Here's a Group 7 V4612 I pulled off a second generation Altima. Approximately 4,500 miles on this filter and oil. This isn't my Altima and it's my first time doing an oil and filter change on this Altima. Previously it was taken to a mechanic but he retired so I offered to do the oil changes on it.
Not sure if it's just this engine or filter or what but the oil on this engine turns jet black after a few thousand miles where as on my Civic I can go 7000 miles and it will be a honey-colored dark brown.
On the Altima (among a bunch of other questionable design choices) the filter is mounted high up on the back of the engine block. You have to worm your arm around the axle and then the dripping oil gets all over the axle and the CV boot. I was prepared for this by putting aluminum foil around the CV boot. I saw a white filter and assumed it was a Wix or something. It turned out to be a Purolator-made Group 7. The website seems to state it's made to save costs so I guess the mechanic bought them in bulk.
Observations:
* The paint job is awful. Every other oil filter I've ever used this wrench on took off a tiny bit (if any) paint when it bites into the filter. Even the L14610 has better paint. Before the wrench bit in paint flakes were flying everywhere (you can see the amount of paint lost on the pictures).
* The filter is tiny. I replaced it with a Denso 150-1009 that was at least half inch taller.
* ADBV = nitrile and still pliable.
* No torn pleats and spacing seems tighter but the pleats are wavy. Not the worst I've seen. Media is very brittle and fragile.
* As soon as I pulled out the filter media the end cap on the bypass valve side dropped off and fell into the can. The potting side was soaked in oil so I suspect it tried to bypass oil through this gap but the seal between the center of the filter and the end cap by leaf spring pressure prevented any bypass.
The end cap was not bonded to the potting material at all. Totally clean. I cleaned up the oil so you can see the clean surfaces better but it was soaked in oil and there were no traces of potting material on the end cap at all. The last time I saw this was on the L14610 on my car and in that case it came off with a tiny bit of effort and there was a tiny bit bonded to the cap hard enough to rip off. In this case it was effortless. It just fell off.
I personally don't mind if the end cap was loose. It's just terrible quality. I still think there was a good seal to prevent bypass. The potting material by itself could probably make a good end cap (and some oil filters do this). But if you ask me whether I would prefer potting material itself versus a fiber end cap + potting material it's definitely the latter.
Can:
End cap on bypass side that fell off as soon as I pulled the filter media out:
Hooray for metal end caps! This is not a confidence builder. I'm even more sold on fiber end caps considering this is the second Purolator and metal end cap oil filter I've seen with this issue. This is no surprise to me since it just seems highly unlikely to me that adhesives would stick to metal. Or maybe it's Purolator and their [censored] potting material. That ring in the center is just distortion from flash, it is not a bond to the end cap:
Seam. The pleats not visible on other side are all smushed to one side like someone tried to twist the filter:
Not sure if it's just this engine or filter or what but the oil on this engine turns jet black after a few thousand miles where as on my Civic I can go 7000 miles and it will be a honey-colored dark brown.
On the Altima (among a bunch of other questionable design choices) the filter is mounted high up on the back of the engine block. You have to worm your arm around the axle and then the dripping oil gets all over the axle and the CV boot. I was prepared for this by putting aluminum foil around the CV boot. I saw a white filter and assumed it was a Wix or something. It turned out to be a Purolator-made Group 7. The website seems to state it's made to save costs so I guess the mechanic bought them in bulk.
Observations:
* The paint job is awful. Every other oil filter I've ever used this wrench on took off a tiny bit (if any) paint when it bites into the filter. Even the L14610 has better paint. Before the wrench bit in paint flakes were flying everywhere (you can see the amount of paint lost on the pictures).
* The filter is tiny. I replaced it with a Denso 150-1009 that was at least half inch taller.
* ADBV = nitrile and still pliable.
* No torn pleats and spacing seems tighter but the pleats are wavy. Not the worst I've seen. Media is very brittle and fragile.
* As soon as I pulled out the filter media the end cap on the bypass valve side dropped off and fell into the can. The potting side was soaked in oil so I suspect it tried to bypass oil through this gap but the seal between the center of the filter and the end cap by leaf spring pressure prevented any bypass.
The end cap was not bonded to the potting material at all. Totally clean. I cleaned up the oil so you can see the clean surfaces better but it was soaked in oil and there were no traces of potting material on the end cap at all. The last time I saw this was on the L14610 on my car and in that case it came off with a tiny bit of effort and there was a tiny bit bonded to the cap hard enough to rip off. In this case it was effortless. It just fell off.
I personally don't mind if the end cap was loose. It's just terrible quality. I still think there was a good seal to prevent bypass. The potting material by itself could probably make a good end cap (and some oil filters do this). But if you ask me whether I would prefer potting material itself versus a fiber end cap + potting material it's definitely the latter.
Can:
End cap on bypass side that fell off as soon as I pulled the filter media out:
Hooray for metal end caps! This is not a confidence builder. I'm even more sold on fiber end caps considering this is the second Purolator and metal end cap oil filter I've seen with this issue. This is no surprise to me since it just seems highly unlikely to me that adhesives would stick to metal. Or maybe it's Purolator and their [censored] potting material. That ring in the center is just distortion from flash, it is not a bond to the end cap:
Seam. The pleats not visible on other side are all smushed to one side like someone tried to twist the filter:
