Sakura C-1138 cut open

[FlyingVan]

I had the opportunity to spend the last 8 months in East Timor, a tropical country in southeast Asia, about an hour flight north of Darwin, Australia. We were given a Toyota Avanza to get around in, but just looking at the thing one could see that it has been used and abused and neglected. The engine is a 1.5 liter 4 cylinder gasoline engine paired with a 5 speed manual transmission, rear wheel drive. Quite a versatile vehicle, we took it some places that only a 4wd should go and surprisingly it did just fine. 175k kilometers on the car. Seeing that there are no filters like this cut open on Bitog, I couldn’t pass the opportunity to cut it open and post it, even though I worked quite a bit to open it up without proper tools

Out: Sakura C-1138, unknown oil, unknown kilometers

In: Sakura C-1138 (Made in Indonesia, $3 US), Pertamina Mesran Super 20W-50 oil (Made in Indonesia, $12 US for 4 liters),



My thoughts: This is a 4386 size filter, nitrile ADBV, P shaped gasket and comes sealed with plastic on the baseplate. I believe this is needed because of the humidity. I was surprised how much stuff rusts even though there is no snow and salt on the roads. Very good quality filter for the price of $3 US. I was debating about buying a few to bring back with me to the US, but I have enough of them in this size and decided against it.

As for the used filter, it is loaded up with junk. You can see the color of the oil, looks more like the oil coming out of a diesel engine than gasoline. It was probably in bypass quite a bit, but it held up. No tears that I could see. ADBV pretty stiff. It has the small metal piece over the spring that we see on some filters coming from Asia.

 

[FlyingVan]

New stuff that went on and in:

 

[earlyre]

SG rated??? that's...very old/obsolete... looking for the chart, i found a PQIA analysis / warning on an oil for sale over here ( in 2016) that's still listing it self as SG rated, and here's part of what they had to say..."The API Service Category listed on the product label is OBSOLETE and is not suitable for use in most gasoline-powered automotive engines built after 1993. Oils meeting only the API SG specification may not provide adequate protection against build-up of engine sludge, oxidation, or wear in more modern engines."
is that vehicle newer than '93? ( granted, as said, it was given to you to use, so, not your vehicle... but dang...) a little Google search.. that model wasn't releasd to the public until 2004... so it shouldn't get anything older than an SM rating, but, as said, not your vehicle, and used what was available, etc...

SG was from 1988-1993....

Filter looks to be well enough made, the stuff the filter caught is likely from the ancient spec oil, and from the vehicle being "Rode hard and Put away Wet" or however you stated it.

 

[mrsilv04]

SG / JASO MA is just fine for today's motorcycles...

You sure that wasn't motorcycle oil? LOL...

 

[Stelth]

Looks better than some US-branded filters.

 

[ZeeOSix]

SG / JASO MA is just fine for today's motorcycles...

You sure that wasn't motorcycle oil? LOL...

It does say meets JASO MA, and it's 20W-50.

 

[EvoMan]

I noticed on your 5th photo down of your C&P, that it has a “coil spring and cup” similar to the new Mobil 1 oil filters.

Thread 'New Mobil 1(108-A) made in Vietnam C&P'

Apr 12, 2025

Purchased at Walmart for $11.44.

Definitely gives me Pentius vibes to be honest. Most likely VAFI built(made in Vietnam). Some models are made in South Korea. A little extra glue but otherwise a high quality build. Much better than the previous M+H made M1 filters. Highline Warren is handling the warranty on these.

Tomorrow I’ll cut out the media and get measurements.

• Glenda W.
• Replies: 105
• Forum: Engine Oil Filters

• 

 

[Zee09]

Great pics

 

[Zee09]

I noticed on your 5th photo down of your C&P, that it has a “coil spring and cup” similar to the new Mobil 1 oil filters.

Thread 'New Mobil 1(108-A) made in Vietnam C&P'

Apr 12, 2025

Purchased at Walmart for $11.44.

Definitely gives me Pentius vibes to be honest. Most likely VAFI built(made in Vietnam). Some models are made in South Korea. A little extra glue but otherwise a high quality build. Much better than the previous M+H made M1 filters. Highline Warren is handling the warranty on these.

Tomorrow I’ll cut out the media and get measurements.

• Glenda W.
• Replies: 105
• Forum: Engine Oil Filters

• 

I spotted that too.....

 

[53' Stude]

New stuff that went on and in:


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Very nice work and write up. Great pics. That. Poor Toyota

 

[FlyingVan]

SG rated??? that's...very old/obsolete... looking for the chart, i found a PQIA analysis / warning on an oil for sale over here ( in 2016) that's still listing it self as SG rated, and here's part of what they had to say..."The API Service Category listed on the product label is OBSOLETE and is not suitable for use in most gasoline-powered automotive engines built after 1993. Oils meeting only the API SG specification may not provide adequate protection against build-up of engine sludge, oxidation, or wear in more modern engines."
is that vehicle newer than '93? ( granted, as said, it was given to you to use, so, not your vehicle... but dang...) a little Google search.. that model wasn't releasd to the public until 2004... so it shouldn't get anything older than an SM rating, but, as said, not your vehicle, and used what was available, etc...

