4 tears on one Purolator oil filter

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: CHARLIEBRONSON21
... maybe there's a gremlin swapping out our filters with defective filters, who knows. There's probably a larger number out there, since not too many people cut the filters.


That's it ... Gremlins with X-ray vision who can see media tears through the steel can are swapping those filters out in the middle of the night onto BITOG members cars who also have a filter cutter in the garage. There was really only 12 bad filters out of 1,000,000 made, and those Gremlins just wanted to mess with BITOG dudes.

In wonder if this is the same Gremlins messing with my Toyota A/T filter. At the dealer I mentioned I replaced mine, and was told it was just a screen. "It has media" I said, they replied then it's not Toyota. I replied then I need to put a new lock on the Garage door.

 

[FetchFar]

A calculation of statistical uncertainty here: If you randomly find that 5 out of 25 Purolator Classic oil filters have tears in them, that works out to an uncertainty of 16%. So, we can say that about between 4% and 36% of all those filters out there in the world have tears in them.

Any way you stack it, Purolator Classic is a problem.

 

[ZeeOSix]

^^^ Aaah, come on. The tears are all trivial, and they only occur to BITOG members who happen to cut filter open.

 

[FetchFar]

Originally Posted By: FetchFar
A calculation of statistical uncertainty here: If you randomly find that 5 out of 25 Purolator Classic oil filters have tears in them, that works out to an uncertainty of 16%. So, we can say that about between 4% and 36% of all those filters out there in the world have tears in them.

Any way you stack it, Purolator Classic is a problem.


I chose the "5 out of 25" as a rough guess of the number of Pur Classics torn open compared to the number reported torn. This is likely to be basically fair. Anyway, thats a [censored] of a high failure rate, no matter if you can put up 50 Purolator filters torn open on these forums in the past 2 years or so, or just 25.

 

[FetchFar]

I'm very grateful for canister oil filters like in my GM 2011 3.6L Cadillac-Chevy V6 and BMW 07 530xi. No cutting open required. Thats the way they all should be, fully open for inspection already.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: FetchFar
Originally Posted By: FetchFar
A calculation of statistical uncertainty here: If you randomly find that 5 out of 25 Purolator Classic oil filters have tears in them, that works out to an uncertainty of 16%. So, we can say that about between 4% and 36% of all those filters out there in the world have tears in them.

Any way you stack it, Purolator Classic is a problem.


I chose the "5 out of 25" as a rough guess of the number of Pur Classics torn open compared to the number reported torn. This is likely to be basically fair. Anyway, thats a [censored] of a high failure rate, no matter if you can put up 50 Purolator filters torn open on these forums in the past 2 years or so, or just 25.


Didn't you hear that Gremlins with X-ray vision who can look through the steel can and see media tears are secretly removing them from non-BITOG members cars and installing a good filter, then installing those flawed oil filters on only BITOG members cars. Plus, they only do that to the BITOG guys who have a filter cutter in garage who like to cut open oil filters and post photos. What are the chances?

 

[Merkava_4]

ZeeOSix,

Do we have any pictures of new Purolator filters with torn pleats floating around here ?

I'm wondering if the tears happen during manufacturing, or if the tears happen while in use during the OCI.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
ZeeOSix,

Do we have any pictures of new Purolator filters with torn pleats floating around here ?

I'm wondering if the tears happen during manufacturing, or if the tears happen while in use during the OCI.


I have never seen any media tears in brand new Purolator filters. As I've said before, I think the root cause could be contributed to a number of factors all adding up to some degree.

1) Large pleat spacing near the seam.

2) The media being used (it seems stiff and brittle to me).

3) The pleats near the seam are more spread into a "V" shape where they are glued into the end cap; this could cause the side panels of the pleat to get more side force due to oil flow.

4) If these filters were used in very cold climate, then the thicker oil would added more side force on the pleat, causing them to bent flat easier and causing the media to tear near the ends of the pleat where it's glued to end cap.

The bottom line is I think the media is tearing during filter use. The media tearing is always in the same place as seen in all these posted photos, because the widely spaced and open pleats are being bent over from the oil flow, and that causes stress at the end of the pleat. Since it can't twist close to the end cap, the media ends up tearing open.

 

[Wilhelm_D]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
The bottom line is I think the media is tearing during filter use. The media tearing is always in the same place as seen in all these posted photos, because the widely spaced and open pleats are being bent over from the oil flow, and that causes stress at the end of the pleat. Since it can't twist close to the end cap, the media ends up tearing open.

