Fram Ultra XG16 — 2 years 3200 miles
- Thread starter TXCarGeek
- Start date
Very nice OG Ultra!! Thanks
Build date: 2022 day 288
Build date: 2022 day 288
Is it really an "OG" Ultra? Doesn't appear to have gasket material around the seal area. And to my eye the media looks borderline, kinda thin looking for two ply full synthetic. While I can't rule out OG, I'd like more info from the OP on the media description and dome bypass seal area. That said, looks like it did its job.
Thanks for c&p.
Thanks for c&p.
Seems to have wire backing based on what I'm seeing through the center tube holes.
Definitely OG media and wire backed. Doesn’t appear to have the seal.
Yes on my desktop computer in OP can now see wire and confrmed in follow up. That said, still like to know if it has bypass gasket type seal used in OG (Rank Group) Ultra?
Bought a filter opener off of amazon that really only worked to puncture a hole in the can. I really needed to have the filter in a vice to be able to spin the opener. I had to use my dremel to cut it the rest of the way.
Nice work and pics. Thank You
Thanks, yeah, a vice is something I recently installed last year & I just can't believe I've done w/o one in my garage for 15 years.
I got my dad’s 50’s era vice from the estate. Can’t damage that bugger. Since I’m buying a house with 1 1/2 car garage it will come in handy too
Haven’t thrown it away but no seal stuck to the base nor on any side of the filter element itself
Leaf spring looks somewhat ruffled, and very thin on the sides where it seals. The fiber sealing ring on the end cap seems to be the first thing First Brands removed in the design changes, since we have seen many wire backed Ultras with holes in the center tube and no leaf spring sealing gasket.
You need to remove the bypass valve & leaf spring combo and take a pic of that end of the filter element to see if it has a seal or not.
You'd see it in picture 1 if it was there, because it's pretty wide.
Yeah, if it had the gasket material seal area it could be seen even with the bypass piece attached. Been a while since I've seen it so had to go back and look. Pic below from my last XG7317 c&p in 03/2022.
Grabbed some more photos. I did the flashlight test with it and there was no light leakage through the leaf spring sealing surface. Didn’t grab photos of that however.
Sealing surface of the leaf spring is flat but certainly not very wide
Sealing surface of the leaf spring is flat but certainly not very wide
Back when they knew how to stamp a smooth leaf spring. Date code is 288th day of 2022.
So disappointing that a product that was so good before has issues like that today.
I changed the oil at the beginning of the year and used an ultra on my family’s ‘08 Silverado—curious to cut that one open and see how it looks, particularly that leaf spring.
Yes, Fram had a total winner with the OG Ultra. Good things never last long in the oil filter world it seems.
