Oil Filters

[PlayDate]

Couldn't it just be that some filters are made better than others, but almost all are exceptable? In our previous business, we used mostly Cat, Fleetguard, Donaldson and Napa Gold, and a lot of them. Those are the ones that I would buy for normal shelf stock. Occasionally I bought boxes of filters at equipment auctions for pennies on the dollar if most of the filters in a particular lot were compatible with our machines. Over the years I'm sure I have run just about every well known kind at least once or twice. Never had any problems with any of them and the insoluble numbers were always in range on the oil reports.
TT, I run the LF9009 on my boat, found this DIY youtube video:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi0_taSoIfgAhUGTawKHf3BAd4QwqsBMAB6BAgFEAQ&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDWzXXYXX-k&usg=AOvVaw06Nk5ekU2D2FUUVwpNMP3W
Not sure what conclusions can be drawn from it, but the oil lab always states in their little blurb with the oil report that the filters are doing their job.
I'd bet there's a cat video out there somewhere.

It is probably a fair bet to say the retailers (Cat, Quicksilver, Fleetguard, NAPA etc.) actually specify the material and construction of their filters to the manufacturer. That would explain the metal gauge, filter material and design that is used.

Then you have companies like Fram who have great marketing, an innovative grip surface and specify a junk product on the inside.

 

[El Capitan]

I think that’s a reasonable assertion. I did change shops were I get my Ford truck serviced because I learned they use a cheap filter made in China and motor oil both of which I’ve never heard of. Now I go to Ford dealer for all fluids and filters.

For my mercruiser I’ll just use mercruiser products.

 

[Krazzeeddie]

I use to use K&N filters on everything until I almost blew up my Porsche RSR motor, their pressure valves are not always the same as what the motor needs, in my case I over pressurized the motor at the higher end of the revs. Now On my factory motors I use the factory recommend filter and on my custom motors I do the research to make sure the filter will work for what I am doing with the motor.

 

[Thornton69]

I understand this thread is about oil filters, but thought I would share my findings with fuel filters.
With the higher emission requirements with newer diesels, the tighter tolerances in injection system have reduced their filter's ratings to as low as 2 microns. When taking an OEM filter like Cat or Fleetguard in a tier 4 application for instance, Donaldson will cross over to it but other brands like Wix, Fram and Baldwin won't. They will all cross over to that Donaldson number though. In my opinion, Donaldson seems to crossover their filters to a substitute that questionably meets the OEM specifications. They actually remove the tabs on the filter head that will prevent them from being used.
At least with higher tier'd fuel systems, I recomend OEM only.

 

[B BARKER]

I use either Mercruiser or Wix filters on my 340's nothing else.....Also on my Crusader I use Wix.....