Cartridge style oil filters... pros & cons?

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The problem with the cartridges that are crushing, is the quality of construction. The fram (for the ford fusion 2.3L and 2.5L) has weak paper and will crush every time its used. The Motorcraft has a plastic cage on the inside of the pleats to keep this from happening. The wix pictured above has more pleats, stronger paper but no ring inside but i have never had one twist or crush on me.
I prefer the Wix/NAPA Gold.
The cartridge system used on the ford/mazda 2.3L and 2.5L is not perfect (even with the drain plug in the cap) but I know what my filter looks like as soon as I pull it out, without having to cut a canister apart.
 
If a filter is too tall, it is going to crush. If it is too short, it isn't going to seal. I guess I would rather see a slight crush.
 
The cartridge filters are good if mounted inside the engine bay, like ecotec and german cars, you can use fluid extractor and never touch the drain plug, so on these cars I think the cartridge has an advantage. If it's mounted at the bottom, spin on is more convenient.
 
My brother in law has a toureg or however you spell it. It has a cartridge filter that is a PITA to get to and it makes a mess to get it out. What I can tell you is that its true with some brands the size of the filter is wrong and it deforms when you put it in. Frams filter for his car is too long and deforms. Wix filter is the right size but the filter he got had the wrong size O ring and it would leak oil. The best one he's found is a cheap brand that I believe is called Champ or TUFF or something like that?? Its the right size and it has the proper O ring. It also only costs $7 at our auto parts store as opposed to the $12 it costs for the WIX.
 
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To Silver C6, as I posted previously, my local Toyota dealer (the biggest in Canada's national capital), doesn't even change the small "0" ring when they do their rapid-lube. "Ever", their guy told me. What's that about???

I know it's a PITA working with these set-ups, but I finally located an Assenmacher cap wrench locally (Cdn price: $32.72 with taxes!!). And it took me weeks! Internet search, phone calls. Dealer wouldn't see me one of their special tools to remove the cartridge housing cap, and NAPA and Canadian tire offered [censored]. Cdn Tire bakelite wrench would take off the housing, but slip when I tried to torque it on.

This is [censored]. The factory and after-market clearly wants me to go in to a dealer and pay through the nose to let them do a less-than-complete job, i.e. not replace both "O" rings.

BTW, I had to have a dealer in Miramichi, New Brunswicdk, do an oil change last month on my 09 RAV4 V6 Sport because my wife and I were travelling in Easter Canada. $132 for a full-synthetic oil change!!! I almost had a heart attack when I saw the bill. I [censored] loudly and got it down to $99.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: tom slick
Is there any evidence of plastic filter housings failing from normal service?


the only failures we see are from people overtightening them and cracking the housings.

we stock the filter caps for 6.0 and 6.4 diesel because a lot of the aftermarket oil filters have the cap attached to them unlike the OEM design.

Yeah, avoid those filters.
This Youtube video shows a failed WIX filter that wrecked a Ford 6.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBq_1ogRul0&feature=channel_page
 
As easy as it is to change the cartridge filter on my BMW, my RX-8 is the easiest. It's a spin on filter facing down on the top of the engine bay. Clean. No mess every time.
 
The filter canisters are spring loaded so that differences in length have no effect. People forget to lube the ends of the cartridge before installing which can introduce more twisting torque on the cartridge as the cover is secured. The inner plastic insert in some filters is to give the element extra support if needed due to oil pressure differences across the element and NOT to prevent end to end collapse. .
 
The biggest thing I worry about with the cartridge on my 2.3L Mazda3 is over tightening the endcap and cracking the housing. I've heard of enough shops (and even dealers, in some cases) trying to use a strap wrench and over torquing it to the point that the plastic cap cracks, leaking oil everywhere. Strangely enough all the 2.0L and the newer 2.5L engines using normal spin-on filters. Next oil change I'm swapping out the filter mount and going to spin-ons.
 
They make a conversion kit. I have a 2007 Mazda6 with the 2.3L and I'm so happy I did it.

http://forum.mazda6club.com/index.php?showtopic=113849

Oh and funny quote from the walkthrough:
Quote:
Start loosining the four 10mm bolts on the main assembly. WARNING!: The filter will defend itself. [censored] will fall. [censored] will get in your eyes. Your children's children will get [censored] in their eyes. Either dodge like a ninja, or wear some sort of eyeprotection during this step. The filters defenses are far greater then anything concievable by human imaginiation. Do not turn your back to it! You may find it helpful to have another human present to take photos and laugh at you when you get stuff in your eyes.
 
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Oh and another note, Amsoil filter is the eao57, Wix 51348 and compatible:

Height: 3.404
Outer Diameter Top: 2.921
Outer Diameter Bottom: Closed
Thread Size: 3/4-16
By-Pass Valve Setting-PSI: 8-11
Anti-Drain Back Valve: Yes
Burst Pressure-PSI: 275

Gasket Diameters
Number O.D. I.D. Thk.
Attached 2.734 2.430 0.226
 
What a shame that mazda made a cartridge system that was such a pain in the rear.

Changing O rings, in addition to the filter is cause for disaster with most oil change shops, or DIY'ers.

I have a couple ecotec motors in my fleet. I bought a couple dozen purolator filters when they were on sale from amazon, about $1.99 each.

The purolator filters are no where close to as good as the OEM hengst filters, but for the price they work OK.

GM redesigned the cap a few years ago to help the system vent pressure better. I made a post on it a few years back, and if you have an older car, then just buy the cap/filter kit from the dealer for $10 to convert to the new system.

I'm very happy with the cartridge system on this car. I bought a 4 dollar tool to take the cap off without damaging it, and its a simple system.
 
The canister cap is supposed to be torqued to ~ 25 ft/lbs(Mazda CX7) and I use a torque wrench with a cap wrench with a 3/8" socket. Never a need to guess on this and crack a cover. People who refuse to use the correct tools or fail to follow instructions should not be working on their vehicles IMO. YES, my Mazda CX7 cartridge can be a pain IF I don't take the extra 10 minutes to do the job and just try to rush it. Ed
 
I like the canister set up on my ecotec 2.2. I also have a torque wrench (18 lbs for the cap) and the proper Lisle socket to remove the cap.

My question regarding occasional cap replacement was more to do with the thermal stresses that the cap will see. I know I'm not overtightening it, but the constant thermal changes seen by the thermal plastic cap had me concerned. I'm thinking it may be prudent to change the cap every other year or so....Does that seem redundant or unneeded?
 
I agree with HTSS_TR

Glass filled Nylon, which is more than likely what that cap is made of, is used in many applications throughout the engine without failure. I wouldn't worry about it failing because of the material it's made of. From anything I've read it fails because the people installing them are unskilled or untrained.
 
SilverC6: Thanks, but I bought the Assenmacher cap wrench already for my RAV4.

So, do you change both "O" rings each time? Or just the big one, like my dealer? Do you use the little plastic drain piece included with each filter?
 
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