Defective??? Wix WL10332 with closed/nearly closed louvers

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Amsoil EA15K13 for Honda. Terrible pictures, but full open. Made in USA
 
Got around to cutting open one of the suspect WL10332 filters today. Will include this info in a later post as well when I compare it to the other filters that I ordered that also fit this application. Some of the louvers are open some are not depending on which part of the spiral wound center tube you look at. Pics below.

Overall findings on the filter.

Part Number WL10332
Weight 182.2 g
Pleats 51
Weight of core less ADBV 53.1 g
Weight of baseplate with o-ring 86.8 g
Can thickness 0.0145 in
Media thickness 0.0365 in
Core 1 7/16 in tall
Media length 45.25 in
Bypass valve hole diameter 7/16 in

Other notes: Paint came off the can onto cutter rollers immediately upon cutting, does not seem well adhered to the can. Excessive potting material noted on dome and base end metal endcaps, visible light leak at fiber dome end bypass valve.

Here are the pics.
 
Been waiting for the "money shot(s)" (tube with media removed) of the louvers to comment again. Don't look that bad to my eye, imo and experience doubtful any bypass/flow issue. As I noted initially in thread post #11, speculated they could look much better than the down the center tube shots, and they do. As for rest of filter, as also noted many hecho in Mexico (vs US made) filters anecdotes show lousy quality e.g. current Bosch Premium. So for me, pretty as expected/predicted post #11.

Thanks c&p with money shots.
 
Just throwing some really rough numbers out, but if the inlet holes are eight 0.25" diameter holes, and if there are 200 louvers with a length of 0.25", then the louvers would need to have a width of 0.008" to match the cross section of the inlet holes.

But just matching the cross section isn't enough, because thin openings have a lot more friction for the same cross sectional area. I would guess that you'd need more like 0.05" wide louvers to match the inlet flow restriction, which these seem very far from on average.

Matching the inlet restriction isn't a very meaningful metric, but it's interesting to see such a difference.

Personally, I think this particular filter would see some minor bypassing in normal use within a normal filter change interval, and the duration and magnitude of more 'normal' bypass events like with cold starts would be increased.

More concerning is just the poor quality and unreliable craftsmanship that would apply just as much to features that aren't as easily inspected before use.
 
Zoomed in photo from post #1. On the louver in the red oval you can see where the metal was trying to open up. Some of the others show the same thing. The metal basically just stretched when the louvers were formed, and never opened up. This filter would have been in bypass 100% of the time, and depending on the size of the bypass valve could have put the oil pump far into relief at low RPM and starve the engine of adequate oil flow at higher RPM.

View attachment 255279
i have 3 or 4 wix 10290 on my shelf in the garage , after seeing the 1st post i went out and looked at mine , mine are better but not by much , and i have one currently on my equinox , after change will be puting on a fram xg, never thought to look inside really good on an oil filter ,
it sucks that you try your best to run good oil and filters, DIY on oil changes and you come across this garbage filter
 
Been waiting for the "money shot(s)" (tube with media removed) of the louvers to comment again. Don't look that bad to my eye, imo and experience doubtful any bypass/flow issue. As I noted initially in thread post #11, speculated they could look much better than the down the center tube shots, and they do. As for rest of filter, as also noted many hecho in Mexico (vs US made) filters anecdotes show lousy quality e.g. current Bosch Premium. So for me, pretty as expected/predicted post #11.

Thanks c&p with money shots.

Just throwing some really rough numbers out, but if the inlet holes are eight 0.25" diameter holes, and if there are 200 louvers with a length of 0.25", then the louvers would need to have a width of 0.008" to match the cross section of the inlet holes.

But just matching the cross section isn't enough, because thin openings have a lot more friction for the same cross sectional area. I would guess that you'd need more like 0.05" wide louvers to match the inlet flow restriction, which these seem very far from on average.

Matching the inlet restriction isn't a very meaningful metric, but it's interesting to see such a difference.

Personally, I think this particular filter would see some minor bypassing in normal use within a normal filter change interval, and the duration and magnitude of more 'normal' bypass events like with cold starts would be increased.

More concerning is just the poor quality and unreliable craftsmanship that would apply just as much to features that aren't as easily inspected before use.

Half of the louvers are formed enough to be passable. The other half are only open 0.001-0.003 in and some pass no visible light whatsoever. The bypass valve has more light leakage than a full 1/3 of the louvers in this filter.

Do I think this filter would have caused damage? No. Would I run the other 2 that I have still intact, also no.

The remainder of my filters for the filter compare-o arrived today, the Wix Pro-Tec looks much the same as these filters, same COO. As I have time over the next few weeks I'll document and chop the rest.
 
It's a shame what has happened to Wix. Used to be my go-to filter brand, but I won't touch them anymore.

I switched to Denso because even though they have less efficiency they have superior construction/consistency/quality from my own experiences these past couple of years.
 
Just bought a batch of wix filters off Rockauto and I should’ve done some more up to date research first. First time I’ve been dissatisfied with a rock auto purchase. I open up the boxes and I see “ made in Mexico” and a sloppy glue job and louvers. 😡 I’ve been disappointed with Fram endurance filters, now Wix. Don’t even know what to look for these days. The hunt for profits in 2024 has tanked almost every consumer product on the market. **** the greed.
 
From my time in the automotive stamping business, the sad fact is that maintenance of your reputation is usually held in the hands and eyes of the lowest paid employees. Even worse, sorting of suspect parts is often done by temporary workers in a back corner of the plant.

These people are often shunned by others because they are transient, often their english is lacking. Not trying to be mean, but these QA issues are expected to be caught by someone making less than your average McDonalds worker.
 
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