IMO, being softer and more pliable would seem to make it worse, not better. That said I'm not sure if silicone ADBVs are softer and more pliable, they seem about the same softness to me. The only real difference I've found is that silicone ADBVs don't harden, and nitrile ones can.(although not all do)
It seems a lot of people are getting the wrong idea from the picture. Yes, the ADBV is hardened into place, but that's not the main problem. The problem is that it has pushed in allowing oil to bypass. The fact that it hardened only preserved the evidence. If the material didn't harden it's likely it would have snapped back into place after the oil flow stopped. Without an X-ray machine we may never know.
The point I'm trying to make is that every other ADBV in this filter application,(or similar ones) that I've seen has a thicker reinforced ADBV that does not seem to allow such a thing to happen. Material has nothing to do with it.
-T
It seems a lot of people are getting the wrong idea from the picture. Yes, the ADBV is hardened into place, but that's not the main problem. The problem is that it has pushed in allowing oil to bypass. The fact that it hardened only preserved the evidence. If the material didn't harden it's likely it would have snapped back into place after the oil flow stopped. Without an X-ray machine we may never know.
The point I'm trying to make is that every other ADBV in this filter application,(or similar ones) that I've seen has a thicker reinforced ADBV that does not seem to allow such a thing to happen. Material has nothing to do with it.
-T