2 Toyota 90915-YZZN1 Cut Open - 4500 miles / 30 minutes of BG EPR

[Mewbs]

Its been about a week since my oil change on my Yaris, Its fairly young in its mileage less than 140K which take these tiny sized oil filters from Toyota. The darker filtering element in the photos is the filter that has been on 4500 miles, while the lighter colored one was only on the engine for 30 minutes using BG EPR to see how much debris and carbon it would catch. To my disappointment, the second filter was defective from the start open cutting open. One of the pleats did not had its end sealed and the supporting round molding appeared cracked at that location. Looks like quality control is slipping, good thing it wasn't on there for the next 5000 miles.

 

[Mewbs]

Worth noting they both have the same batch code on top, filters where purchased at a local dealership.

 

[Mewbs]

Decided I inspect the other boxed one and peeked in with a flash light, one of them had a wide spacing so I cut it open, definitely defective batch I got.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Looks like a repeatable flaw during production, since it's on both a used and new filter (?) - that last one in the photo sequence looks like it has dry media. That was a point for a small amount of dirty oil to bypass the filter.

 

[Mewbs]

These are far past the return period, don't think I still have the recipe too for the purchase since its been a while now. I wonder if its possible to send these back? I rather have them take it and not refund me. I already got 3 ammo boxes of Frams endurance and titanium's to replace them.

I'm tempted to open the other 2 remaining YZZN1s and probably the spare D3 too. I see one that has another pleat gap spacing which in these filters should be free of when viewing from inside the center tube.

 

[fantastic]

Good for you to cut another one open to see if the flaw was still present. Where did you buy these?

 

[Mewbs]

They were purchased at Crown Toyota, Ontario, California. about $5.75 each over 6 months ago. I'm thinking of tossing the rest into a trash bin after knowing these are a defective batch and just stick with Fram for now. Not worth risking putting a bad filter on a family member Toyota.

I'm not impressed of the media quality in these newer filters, feels cheap, orange looking paper, doesn't have that high quality feel compared to their usual cream colored cartridge media.

 

[ZeeOSix]

They were purchased at Crown Toyota, Ontario, California. about $5.75 each over 6 months ago. I'm thinking of tossing the rest into a trash bin after knowing these are a defective batch ...

Why not cut all of them open to see if that flaw is in any of the others? Then trash 'em.

 

[4WD]

Why not cut all of them open to see if that flaw is in any of the others? Then trash 'em.

Yep - I cut a mess of brand new Purolator and Motorcraft filters …
Never bought them after that …

 

[Mewbs]

Its been a while since I update this, was away for a while from a terrible sickness. I let the filters wick out dry for about a week and to my surprise it doesn't seem to be very loaded with carbon or debris for 4500 miles, meaning this filter could have lasted more miles. Could also mean the engine is running clean given much of its life is on the Highway.

As a bonus I pulled out the YZZD3 filter around 680 miles to check for sparklies, so far I only find 3 small metallic debris, though not sure if it was from the partial dry start when forgetting to pre-fill the filter on installation, however since the oil change the car was driven pretty hard on the highway around 80-90 mph average during the filter's life on the car so it could just be normal wear patterns. They don't appear to be magnetic.

One thing to note, this filter looks very well constructed, very stiff media and evenly spaced deep pleats. Its around 80mm or 3-1/8" long on the media height compared to the YZZN1 which is around 1-15/16" long. I would take this over the smaller YZZN1 filter any day.

I decided to install the Fram Ultra XG3600 for the rest of the remaining 4.5K miles until the next oil change is due, by then I'm curious how loaded the filter would get as I'm running HPL Engine Cleaner 30 in the current oil.

 

[Mewbs]

Looks like a repeatable flaw during production, since it's on both a used and new filter (?) - that last one in the photo sequence looks like it has dry media. That was a point for a small amount of dirty oil to bypass the filter.

I opened the others and find some similar defects, this time its just cracked resin seal. You can see that the resin seal does not wrap around the center tube perfectly like the ones without the defect. This could mean you might be randomly running a stone catcher filter. However I have not seen this kind of defect on the older batches of Toyota filters that have the cream colored media and reddish brown resin glue.

When I have time later should try to tear test the media, its very stiff between the pleats feeling on with a finger...

 

[fantastic]

^^ that does look like it had a fairly easy run & the Denso looks like a solid filter.

 

[Sayjac]

I missed this one when originally posted., Can't recall seeing a similar defect before in the Toyota Thai Denso, Looks like an area for oil bypass. Since more than one seen, seems some production QC issues at work.

