Observations in GM 1.4 turbo filter change.

Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Messages
865
Location
High Country of Western NC
Against my better judgment and in violation of the lessons of reading similar stories on BITOG, I agreed to do an oil change for my F-I-L yesterday. He has a 2017 Buick Encore with the 1.4 T engine on which I had never done any work before. The engine has a cartridge filter system, but for some reason GM spec’d two different filters for this engine based on the filter housing on the engine. Some have Hengst housings and are noted by a black cap and some have UNI with a brown cap. Based on a glance (and poor lighting) we identified his as a black Hengst housing and bought the “correct” filter at NAPA.

You can guess where this is going. Mid change I pull the filter only to find a brown cap UNI, but here’s the interesting part. The last oil change he had paid for at a local shop, they had forced the PF2257g for the Hengst housing into his UNI housing which calls for a PF2263g. (The main difference being that the Hengst setup has the bypass built into the filter housing and the UNI has the bypass on the filter.) He had been driving around for the last 5K with the wrong filter installed.

Moral of the story: (actually there are two.) As repeated over and over on BITOG no one will look after a vehicle like someone directly attached to it. I took the time to make sure we had the correct filter. (Made an extra trip to town, but the job was done right.) Also, the warnings about doing work for family DIDN’T apply this time (I know, but rules do have exceptions.) Right now my F-I-L sees me as the hero who did his oil change for free and saved him some money while at the same time doing it right. Some days are just good days.
 
Sounds like you did the right thing and saw it through to the end.

As repeated over and over on BITOG no one will look after a vehicle like someone directly attached to it.

Goes for all things. No one will care about your belongings as much as you.
 
For future reference, I have a 2015 Buick Encore, and 2015 Chevy Sonic, both with the 1.4 turbo engine. They both have the Hengst housing.
 
For future reference, I have a 2015 Buick Encore, and 2015 Chevy Sonic, both with the 1.4 turbo engine. They both have the Hengst housing.

My son had a 2012 Chevy Cruze with the 1.4. It also had the Hengst. From what I have heard the UNI housing isn't as common. Filter prices for the UNI housing are higher as well.
 
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