram or any business associate related in the slightest way to Fram? And did you have sex with that woman?

I use them on my work cars, no stress, cruisers oil change every 3000 miles, but on the cars I care about no way, not ever.....

I had one problem with a Fram and it cost me an engine, but I guess I have something to do with it, the rubber gasket didn't come off the block and I didn't check, installed the new filter, now with two gaskets, dumped oil and broke timing chain on a 4.6. it was a good car until then...

I've run nothing but Fram for 100,000 miles in my DD corolla. Only issue was one filter I bought that didn't have any gasket installed at all, thank god i only moved the car 10 ft before noting the huge pool of oil.

Travis_K wrote: $6 isnt that much for a filter. If you see one cut open next to a cut open WIX filter you wouldnt ever use one again.

X2

Helterskelter wrote: So filters are a compromise between flow and filtration. I'm sure they all work fine if changed on a regular basis. I personally lean towards maximum filtration.

Why not add an additional bypass filter that is a max filtration unit, but only sees a small amount of oil in each pass?

I've run Fram filters on many vehicles throughout my life. Many of those with hundreds of thousands of miles on them. None of them ever failed from a bad filter, as far as I could ever tell.

I did have two Fram filters fail internally that I know of. There may have been more that I simply didn't detect. No engine failed as a clear and direct result of those failures.

None the less, I don't like filters to fail. As a result, I no longer run Fram filters.

One Fram feature I very much like is the rough textured exterior on some for grip. Darn handy.

Dr. Hess wrote: nexvick, are you now, or have you ever been an employee of Fram, a Fram subsidiary, a Fram subcontractor, a Fram business associate, advertising agency, or any other company that has received so much as a single dollar from Fram or any business associate related in the slightest way to Fram? And did you have sex with that woman?

Did you notice that was his first post?

Afer visiting BITOG, I assured myself I would never use a Fram again. The peace of mind isn't worth the couple of bucks I save 2-3 times a year.

I have run a lot of Fram filters over the years - never a failure - never run more then a year or 2500 miles. The only oil filter failure I have had was on a 1998 Ford ZX2 at ~2000 miles with the OEM filter (at 2 am between Albuquerque and Santa Fe). Engine survived - the selling dealer in Santa Fe claimed act of God or some such.

With my synthetic oil engines we run high end oil filters - I have had great luck with K&N.

WIX is the best from all the feedback I hear - nad there is even some real data to back opinions...

Varkwso wrote: (at 2 am between Albuquerque and Santa Fe).

Didn't take a wrong turn by any chance, did you?

Dr. Hess wrote: nexvick, are you now, or have you ever been an employee of Fram, a Fram subsidiary, a Fram subcontractor, a Fram business associate, advertising agency, or any other company that has received so much as a single dollar from Fram or any business associate related in the slightest way to Fram? And did you have sex with that woman?

Hey, Doc, you're channeling your inner lawyer again. Do I need to send you an LSAT application?