Fake Filter Damage?
- Thread starter Flatrate
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They've been doing that for years. Where else could they print a label on a no-endcap filter?
In a store I've seen Purolator filters of that type which had the ring of seal material at the center, but apparently none farther out on the ends of the pleats to keep oil from bypassing there. Strange!
On filters designed like this Toyota filter, the ends of each pleat is glued so no unfiltered oil gets past the media.
Not when Purolator does them.
Did you verify the pleat ends were not glued on the Purolators? I have verified on the Toyota filters, and each pleat end was glued together.
Shel_B
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I'm having difficulty picturing this. Can you explain the design a little more, or maybe show an example with an image? Thanks!
This has been discussed before, and this is the visual aid I did back then. The filter needs to be sealed where the red and blue lines are - the end of the pleats. Since some area of the pleat ends are uncovered, those pleat ends need to be glued together (blue line) so unfiltered out doesn't go through the ends of the pleats. Those gaps on the pleat ends are filled with glue ... I've verified that myself.
Shel_B
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Thanks so much. Very helpful. I was hoping you had a visual already prepared.
wemay
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I no longer purchase filters online. Not because of counterfeits, although now that's a concern too, but because the last few times, some were damaged. I prefer to walk into an AAP, Napa, O'Reilly or AZone for this part. It doesn't matter to me whether it's OEM or not.
That glue is neat, uniform, and easy to see at the end of every pleat in the Denso (Toyota) version. No glue there in the Purolator version.
Also, the resin sealing surfaces near the center of each end, which need to seal against the ends of the housing, were lumpy. Maybe those bumps would compress enough not to allow leakage through that path. Not too impressive overall!
These were L16311 filters in an Advance Auto store, maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Totally different design from the 2012-vintage L16311 filters I bought earlier (which had a different defect). Advance's price was higher than corresponding genuine Denso from some dealers.
Maybe it's deeper down into the end of the pleat and not that visible on the outside. Did you tear the pleat ends apart to see if they were glued? I'd think Purolator has been in the oil filter game long enough to not overlook such a basic thing in oil filter design. Or maybe is was a manufacturing error ... the pleat end glue machine was messed up or not looked after by a guy in the factory - ?.
That's a remote hypothetical possibility I was curious about, but not curious enough to buy their overpriced junk to analyze at home, or risk getting thrown out of the store by tearing it apart there. I did separate a pleat end as far as I could non-destructively with my fingernails, and could not see any hint of glue. It would probably be possible to more definitively check for "deeper down" glue non-destructively by slipping a slim knife blade into a pleat end.
To fully seal, any "deeper down" glue would have to be contiguous with the ring of resin that covers the end of the filter near the center opening. That would be visible.
The volume of oil bypassing through any one such non-glued pleat end would be very small, but then there are about 80 of them, counting both ends ... Perhaps they did testing from which they concluded any leakage through the pleat ends was too slight to justify the cost of sealing them on a cheap filter with modest efficiency claim. I don't know whether the same design is still sold by Advance. Overall, it looked like a shockingly crude copy of Denso.
A toothpick would work. It would be pretty rediculous if an oil filter designer actually designed a filter like that (no end caps) without sealing the ends of the pleats.
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