NEW Fram PH3600 cut open, OCOD myth busted?

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Jun 19, 2019
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TL; DR I have no issue calling these Orange Cans of Delight.

In the interest of self-education on the controversial Fram Extra Guard, I decided to butcher one (sorry 53' Stude!) to see investigate the myths for myself.

I wanted to see how tough the fiber endcaps actually hold and to see what the pleat spacing actually looked like to see which "D" should hang at the end of "OCOD" (at least in my beliefs), whether that be Death, or Delight.

The wall thickness of the case measured out to 0.016". Before cutting, it would take a considerable amount of force to dent with just my thumbs, whereas an equivalent PurolatorOne would not be that hard for me to dent with just my bare hands.

I'm pretty impressed by the pleat spacing of the media. I marked the seam as a point of reference for the different angles.

I tried to separate the media seam. It's pretty well glued together starting just over 1/8" inch into the seam. I have no issues there, either.

Now, the end caps... I will admit I was one of the ones that had been scared away from the fiber endcaps when I heard the news, but as I saw more evidence of them not actually failing here, I became more intrigued.

I think the potting material is overlooked and really takes the load. It has a similar consistency to 3M Window Weld or a similar product. I tried in a few spots to pull the endcaps away and they're sturdy. I pulled by the seam and the media tore first, so I don't think there would be any issue with the endcaps possibly breaking free over a normal OCI.

Also as reference, I did measure the thickness of the fiber endcaps and they measured to 0.025", which is roughly the same thickness as the cover of a spiral notebook, but the end caps are slightly more compliant. Again, the fiber endcaps appear to me to be more of a medium for the potting adhesive.

I have no financial ties or obligations to Fram. I purchased this filter at Walmart. Date code is A13271

If anyone wants some more details that I may have overlooked, I'll hang on to this until the end of next week before I trash it.

Hopefully this will be a smile for everyone's Monday and serve as a detailed view for someone else like me who may be curious, because as far as I'm concerned.

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I also cut open a PH3600 that was used for only about 1000 miles. It looked as nice as yours. Convinced me to continue using the extra guard OCOdelight, especially on my vehicles that get the oil changed more by time than miles.
 
I also cut open a PH3600 that was used for only about 1000 miles. It looked as nice as yours. Convinced me to continue using the extra guard OCOdelight, especially on my vehicles that get the oil changed more by time than miles.
I got a dented one from Amazon I cut open. Seemed fine. Nothing concerned me with the quality. I've run FRAM ocod's for decades on and off. Sometimes OEM, sometimes FRAM. They're fine, in my opinion.
 
Its a fine basic filter for your regular oil change and made in the USA. The price is low and the same filter is used by oems like Honda and Subaru. There's not much else to be said. The product works well for it's purpose and I trust it more than some other brands.
 
I've used several Orange Cans of Dissension and never really had a problem, I do, however, think there are better options for the price. The 9688 for Hyundai's is nearly $6, MANN filters can be purchased for ~$3.70 from RA and are a very good filter. On the cheap side there's the $3 ST filter.
 
For a normal (OEM) OCI, I'd trust that no problem. If they are all made that well, we'll need to find something else to complain about.
 
Why buy the OCOD when you can get every bit as good, or better, filter for half the price? That is why I quit buying them a little over two decades ago.
 
Why buy the OCOD when you can get every bit as good, or better, filter for half the price? That is why I quit buying them a little over two decades ago.
An OCOD is $3.88 for 95% at 20 microns for up to 10,000 miles with a silicone ADBV, what deal are you getting that's comparable or better without leveraging clearance or sales?
 
I have no issue with your pictures and info.Thanks.

Fram reminds me of a buddy of mine that built up a huge reputation for quality only to later destroy it by changing great products to not so great. Never could leave a winner alone...always looking to save a few cents.
 
Why buy the OCOD when you can get every bit as good, or better, filter for half the price? That is why I quit buying them a little over two decades ago.
Which filters are you referring to that cost less than $2 and have a comparable filtering efficiency?

Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me. Perhaps you should stick to your soap posts.
 
I have been using Fram Orange cans for years. Not exclusively but on most of my stuff. It's a good filter with good filtering efficiency for not much coin. One thing that gets me is how hung up everyone especially the sensationalist YouTube video creators gets on the filter construction and completely ignore filtering efficiency. A filter could have beautiful construction but if it fails at filtering adequately it is kind of missing the point.
 
I have been using Fram Orange cans for years. Not exclusively but on most of my stuff. It's a good filter with good filtering efficiency for not much coin. One thing that gets me is how hung up everyone especially the sensationalist YouTube video creators gets on the filter construction and completely ignore filtering efficiency. A filter could have beautiful construction but if it fails at filtering adequately it is kind of missing the point.
YouTube is good in that you can see a lot of stuff. It is bad because most testing is amateur at best and amounts to nothing. Oil tests on line are useless for 95% of them. There is a LOT of BS on YouTube. Just sayin....
 
YouTube is good in that you can see a lot of stuff. It is bad because most testing is amateur at best and amounts to nothing. Oil tests on line are useless for 95% of them. There is a LOT of BS on YouTube. Just sayin....
You should post more often
 
Some folks have a 'thing' about the fiber end caps. Let's remember
that Wix, Champ Labs, and some OEM filters also have or have used
fiber end caps. The Mazda factory filters have even less of an end cap
and those engines last and last a long time while using those filters.

My 2¢
 
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