Please tell me this is not the way oil filters are made...

[Gopher Baroque]

ALL oil does not go thru the Filter at once. Much of it bypasses and some may go thru on the next cycle.

Ah, but what does go through the bypass, comes out clean. Way back when, I ran a Fram bypass on an aircooled VW. The factory "filter" was a rock screen and frequent oil changes. The Fram filter always had a metallic sheen on the incoming side come change time so it was taking stuff out of circulation.

Fram filters are still available but have to use their filters. The old stiff one-ply TP that felt like sandpaper is no longer available, just softie stuff that turns to mush!

 

[aircommuter]

Frantz still sells their bypass filter, you can use their cartridge or TP. Amsoil sells one also. For big trucks Luber finer was the big bypass filter. Not sure if they still make it.

 

[Gord Baker]

Ah, but what does go through the bypass, comes out clean. Way back when, I ran a Fram bypass on an aircooled VW. The factory "filter" was a rock screen and frequent oil changes. The Fram filter always had a metallic sheen on the incoming side come change time so it was taking stuff out of circulation.

Fram filters are still available but have to use their filters. The old stiff one-ply TP that felt like sandpaper is no longer available, just softie stuff that turns to mush!

5-15% of the oil in a running engine goes through the Filter. Eventually it all does.
I never use fram filters knowingly. FYI, GM rad Caps were all made in India for Decades. Perhaps they still are.

 

[aircommuter]

India is also the largest pharmaceutical manufacturer in the world. Did you you swallow one lately? You may never know.

I like Baldwin, Fleetguard, Donaldson Luberfiner and a couple others.

 

[RandR10]

EDIT: In light of a response from user M59, I retract the following endorsement. The filter I bought, the Fram Drive FD9688, was indeed of good quality construction, but apparently they are not consistent with this and still use the paper end caps on some models. I'll leave the original post below for posterity, but wanted to give a heads up for anyone reading this that you may want to read further in the thread before deciding whether to buy Fram filters.

With all the trash talk about Fram I highly recommend cutting one open and looking inside. The old ones, I agree were junk. The ones you grab off the shelf today are high quality filters. There are a couple YouTube videos about this, so you don't have to even do it yourself.
I recently did an engine rebuild on my Kioti and sourced the wrong OEM filter online. Only one I could find locally was a Fram. I always do one or two heat cycles on a new engine and change the oil and filter. I cut the Fram open on the lathe and was surprised to see a well constructed filter. Went to the store and bought a second one and have been running them since.
One of the aforementioned videos:

Alright guys, so I did get around to changing the oil on the tractor today finally and cut the Fram FD9688 model open that I bought from Advance last year. Ran it for 37 hours during engine break in (I also changed the oil once after about the first hour of running, something I do with all fresh engine builds). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but this looks like a well made filter to me. Standard rubber drainback valve, metal end caps with integrated spring on the bottom one, plastic cage internal to the filter media and plastic bypass valve with a metal spring holding tension. So at the very least I can say that this particular model from Fram is good stuff. In addition to working on my early Kioti with its oddball Kubota engine, this filter is also used since the '90s on most Hyundai and Honda models, so if you've got one of those cars and this filter looks good enough to you, go ahead and use it.

 

[RandR10]

Alright guys, so I did get around to changing the oil on the tractor today finally and cut the Fram FD9688 model open that I bought from Advance last year. Ran it for 37 hours during engine break in (I also changed the oil once after about the first hour of running, something I do with all fresh engine builds). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but this looks like a well made filter to me. Standard rubber drainback valve, metal end caps with integrated spring on the bottom one, plastic cage internal to the filter media and plastic bypass valve with a metal spring holding tension. So at the very least I can say that this particular model from Fram is good stuff. In addition to working on my early Kioti with its oddball Kubota engine, this filter is also used since the '90s on most Hyundai and Honda models, so if you've got one of those cars and this filter looks good enough to you, go ahead and use it.

One more thing to note on this filter, when I pulled it off, for the first time in my life, the filter gasket ring stayed stuck to the mounting surface on the engine. When I removed it, there was a layer of rubber stuck to the surface like if you put some RTV on it (I didn't), which I thought was a bit odd. I've heard the stories of this happening but this is my first experience with it. Seems like the rubber they used in the gasket had something to do with it.

 

[Gord Baker]

Well written.

 

[MF243RedTop]

Most fram horror stories I've heard about wasn't from how the filter was assembled or the quality of those parts.. but the paper filter media itself would disintegrate...maybe they have improved the quality of the media now..

I still choose wix/napa though

 

[bmg88201]

I think that Wix, Purolator, Napa are all good filters. Most of us are brand loyal to some extent. I personally stick with Purolator filters because they are priced less than a Wix. I too, have heard horror stories about Fram filters. Don’t know if they are accurate, but why take the chance. Also, I have been told that Wix makes Napa filters.

 

[aircommuter]

ALL oil does not go thru the Filter at once. Much of it bypasses and some mag go thru on the next cycle.

Not really a cycle, it is constantly going through.