Ford OEM vs. Fram Ultra Synthetic

[ZeeOSix]

Would anyone know if the Fram Ultra 40,000 mile / 4 year Air filters sold exclusively at Walmart have any similar defects, where it could let air bypass the filtering material and go straight into the engine?

Doubt it, as air filters have a soft seal gasket. So the filter would have to be ill fitting into the air filter box to cause leakage past the seal.

 

[Fair enough]

2 quick questions:

[1] So the effect of this new defect on Fram's oil filters is it will let unfiltered oil through, which will potentially cause more engine wear.

[2] Would anyone know if the Fram Ultra 40,000 mile / 4 year Air filters sold exclusively at Walmart have any similar defects, where it could let air bypass the filtering material and go straight into the engine?

1, the oil has been filtering constantly, not one pass. If 10% leaks unfiltered, that mixes with the filtered 90%. The next circulation 10% of the previous 10% is not filtered. So essentially all the oil is getting filtered, it takes maybe a few minutes of circulations. If an engine is making or ingesting so much debris on each circulation to make the 10% leak damaging, it has problems or no air filter at all.
Never have figured this all quite out yet. People seem to dig in to sides. The leak is a defect but if it is harmful depends how clean running an engine is kept.
2, I don’t know of any Walmart Ultra air filters having seal defects. They look like most others.

 

[ZeeOSix]

If I had a choice between a leaky filter or not, I'm going to go with the filter that has a design and build quality that doesn't allow dirty oil to continuously leak by the media - ie, leaf springs that don't leak and media that doesn't tear, etc. If someone doesn't care or doesn't think it could be detrimental to their car, then cool ... it's their car.

 

[FlyingVan]

I wouldn't knowingly instal a ripped or leaky oil filter, but if I find one after use I will not loose any sleep over it.

 

[Glenda W.]

If I had a choice between a leaky filter or not, I'm going to go with the filter that has a design and build quality that doesn't allow dirty oil to continuously leak by the media - ie, leaf springs that don't leak and media that doesn't tear, etc. If someone doesn't care or doesn't think it could be detrimental to their car, then cool ... it's their car.

Exactly! I’m personally not comfortable with it. Others are.