I think I know what happened to that filter. About five or six years ago GM/Saturn put out a TSB on their GM brand filters for the 2.2L Ecotec engines notifing dealerships/customers that the older 2.2L cartridge filters were not to be used in the newer 2.2L engines. This TSB was released in 2003 or 2004. The older filters had a "Z" like pattern in the outside folds while the newer ones did not. Anyway, the issue was that the old style filter was some fraction of an inch taller (maybe 1/8" taller) than the new filters and would crush/deform or fail if used in the newer 2.2L engines. As the years went by GM's older filters went away, and they only sold the newer style ones, without the "Z" pattern.
Just a few years ago, Pepboy had a series of great sales on Purolator Plus P15436 filters, with a mail in coupon that made the cost $1.98 each. Needless to say, I jumped all over that sale! I had other filters to use up before I got to the Purolator filters a couple of years later. When I did start to use them I discovered later, on the next oil change on the three 2.2L engines that I service, and used the Purolator filters on that they were crushed down and one had a hole in it just like the one in your picture. I had a new WIX filter so I sat it beside one of the unused Purolator filters, and guess what? The sale filters that I bought were made to the old spec and were about 1/8" taller than the WIX and a new German Hengst filter made for GM-Saturn!
I would suggest to you that the SuperTech filter you used was "only" defective to the extent that it was made out of spec! I would even bet that if you carefully measured your used SuperTech with a new filter of a different brand, that the a new filter and the used SuperTech filter are NOW the same height because of the crush down the the used filter experienced! Your pictures look just like what I experienced, except that even though I knew about the TSB, it never crossed my mind that Purolator might not have gotten the memo several years after it was issued!
Just a few years ago, Pepboy had a series of great sales on Purolator Plus P15436 filters, with a mail in coupon that made the cost $1.98 each. Needless to say, I jumped all over that sale! I had other filters to use up before I got to the Purolator filters a couple of years later. When I did start to use them I discovered later, on the next oil change on the three 2.2L engines that I service, and used the Purolator filters on that they were crushed down and one had a hole in it just like the one in your picture. I had a new WIX filter so I sat it beside one of the unused Purolator filters, and guess what? The sale filters that I bought were made to the old spec and were about 1/8" taller than the WIX and a new German Hengst filter made for GM-Saturn!
I would suggest to you that the SuperTech filter you used was "only" defective to the extent that it was made out of spec! I would even bet that if you carefully measured your used SuperTech with a new filter of a different brand, that the a new filter and the used SuperTech filter are NOW the same height because of the crush down the the used filter experienced! Your pictures look just like what I experienced, except that even though I knew about the TSB, it never crossed my mind that Purolator might not have gotten the memo several years after it was issued!