Since Purolator has been using this same design for at least 20 years not only as Purolator but as Bosch, Motorcraft, PowerFlo, ProLine, Quaker State, and numerous private labels with no problems, why has it suddenly become a problem? And why just on Purolator and not on the shared brand names like Motorcraft and Bosch?

The conclusion is that something changed.

Candidates would include filter media, either a new specification or new supplier, a change in the manufacturing process, a change in quality control, or a change in some raw material used such as the adhesive.

Other manufacturers such as Fram use widely spaced open pleats glued to the end cap, as has Purolator for many years, so it seems quite unlikely that the design is the problem.

 

[KevGuy]

Me thinks that Purolator is now the black sheep of oil filters while FRAM has become the bomb.

 

[Sam2000]

Originally Posted By: KevGuy
Me thinks that Purolator is now the black sheep of oil filters while FRAM has become the bomb.


Is the FRAM ticking then?

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Wilhelm_D
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
The bottom line is I think the media is tearing during filter use. The media tearing is always in the same place as seen in all these posted photos, because the widely spaced and open pleats are being bent over from the oil flow, and that causes stress at the end of the pleat. Since it can't twist close to the end cap, the media ends up tearing open.

Since Purolator has been using this same design for at least 20 years not only as Purolator but as Bosch, Motorcraft, PowerFlo, ProLine, Quaker State, and numerous private labels with no problems, why has it suddenly become a problem? And why just on Purolator and not on the shared brand names like Motorcraft and Bosch?

The conclusion is that something changed.

Candidates would include filter media, either a new specification or new supplier, a change in the manufacturing process, a change in quality control, or a change in some raw material used such as the adhesive.

Other manufacturers such as Fram use widely spaced open pleats glued to the end cap, as has Purolator for many years, so it seems quite unlikely that the design is the problem.


Concur ... but I wouldn't say the adhesive is a factor. Personally, I think the brittle nature of the media is a big factor. Maybe they have changed the media supplier ... only Purolator has the information to root cause this accurately at this point. Large pleat spacing may not be a problem if the media can take the side load from the oil flow ... but if the media can't take the stress due to large pleat spacing causing more side force on the pleat, then it's gonna tear.

When I cut open that Classic that had a substantial tear in the end of the pleat next to the seam, I could put side force on the other pleats and literally hear the media tearing apart.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: KevGuy
Me thinks that Purolator is now the black sheep of oil filters while FRAM has become the bomb.


Only the Ultra, and the TG to some degree. The EG is still not very popular.

 

[KevGuy]

Everybody should just use FRAM to avoid any issues.

 

[Nate1979]

OP here. Ihave posted my UOA here after the attack of the Tearolators.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...sic#Post3350159

Pretty much no noticeable affect in the UOA from the tear. Tearing is not a good thing but it isn't a catastrophe neither.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Nate1979
OP here. Ihave posted my UOA here after the attack of the Tearolators.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...sic#Post3350159

Pretty much no noticeable affect in the UOA from the tear. Tearing is not a good thing but it isn't a catastrophe neither.


What's unknown is when did the media tear? Was it on mile 5 or on mile 5,060?

 

[FutureDoc]

Originally Posted By: KevGuy
Everybody should just use FRAM to avoid any issues.


Fram does not make an acceptable filter for me... only the Orange Can is available to meet by-pass spec for Subaru.

 

[KCJeep]

Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
Originally Posted By: KevGuy
Everybody should just use FRAM to avoid any issues.


Fram does not make an acceptable filter for me... only the Orange Can is available to meet by-pass spec for Subaru.


No Tough Guard for you? Too bad it's a great filter with a 10k use rating and 99% efficiency for about 6 bucks.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
When's Purolator gonna come out with a wire backed synthetic media filter ?


About 6~9 months ago?

http://www.purolatorautofilters.net/products/oil_filters/Pages/SyntheticOilFilters.aspx


Strange, their application guide only lists the P1 and Classic for my car.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
When's Purolator gonna come out with a wire backed synthetic media filter ?


About 6~9 months ago?

http://www.purolatorautofilters.net/products/oil_filters/Pages/SyntheticOilFilters.aspx


Strange, their application guide only lists the P1 and Classic for my car.


I would suspect their PSL line is more limited than the Classic or PureOne line, at least at this time.