Fram High Mileage questions and thoughts.....

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Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: Johnny248

-Side note. I can't wait until I am old and grumpy and can get away with hating everything and always being in a bad mood hahah.


I think that happens around here sometimes too - LOL.



I think that's one of the things most every guy is looking forward to.
another, of course, being that classic first conversation with your Daughter's Boyfriend (while she's finishing getting ready for the date/dance) we can all remember sweating our ways through
 
I contacted Blackstone, and they told me that they can *probably* take the additive capsule from the HM filter, mix it up with kerosene and analyze it. I think I'm going to donate the ~$30 and try doing this. Just out of plain curiosity. I've never used one of these filters and don't really plan to, but it seems like it would be a cool idea to send in a sample.
 
I was laughing all the way through, partly because I'm on a trajectory to be an opinionated old gasser someday too.

There are lots of maintenance regimens that work despite not being optimal. I helped a elder friend of mine diagnose a problem on his old Chevy last month, he was afraid it was the head gasket but it was only a coolant hose. He mentioned he took it to Jiffy Lube every 3K miles for an oil change.

I said absolutely nothing, as the Chevy has 249K on it and burns a little less than a quart every 3K miles. If I recommended going 5-6K miles with a top-off and it died (of natural causes) at 4K, where would I stand then? Oh yeah he also knows the Jiffy Lube owner for decades so he's probably OK there too.
 
I bought my pickup from my old friend and he gave me all of the service records he could find
He took this truck to his regular fast lube place every 3months regardless of mileage
Some oil changes only had 900 miles on them
Every 3months came sooner than every 3000 miles
Needless to say this 1987 302ci with 160k on it is clean as a whistle
 
Originally Posted By: Dallas69
I bought my pickup from my old friend and he gave me all of the service records he could find
He took this truck to his regular fast lube place every 3months regardless of mileage
Some oil changes only had 900 miles on them
Every 3months came sooner than every 3000 miles
Needless to say this 1987 302ci with 160k on it is clean as a whistle


What a waste ... "Hey, my oil only had 900 miles on it, but 3 months went by so I changed it."
crazy.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny248
I'll start off my admitting that most of my posts throughout the years have been probably a little longer and filled with more text than is actually needed. This post will be no different. lol There is some back story, some questions, some observations, and other thoughts. You don't have to read all if it if you don't want to
smile.gif


Fram High Mileage Oil Filters - I know that these have been touched on in the past, but this is my first experience with them.

Two days ago one of my "buddies" asked me to help him change his oil since he is 74 years old, suffering from COPD, and just broke his arm falling.

Me: "sure, come over. I'm actually at Walmart now so I can pick up the stuff. What do you want?"

Him: "I ONLY want Mobil 1, the synthetic kind (I think to myself huh?? anyway..) 5w30 - High Milage. MAKE SURE IT'S HIGH MILEAGE!"

-Side note. I can't wait until I am old and grumpy and can get away with hating everything and always being in a bad mood hahah

Me: "Ok, got it. What kind of filter do you want?"

Him: "A Fram. MAKE SURE YOU GET ME THE GOLD ONE! I DON'T WANT THE ORANGE ONE. They are S#!T

-He then goes into telling me for 5 minutes about all of the engines that blew up because of those orange filters 50 years ago when he was young. again, hahaha gotta love it.

Me: "Copy. I'll see you in a little bit"

So I grab jug of M1HM5w30 like he wants, and a Fram Ultra filter

He makes it over, I drive his '04 Mountaineer 4.0l up on the ramps. Drain the oil. Remove the old filter. He then grabs the bag from WalMart and starts yelling at me.

Him: "What the h#ll is this!!!???? I SAID GET THE GOLD FILTER, I DON'T WANT THIS FILTER!"

Me: "THAT IS THE GOLD FILTER! LOOK AT IT!"

Him: "Are you stupid! don't you ever listen?! look at the one you took off, that is what I wanted!"

So I grab the old filter. It is a Fram High Mileage. I guess I could see how in someone's eyes that it could be gold.

He proceeds to tell me that he swears by the Fram High Mileage filters. He has used them for 111k on his truck which right now has 204k on the odo.

So back to WalMart to get this HM filter.

So, done with the back story and on to some questions.

Does anyone truly know what is in the high mileage device that is installed in the filter? or at least have something better than just a guess?

Fram says it has time released additives that save the world. Sounds legit. I would expect to see a high mileage filter that claims it uses some sort of special filter element that helps with older engines some how before I would expect to see a time release capsule installed into a filter. That being said, I don't see any reason why these filters would ever cause any damage to an engine by having time released additives that go off into your oil. From all of my years around automobiles, it is my opinion that for the most part engines are pretty tough. They see all sorts of abuse that most BITOG'ers would cringe over and 9 times out of 10 they just keep running. Good oil, bad oil, old oil, incorrect oil, additives of all shapes and sizes, heck; even solid particle additives.

It seems to be that HM oils have a place in the market. They fulfill a need, or at least the perception that they are needed thanks to marketing. Does any engine actually ever NEED a HM oil? Doubtful. I've never seen an engine manufacturer state that "After 75,000 miles, a High Mileage Oil is required for proper operation. High Mileage filters on the other hand, I'm not really sure. It does not seem plausible to me that a filter manufacturer- one that does not produce engine oils, would be smarter than some chemists in a lab who are designing a high mileage oil. I would "think" that any high mileage oil would provide the same benefits as Fram claims their time release additives would.

There are many people who use HM oils and claim that they have helped with their higher mileage engines. This may be accurate. Team up a HM oil and add a HM filter? You might have the stoutest additive pack ever for a high mileage vehicle. Now it has gone from good oil to super good oil lol.

So regardless of if the filter is actually doing anything to help prolong the life of his engine, I don't really know. But given the fact that he has used them for over 100k and things are still working great, I wouldn't see any reason to stop at this point. I just wish we knew more about what is going on. I wonder if it would be possible to dissect one of these filters and send it off for oil analysis? I should email Blackstone and see if this is possible unless anyone actually knows what these filters consist of.

That's it for now.



Great story! I work for FRAM. The HM filter is exactly the same as the orange filter but has the additive basket in it. Funny how your buddy thinks one is awesome and the other one sucks. Of course, I wouldnt try to argue with him, I respect my elders. that said, the additive in our filter is developed by Lubrisol, A leading oil addtive company for our HD TRT oil filters, you can read about them on our framheavyduty.com website. It is a very beneficial additive that mainly keeps the oil acid balanced in a HM engine. It can counteract the corrosivness of engines with excessive blow by.
 
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