Fram PH3976A... Did I Tear It?

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This was off buddy's 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 5.9L Cummins. Unknown Mileage, service sticker said sometime in November last year so about 13 months.

I put a Baldwin BT7349 on and filled it with Chevron Delo 400 15W40.

When cutting open oil filters I'm pretty careful... Did it tear it self or did I tear it?

Can
A4BB7Th.jpg

Inside Can
rzFTHfe.jpg

Base Plate and Components
xW8phLd.jpg

Looks good on this side...
B6shl7Y.jpg

See anything funny looking yet?
S125SFq.jpg

There it is.... right at the seam.
J6P0EJ5.jpg
 
Maybe, maybe not. Two things stand out for me--the wide pleat spread and the very long filter element. Those two conditions when combined do not lend themselves to a filter that operates without incident. On a long filter like that, I prefer wire backed media to prevent such an occurence. I tend to think it tore in operation.

Personally, I do not like the Extra Guards because they need more element material and for the price there are better filters. Thanks for the C&P.
 
Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
Maybe, maybe not. Two things stand out for me--the wide pleat spread and the very long filter element. Those two conditions when combined do not lend themselves to a filter that operates without incident. On a long filter like that, I prefer wire backed media to prevent such an occurence. I tend to think it tore in operation.

Personally, I do not like the Extra Guards because they need more element material and for the price there are better filters. Thanks for the C&P.


Yeah, I have to agree. I do not like using Orange Cans, the orange cans that I post are from other people who think orange cans are good and put them on anyways. The Baldwin BT7349 I put in which was $7.75 which is about 75 cents less than what I can get an orange can for. But I'm getting much more quality for the money.
 
Notice this one has metal end caps. Even though it has lots of media pleats, the ones at the seam are spread out pretty wide. Probably did tear on its own based on that. Wide pleat spacing is one variable in the media tearing formula.
 
That filter is not the usual OCOD that filter looks a little better made and it has metal end caps.. Personally the only filter i would use that fram makes is the ultra. Wix makes great filters we use their jobber filters and like them a lot. We changed from Purolater when all the filter tearing and quality issues started popping up. Seeing the new purolaters we will stick to our quality Wix filters my filter company delivers to us.
I know some people won't buy wix here in nj because they have them at higher priced auto parts stores hidden behind the counters where you can't see what you are getting.. Thats one of the reasons Fram and Purolater is doing so well selling filters ..People want to see and touch things.. Im one of those guys..
 
Not saying that I trust the extra guards, but why is the torn area is not dark oil colored like the rest of the filter if it tore in use? I would assume the media is the same colored all the way through.
 
Originally Posted By: old1
Not saying that I trust the extra guards, but why is the torn area is not dark oil colored like the rest of the filter if it tore in use? I would assume the media is the same colored all the way through.

Agree the torn fiber should be darker. How long does Fram spec the extra guard to run? 13 months?
 
Originally Posted By: Brybo86
Originally Posted By: old1
Not saying that I trust the extra guards, but why is the torn area is not dark oil colored like the rest of the filter if it tore in use? I would assume the media is the same colored all the way through.

Agree the torn fiber should be darker. How long does Fram spec the extra guard to run? 13 months?


I couldn't really read the service sticker that was on before but I believe he put like 8K miles on his truck or something on that OCI.

Also the filter wasn't even tight on the filter base. It was not even hand tight. Could that be a factor as well?

By the way he's not doing his own service on his vehicles. Clearly the person doing it does not have much pride of what he is doing.

Guy wrote on this on the service sticker..
November / something / 2014
17x,xxx km. Not to sure.
Next Service 5000KM.

Guess the guy really wants service work. But the guy doing the service isn't even doing a good job, for example...

Air Filter Restriction Indicator is all the way in the red zone.
Low Coolant
Suspension Components are dry
Didn't see two broken sway bar end links
 
As I've said with the Purolator tears, while the tears are not something you want, it's not the end of the world. Most of the oil will still be going through the media and most of the oil will get filtered on each pass. Any unfiltered oil will get filtered on the next pass or the pass after that. If I had more of these filters in inventory, I'd use them as odds are, the next filter won't tear. However, an Ecore blowing the media through the plastic center tube is something to worry about.
As it appears that any brand can and will have problems, for that simple reason I won't run any filter into extended intervals.
The big irony now will be the people who have an agenda and will be silent on the tearing of this media.
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Probably did tear on its own based on that. Wide pleat spacing is one variable in the media tearing formula.
I agree with that and the length of the media didn't help the situation either.
 
Originally Posted By: gallydif
A purolator in disguise!


Somethins fishy here. Never seen an orange can look like that.
 
Originally Posted By: Lubener
Originally Posted By: gallydif
A purolator in disguise!


Somethins fishy here. Never seen an orange can look like that.


The huge orange cans like this one that you use in a lot of diesel trucks aren't built the same as the "$3.00 orange can" for most gasoline vehicles.
 
Hard to say for sure, but my guess would be there is a good chance it torn while in service due to wide pleat spacing at the seam. Looks like the orange can may be living up to it's nickname.
 
Looks like it tore during use, or when manufactured. If it tore or came off the glue, it's almost hard to tell. The other side is as bad on spacing and didn't tear. Your cut looks clean except that pulled out part, what was going on there and was that on the torn side? I would contact Fram maybe they would send you some XG3976a's as compensation. Those won't tear.
 
Originally Posted By: old1
Not saying that I trust the extra guards, but why is the torn area is not dark oil colored like the rest of the filter if it tore in use? I would assume the media is the same colored all the way through.


You can kinda see the coloring on all the media glued to the end cap. It doesn't look like the filter was smudged up or the media was bending like some of the puros but who knows.

Looks like frame thought on endcap said is right. Metal isn't better.

I have never seen a wear guard fram.
 
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Originally Posted By: goodtimes
Looks like it tore during use, or when manufactured. If it tore or came off the glue, it's almost hard to tell. The other side is as bad on spacing and didn't tear. Your cut looks clean except that pulled out part, what was going on there and was that on the torn side? I would contact Fram maybe they would send you some XG3976a's as compensation. Those won't tear.


It is hard to tell that's why I posted up on here. When cutting I did jerk the baseplate a bit but I don't think it caused it to tear. I'm not too sure if that's the torn side or not. Would they even send me compensation? The owner of this truck has gone over the reccomended change interval of the orange can. Since they only reccomended going 5K Mi or 8K KM on the box of a OCOD.
 
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