Ran this for 7000 miles on Mobil 1 5w30, did an oil drain only, filled with frankenbrew and went another 5000 miles. Looks good IMO although I don't plan to run oversize filters quite this long lol. ADBV was still nice and pliable, base gasket still fairly soft. At the bottom of the can are visible deposits from some neodymium magnets placed on the outside, there are a few others around the side of the can that are not visible. The drained oils (both M1 and frankenbrew) were about normal, dark but still translucent, and no noticeable grit or debris found at the bottom of the drain pan. Now running Wix 51516 (oversize) and PUP 5w30, planning to go around 7500 miles. Although they are both oversize filters, the Wix 51516 is slightly longer than the FL400S and did not quite fit onto my Tacoma. I removed about 3/8 inch of material from the end of a stabilizer bracket for the transmission cooler lines, and now the Wix 51516 fits. Enjoy.
Cut & Paste: FL400s, 12,000 miles
- Thread starter DGXR
- Start date
Looks good
@DGXR ... what's the depth of the pleats if you put a scale down to the bottom of the pleats?
Reason I ask is because I cut open an FL500S a few years ago and just cut another on open last week. Comparing the measurement on both, the older one had pleats that were 3/4" deep and the new one had pleats that were only 3/8" deep - both had the same number of pleats. So Motorcraft essentially cut the media area in half along the way over the last couple year (when the center tube went to louvers I believe).
Reason I ask is because I cut open an FL500S a few years ago and just cut another on open last week. Comparing the measurement on both, the older one had pleats that were 3/4" deep and the new one had pleats that were only 3/8" deep - both had the same number of pleats. So Motorcraft essentially cut the media area in half along the way over the last couple year (when the center tube went to louvers I believe).
At 12k miles over 2 ocis, looks quite good to me. For ~$4 WM price, you got your money's worth.
Thanks for c&p.
Thanks for c&p.
I use these FL400's on my Deere LT150 and my 2005 Jeep GC. It is a great buy at ~$4 from WM!
just my $0.02
just my $0.02
Member bullwinkle sent me 4 older ones with holes instead of louvers. May throw oldest one on next oci
I'd bet those older FL400S filters with the holes in the center tube have deeper pleats and therefore more media area than the ones with the louvered center tube. See post #5 above.
The pleats are about 1/2 inch deep and I counted 59 ridges going around the filter media.
Thanks for checking. I'm betting Motorcraft has decreased the pleat depth on all their filters compared to what they did a few years ago. My guess is when they changed the center tube to louvers they also started making the pleats not as deep, which cut the media area in about half since the number of pleats seems to still be the same. At least that's what I found on the two FL500S filters I cut and compared.
12,000 miles should be nothing for this filter. In the 70's V8s used similar filters that stayed on for 2 OCI's of 5- 7,000 miles each. I would hope that filters are better than they were back then.
Nice to see the pics.
Nice to see the pics.
I didn't get a shot of the inside of this filter so I just wanted to clarify that this is one of the older style FL400s filters with holes in the center tube, not louvers. It also has the baseplate-end bypass but that is pretty clear in the pics.
I try to look for the older style filters with holes in the center tubes... feel like I lucked out with my last purchase of WIX 51516 filters, I bought 9 of them and they are the older style with holes and also with the baseplate-end bypass valve. They just seem to be a more robust design which I prefer, but the newer design is probably "OK".
Can you get the date code off the can?
908121613, I think
Attachments
Yeah, smudged up a bit ... but if correct then it's Aug 12, 2016.
