Another Honda/Fram filter dissected

[quadrun1]

This one has been sitting in a drain pan, open end facing down, for the past year. It was used for 7,500 miles w/Mobil 1 5w30 in my previous car, a 1999 Honda Accord V6.

The only thing that impressed me was that a good amount of oil came out when I cut it open! Back then, I didn't know that these Made in Canada filters were made by Fram. The cardboard end caps held up well, but I'd probably choose a filter with metal end caps if I still had my Honda...

 

[Jay]

Nice picture, quadrun1, and thanks for the info.

[ April 19, 2003, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: Jay ]

 

[quadrun1]

You're welcome!

Also, for those for might be wondering, those 7,500 miles were accumulated over a time period of about 8 months.

Jason

 

[Eiron]

I find this interesting, as it counters what Bob discovered when he opened up his Fram in this post. His Mobil 1 filter did the same thing your Honda filter did, though.

Was there any oil retention in the Mitsu filter you just dissected?

 

[quadrun1]

Interesting! I wonder if it has anything to do with Fram's manufacturing tolerances (maybe he got one with a poor anti-drainback valve) or perhaps it has to do with the oil used?

I forgot the term for it, but to illustrate, for example, water molecules have a strong propensity to attract other water molecules. That's why water will climb up a capillary tube, and tall trees also take advantage of this to move water up to impressive heights... Now maybe the oil Bob used has more of this self-attractive force than M1, causing it to drain out more effectively? Super wild guess though.

His filter sure did look black, is that the color of Schaeffer's?

The Mitsu filter definitely had more oil in it, but it had only been draining for about a month. Another thing, that filter had conventional oil in it which probably doesn't flow as well as M1

Bob brings up some interesting points, especially regarding flow vs. filtration... Could it be that the seemingly cheaper bypass valve of the Fram actually improves flow, and therefore produces the lower wear numbers he says he's seen with Frams?

Honda seems to have a lot of faith in this filter: they say to change it every other oil change (every 15,000 miles)

 

[quadrun1]

This thread also has people complaining of poor oil retention in Fram filters. Something I totally forgot is that the Honda-labeled Fram filters may actually be built to slightly higher "Honda" specifications... who knows!

 

[Greg]

looks like a PH6811 clone.