Official Word From Purolator

[Nyquist]

Here is the word from one of their engineers:

Quote:
Mr. ######,
I have reviewed the 4 filters that were sent in with quality concerns. I understand your concern with the leaning pleats / pleat spacing, but these are aesthetic items and in the past have not shown to effect the performance of the filter. As for the gaps in the seam, I have bubble tested each filter and have found no leakages in the seam of any of the filters. One must realize that the filter media that we use at Purolator is not flat, but is corrugated. When you have two corrugated ends meeting together, there are going to be gaps unless glued and pressed on outer edge of pleat. Our pleats are sealed with adhesive on the inner edge of the pleat and not on the outer edge. I have attached a couple pictures detailing this. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me directly. Thank you.


Thoughts?

 

[JHZR2]

I buy it, but I have to wonder if differing pleat density caused flow maldistribution and preferential flow.

 

[crinkles]

seems like a reasonable explanation.

just think, they could have shut you down when you first called them. I don't think they are going to waste time to figure it all out, do some testing and then give you a phoney answer.

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I buy it, but I have to wonder if differing pleat density caused flow maldistribution and preferential flow.


i guess this would happen to some degree in every filter given the inaccuracies of manufacturing and materials. the filter media may be thinner in some spots etc.

 

[StevieC]

Can we see the pictures they sent you?

 

[Nyquist]

It's here. I had some FTP issues earlier.

 

[XS650]

Makes sense.

He sent you a thorough courteous answer, I hope you send him a thank-you.

 

[Nyquist]

I sent a thank you and purchased a couple PureONEs.

 

[glenncof]

This is the only area of concern I have on construction of Purolator filters.

Not a big concern for regular OCI but certainly if I was doing 10-12K miles it would be (then again media is more important).

The FRAM Extended Guard (orange can) I cut open had a metal strip folded over the seam. Seems like good practice.

 

[Jonny Z]

He said "effect" and not "affect". This guy must be a real engineer; furthermore, it shows the message has not been edited by Marketing.

 

[wavinwayne]

Originally Posted By: Jonny Z
He said "effect" and not "affect". This guy must be a real engineer;...


What? Engineers don't use proper grammar?

 

[tig1]

Crinkles,
What is your experience been with pure one filters? Any UOA's?I'm thinking about switching.

 

[Jonny Z]

I have three UOAs with PureOne PL14477. The first two were skewed (in my opinion) by the usage of Gumout Regane mid-OCI. The last one turned out pretty good.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post1295434

 

[widman]

That is a nice corrugation that helps keep the pleats from closing against each other. Donaldson uses that basic design, but closes the ends with a metal sleeve.

 

[ZZman]

They really should seal the ends with something like a metal or plastic clip.

Score one for the Fram design!

 

[Jonny Z]

I don't know. I think we are over stressing here about the seam.

I had posted this before: I am not convinced that (in the spin on setup) the filter stud, seals well against the filter center hole when installed (recall how much play is there when you install it). It would seem that there is always some leakage (however small), from the dirty high pressure side, to the clean low pressure side, past the threads.

In the grand scheme of things, with or without a clip, it is not worth worrying about, IMO.

 

[widman]

I think if there was enough pressure differential there to pass the threads, it would pass through the bypass valve much sooner.

 

[T-Keith]

widman, I agree, filters are not under that amount of pressure difference. As long as there is a decent seal it should be fine. I'd be much more worried about Frams poor ADBV seal.

 

[Jonny Z]

Originally Posted By: widman
I think if there was enough pressure differential there to pass the threads, it would pass through the bypass valve much sooner.

This is getting off topic, but my point is that, even the metal to metal contact creates a perfect seal (between the red and the black threads, as long as there is play between the threads, there exists a path (however small) for oil to spiral into the clean side. And I think this path is probably more significant than any minor defect inside of the filter element itself.