SuperTech EPIC FAIL

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I changed my Mom's oil today. The car is a 2008 Cobalt LT with the Ecotech engine. The oil, Q-Torquepower 5W30, is the winter change and had just over 8K miles of use (18% on OLM).
My mom is 71 and drives very mildly with 50-50 use.

When I pulled the filter out for replacement, I discovered a hole in the pleats of the ST9018 filter. I have always been a proponent of Supertech oil and filters for many years. I am very disappointed to find this! Not only was there a hole, but the media was very brittle and the pleats easily pulled from the endcaps.

I've always thought that the Champ labs filters wouldn't have a problem running to 8-10 OCI. I've never had an issue before. One thing I discovered though, was that the filter I removed was made in Korea and had different construction than the Made in USA model. The endcaps on the USA model are bigger and offer more support and the media seems to be "stout". I think Champ labs cheapened out a bit and put this filter on a diet. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be up to snuff. I stopped at Walmart today and search through the boxes only to pick up the last "Made in USA" filter for next time. After that, I think I'm going to try NAPA.



DSC06322.jpg





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Yep, that's my finger poking through the hole in the media.


DSC06324.jpg
 
Wow, I wonder if this is a sign of global warming! Just kidding!

First that burst Champ Labs Ecore we've been discussing in the other thread and now this burst Champ Labs SuperTech. Champ seems to be on a roll lately. I'm not familiar with cartridge type filters--do all the brands utilize a plastic center cage and plastic ends?
 
Correct me if I'm wrong. I thought Champ Labs made the spin-ons, not the cartridges.

Also, did the filter fail while your mom was driving? Or was the failure after it was removed?
 
Is there a way you could get a picture of the center stack in relation to where the hole is?

I assume its at the point where the plastic cage is not supporting the paper? Does the outline of the hole match the outline of the plastic support behind it?
 
The failure occured sometime during the interval. That really gets my goat! I've done multiple OCI's from 7500-8500 miles with the Made in USA filters, and NEVER had even a hint of failure. I wish there was a way you guys could feel the media. It broke apart like a waffle cookie does. This was the first (and last!) time I'll use a Made in Korea ST filter.
I might as well go back to Fram.
 
All of the aftermarket ecotec filters I have seen are junk.

The fram is no better. I bought a case of purolator filters on amazon, and they are the same.

The only good filters for these cars are the delco's.

I'm using the purolators, and they come out a little pinched, but nothing that bad.
 
Originally Posted By: LS2JSTS
Is there a way you could get a picture of the center stack in relation to where the hole is?

I assume its at the point where the plastic cage is not supporting the paper? Does the outline of the hole match the outline of the plastic support behind it?


The e-core center support does not support the media at all. In fact, the ecore center snaps in and can actually rotate. It is only there to stop the media from collapsing in from the oil pressure. IMO, the Made in USA filter is better as the endcaps are deeper and offer much more support.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
All of the aftermarket ecotec filters I have seen are junk.

The fram is no better. I bought a case of purolator filters on amazon, and they are the same.

The only good filters for these cars are the delco's.

I'm using the purolators, and they come out a little pinched, but nothing that bad.


Yeah, I think I'm going to shop around for the Delco's next time or perhaps the Puro's if NAPA carries them.

I was thinking about trying to find the last of the Made in USA Supertechs, but to be honest, I'm quite mad at the way they cheapened out and would rather spend my money elsewhere.
 
Just when we were saying the cartridge filter didn't normally have this problem. I haven't noticed any of them made in USA. All the ones I looked at were made in Bulgaria and Korea. What can you do if you have the cartridge filter? Regardless of where they are made they are all built similar to ecores. You can't get a metal contruction type like with canister filters.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
All of the aftermarket ecotec filters I have seen are junk.

The fram is no better. I bought a case of purolator filters on amazon, and they are the same.

The only good filters for these cars are the delco's.

I'm using the purolators, and they come out a little pinched, but nothing that bad.


I always used the ACDelcos. I never seen any of them look damaged after use. None of them were made in USA. I assumed ST was getting the cartridge filters from the same supply as ACDelco though. After all Champs supplies AcDelco filters. Aren't the ACDelco and ST cartridges really the same?
 
I think Champ is just trying to skimp on materials. The lack of mounting tabs at the top, stout media "feel", and decrease of endcap size are evidence of that. The last "older" design filter I used barely had a slight twist during a near 10K OCI last year.
 
Yeah that broken filter has shallow pleating and looks different from the ACDelco cartridges. The made in USA ones you get has me thrown off because I haven't seen them. The bad filter must be a slightly different design. Is the new filter on the left an ACDelco or just a USA ST?
 
I have not run an ST 9018. It the past the ones I have looked at were foreign made and higher priced than alternatives. I have run a bunch of different stuff and not seen the least problem. When I first had my 02, all you could find were the made in France Purflux. Later, I think I used some Purolators and AC. More recently I bought a couple of made in China Dynalubes. The first looked fine after 3 months and 6K. It has been a struggle to find reasonable priced ones and American made. The Purolators did come out twisted, but I blamed that on perhaps being slightly too high. Somebody here suggested you need to coat the ends with oil, but I kept forgetting.

It is quite appearant that is a media failure. When you think what it would take to reduce newspaper to that state, I have to ask what is happening in that engine? Excess temperature? Acid?
 
The filter on the left is the USA ST. I went through the last few ST9018 filter boxes on the shelf and found it.
 
Originally Posted By: Zaedock
The filter on the left is the USA ST. I went through the last few ST9018 filter boxes on the shelf and found it.


Oh OK, it is looks better constructed and like the OE Delcos although most of them weren't made in USA. That's the filter labman should be using, made in USA lol.
 
Thank you for posting the photos and info.

You have given many a heads up warning so people can avoid aftermarket Ecotec filters and any filter made in Bulgaria or Korea.

As someone who has warned other people about problems I appreciate it when someone else gives me advance warning of something.

Thank you.
 
thanks for the pics.

At least the media is still there. Unlike that recent escare with a window punched in it, and no sign of the missing media.
 
Originally Posted By: Zaedock
Originally Posted By: JustinH
All of the aftermarket ecotec filters I have seen are junk.

The fram is no better. I bought a case of purolator filters on amazon, and they are the same.

The only good filters for these cars are the delco's.

I'm using the purolators, and they come out a little pinched, but nothing that bad.


Yeah, I think I'm going to shop around for the Delco's next time or perhaps the Puro's if NAPA carries them.

I was thinking about trying to find the last of the Made in USA Supertechs, but to be honest, I'm quite mad at the way they cheapened out and would rather spend my money elsewhere.


Napa carries Napa filters.
 
Originally Posted By: Zaedock

The e-core center support does not support the media at all. In fact, the ecore center snaps in and can actually rotate. It is only there to stop the media from collapsing in from the oil pressure.


Guess it failed if that was a design intention. This whole wide open "Ecore cage" is not a good thing IMO. The "windows" are too large and don't give enough support to keep the media from collapsing if the PSID is too large. Keep in mind that the PSID should *ideally* not be higher than the bypass valve setting, and it's possible this kind of failure happens with a PSID below bypass setting. If so, that is definitely a design flaw IMO.
 
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