SG was from 1988-1993....

Filter looks to be well enough made, the stuff the filter caught is likely from the ancient spec oil, and from the vehicle being "Rode hard and Put away Wet" or however you stated it.

Unfortunately, East Timor is a different world. Very poor country, very young, got their independence from Indonesia in 2002, and so far they don't produce anything. They import cheap stuff that wouldn't fly anywhere else. Many things that we are used to in the US can't be found. Something as simple as channellock plyers are unobtainable. It would have helped tremendously trying to take the oil filter off, but I had to improvise and use other things. So this kind of oil is what they use. It works I guess until it doesn't any more.

Speaking of importing stuff that no other country would buy, we needed some wood glue, so the only wood glue available was this stuff made in China that said on it "Raw materials from West Germany." Now we all know that West Germany hasn't been around since 1990. So, is this glue that old, or fake, or .... We will never know. The glue was a little settled in the bottle, so it required some mixing, but it worked.

 

[john_pifer]

Thanks for the post! It's cool that you took the time to do this, and post on BITOG, despite the challenges you must have even with everyday living in East Timor.

This is a little off topic, but I remember hearing about the conflict there about 25 years ago, and the genocide.

May I ask what you're doing there? I see you're from Tennessee. What part?

 

[Hootbro]

Sometimes you have a choice between no option and a bad option but the bad option is better than no option. Dealt with the same thing in Central America back in the 1980's.

 

[FlyingVan]

Thanks for the post! It's cool that you took the time to do this, and post on BITOG, despite the challenges you must have even with everyday living in East Timor.

This is a little off topic, but I remember hearing about the conflict there about 25 years ago, and the genocide.

May I ask what you're doing there? I see you're from Tennessee. What part?

You're welcome.

We heard through some Australian friends that our church has a project going on in East Timor to build a community center for educational purposes, mainly English. So we volunteered to go there and help finish the construction, set up a radio station and make friends in the community. We have 4 children, 2 teenagers and 2 toddlers, so we thought it would be an excellent opportunity for them to experience how other people live and not grow up entitled brats. My wife is an English teacher and she taught English there, I was mainly helping with the construction project and general maintenance and weekly shopping trips.

We were fine there, but it was more difficult than I expected. Many of the tools we are used to here are not available there. And whatever tools are available, they are fake copies coming from China that don't work right and if they do, they don't last. Buying food was almost a full day ordeal. The locals are used to eating rice 3 times a day, and rice you can find at any store on every corner, but if you want something else you have to hunt for it all over the city. If there was something you found at a store one week, it probably was gone the next week, so you had to find it somewhere else.

Over all, it was a good experience, but I'm glad we are back in Jamestown, TN.

 

[53' Stude]

You're welcome.

We heard through some Australian friends that our church has a project going on in East Timor to build a community center for educational purposes, mainly English. So we volunteered to go there and help finish the construction, set up a radio station and make friends in the community. We have 4 children, 2 teenagers and 2 toddlers, so we thought it would be an excellent opportunity for them to experience how other people live and not grow up entitled brats. My wife is an English teacher and she taught English there, I was mainly helping with the construction project and general maintenance and weekly shopping trips.

We were fine there, but it was more difficult than I expected. Many of the tools we are used to here are not available there. And whatever tools are available, they are fake copies coming from China that don't work right and if they do, they don't last. Buying food was almost a full day ordeal. The locals are used to eating rice 3 times a day, and rice you can find at any store on every corner, but if you want something else you have to hunt for it all over the city. If there was something you found at a store one week, it probably was gone the next week, so you had to find it somewhere else.

Over all, it was a good experience, but I'm glad we are back in Jamestown, TN.

I always knew you are a great person. God bless you and your family good sir

 

[f355spider]

We were fine there, but it was more difficult than I expected. Many of the tools we are used to here are not available there. And whatever tools are available, they are fake copies coming from China that don't work right and if they do, they don't last. Buying food was almost a full day ordeal. The locals are used to eating rice 3 times a day, and rice you can find at any store on every corner, but if you want something else you have to hunt for it all over the city. If there was something you found at a store one week, it probably was gone the next week, so you had to find it somewhere else.

Over all, it was a good experience, but I'm glad we are back in Jamestown, TN.

Sounds very much like my friend's experience in Liberia. They needed building materials and plumbing materials and he said to picture the absolute lowest quality products possible...then take a step below that...was all they could find. And you had to use them gingerly or they would break or fail in short order. After a two week search he paid a fortune to procure (and secure) a precious case of diet coke while he was there.

 

[Chris142]

Ys that filter did its job. I can't imagine that engine running much longer with all that sludge in it though.