Cut Fram filter after valve job

[Stelth]

Had a valve job done on my 2001 GMC Savana 1500 4.3 V6. I figured it would be good to run a short OCI afterwards, and I ended up running about 2500 miles on this filter. Oil was mostly O'Reilly 5w30, with a quart of PYB.

As you can (hopefully) see, there are some little bits of crud here and there. Unfortunately, the pics didn't come out as clear as I would have liked, but it looks to me like the filter is fine, and the mechanic didn't spill too many chunks of stuff into the engine.

 

[Ram01]

The looks ok but could be better

 

[pbm]

I've mentioned it before....but why do so many American made oil filters have wavy pleats?

 

[rockydee]

Not bad. I always laughed at them being the bitog punching bag, and now its looking like Purolator is taking the title. ha

 

[JerryBob]

Originally Posted By: pbm
I've mentioned it before....but why do so many American made oil filters have wavy pleats?


Since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, the waviness in the media reflects the desire of the filter manufacturers to maximize the filter media surface area, and maximize the value for the customer.

The waviness allows for more surface area, thus maximizing the life of the filter.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

 

[Motorking]

Originally Posted By: Stelth
Had a valve job done on my 2001 GMC Savana 1500 4.3 V6. I figured it would be good to run a short OCI afterwards, and I ended up running about 2500 miles on this filter. Oil was mostly O'Reilly 5w30, with a quart of PYB.

As you can (hopefully) see, there are some little bits of crud here and there. Unfortunately, the pics didn't come out as clear as I would have liked, but it looks to me like the filter is fine, and the mechanic didn't spill too many chunks of stuff into the engine.


Hi,
What is PYB? Just wondering what it is and what effect it may have had on this filter. Was your engine sludged up at all? Asking because the waviness in the pleats could be caused by a sticking oil filter bypass valve. GM build this valve into the engine block, all other engine makers put it in the filter.

 

[ZeeOSix]

PYB = Pennzoil Yellow Bottle.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: Motorking
Asking because the waviness in the pleats could be caused by a sticking oil filter bypass valve.


Or maybe some coolant leaking into the oil and the valve job (hopefully) fixed the problem.

 

[Sayjac]

Originally Posted By: Kruse
...Or maybe some coolant leaking into the oil...

That was my first thought too. Whenever I see a filter element with washed out and kinda soggy looking media combined with some waviness like this one, I think coolant intrusion. Been shown here before. That seems much more likely to me than any block bypass issue. I see no evidence of a sludge issue as related to this filter. And GM is not the the only one to use block bypass, recently had a Nissan running an MGL51361 posted here that also has a block bypass.