Thanks for c&p.

 

[Mewbs]

^^ that does look like it had a fairly easy run & the Denso looks like a solid filter.

I think they're very solid filters when free from the discovered defects. I haven't seen one with severely wavy or torn pleats yet around the internet.

I missed this one when originally posted., Can't recall seeing a similar defect before in the Toyota Thai Denso, Looks like an area for oil bypass. Since more than one seen, seems some production QC issues at work.

Thanks for c&p.

I'm starting to have my oil filter preference shift towards metal and fiber endcap after discovering these issues, While the Toyota Denso filter design is almost a zero waste design on the media. Efficient minimal use of materials and no endcaps. The endcapless design do have some advantages compared to a fiber and metal endcap assembly as it allows to pleats to freely sway under fluid load without worry of media tearing seen on endcap media assemblies. The only flaw I see is these endcapless media assemblies requires very strict process control and monitoring QC to keep them free from defects like this during the media pleat gluing and resin ring seal process. I'd feel safer with a design that has a guaranteed seal on the media than ones that risk partial bypass due to a cost saving design.

Its a beautiful and durable filter when done right however in my situation if I have left it on for 5K miles wouldn't leave me happy knowing the resin seals on the media isn't doing its job running on bypass the whole time.

 

[fantastic]

I think they're very solid filters when free from the discovered defects. I haven't seen one with severely wavy or torn pleats yet around the internet.

I must of missed the flaw. I saw where you were mentioning the one you ran but didn't appear to have much wrong with it but then I reread the latest post about the new one & seen the crack you speak of. Does it have a gap between the center tube & the resin too?

 

[Mewbs]

The YZZD3 filter recently pulled from the yaris is free from defects and flawless. The ones I have a problem with is the YZZN1 filters which pretty much nearly all of them have defects on the resin seal, unglued pleat, and non perfect wrapping around the center tube. You can see some images above that the N1s I cut open have some sort of manufacturing flaw. I've condemned the the whole batch of N1s which I will discard them. I'm thinking of sending the remaining spare YZZD3 and uncut N1 filters to whipcitywrencher to review.

 

[fantastic]

understood. Try to find a filter that has plastic ends (bottom/Top) at least. I can order this style for the Volvo but I don't think I ever will & instead stick with a filter with an actual plastic instead of just glue.

 

[Oliveoil2]

I bet 10% of the filters on the market have defects. Manufacturers know that in the end it won’t harm the car. So they get sloppy.

 

[Mewbs]

understood. Try to find a filter that has plastic ends (bottom/Top) at least. I can order this style for the Volvo but I don't think I ever will & instead stick with a filter with an actual plastic instead of just glue.

Cartridge filters are a whole different beast, I hate dealing with them specially on my brothers Prius. Too much of a cleanup job before reassembly. I prefer spin-on filters, whenever I'm at a dealership with a friend help look for a car the first thing I ask is to pop up the engine bay hood and check for features like dip sticks, oil filter locations, ease of access to common wear components....

Anyway my recent situation with Toyota filters are likely a rare isolated occurance, its likely these filters are assembled in a heavily automated process meaning its hard to spot for media defects after assembly and the only way to screen them is to physically do filtration test on collected samples randomly during production shifts. Which is why I'm not upset about it. I got my moneys worth from that new oil filter cutter purchase instantly.

 

[fantastic]

Cartridge filters are a whole different beast, I hate dealing with them specially on my brothers Prius. Too much of a cleanup job before reassembly. I prefer spin-on filters, whenever I'm at a dealership with a friend help look for a car the first thing I ask is to pop up the engine bay hood and check for features like dip sticks, oil filter locations, ease of access to common wear components....

Anyway my recent situation with Toyota filters are likely a rare isolated occurance, its likely these filters are assembled in a heavily automated process meaning its hard to spot for media defects after assembly and the only way to screen them is to physically do filtration test on collected samples randomly during production shifts. Which is why I'm not upset about it. I got my moneys worth from that new oil filter cutter purchase instantly.

doh , You just reminded me yours is a spin on & not a cartridge so disregard what I said. HA! You don't have the ease of cutting them up first to take a peak so It's best to just try to stick with a premium brand filter. A lot of people seemed to talk trash on Purolator once upon a time & I'd concur BUT since 2015 or so they've really cleaned up their filters. At least a Boss filter would not cause you any issues w/o needing to chop into it to "Check for defects". Have you considered a Boss filter? They've been producing excellent filters lately.