I think the earlier FE when it first came out were made better ... examples with smooth leaf spring stampings instead of ruffles. Same with the older Ultras. Champ Labs and Fram must be trying to reduce production cost by having the leaf springs stamped out in a dirt floor shop in some 3rd world country these days.
NEW FRAM ENDURANCE 3614 cut open
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Sounds like a new country song title.Rust, ruffles, and glue. Not impressed. Thanks for the sacrifice to the BITOG Gods.
The OG Ultra had a fiber sealing ring embedded in the end cap to seal the leaf spring. A filter needs to be leak free at that interface to maintain high efficiency, like the OG Ultra was. Whoever designed the OG Ultra put that leaf spring sealing gasket there for that very reason.
What a shame! Here, from a company that once had the nickname of “Orange can of death” to becoming one of the best **** filters ever made?
Typical company!
Putting their bottom line in front of their product. They deserve everything that comes from this!
edit: why is the word “d@mn” redacted?
Typical company!
Putting their bottom line in front of their product. They deserve everything that comes from this!
edit: why is the word “d@mn” redacted?
Exactly. Fram knew that was a leak point even with nicely made leaf springs back then. Now we get ruffles with no seal.
Mountains out of molehills.
Nah ... but using a leaky high efficiency filter is better than using a leaky low efficiency filter.
We know broken sloppy glue pieces have passed through a bypass valve in the past, rust certainly will too.
I’ve always said some people don’t mind the ruffles, I’m personally not comfortable with them. I don’t mind paying a premium for a premium product. But this is not a product built with care or attention to detail. QC is nonexistent.
Another example @THORROMIG found these at Walmart in unopened boxes. After finding 3 he stopped looking….on a positive note they won’t rust.
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I would never use a FRAM filter of any type. Period
It's the BITOG way.
In most cases I would say this is just the typical overly obsessive response we see all the time around here. But this one has some merit IMO. It’s a premium/extended drain filter with noticeably more QC issues from C&P’s than many economy filters. If M1 EP started having more QC issues than ST FS or QS FS - why pay more for M1 EP?
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Would you be OK with a tear in the filter media that let 10%-15% of unfiltered oil constantly through the filter?
No. Are folks ensuring every cannister filter they use is ok? How do folks know without cutting them all apart? Where is an example showing one that has no light leakage like I'm seeing in the YT videos I'm watching? How does one know with certainty than X filter is ok and Y isn't?
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10-15%? Gross exaggeration?
Unfortunately not. I personally measured the gaps and Zee calculated leakage conservatively.
Buy filters without a metal-to-metal "seal" between the leaf spring and end cap (ie, filters with fiber end caps), or filters that use a coil spring instead of a leaf spring (like many of the Premium Guard made filters). That's how you get around the possible leaf spring leakage path.
The OG Ultra never had this issue because they knew how to stamp a smooth leaf spring back then, and the OG Ultra also had a fiber sealing gasket embedded in the metal end cap. Fram knew how to design and make a filter back before First Brands smoked them. Filter makers (including even Champ Labs) are getting sloppy with manufacturing these days to cut costs and make profits. The must literally be farming out those leaf springs to 3rd world manufacturing companies with dirt floor shops.
Oh boy when facts and truth come out the stuff gets mighty deep
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