UPDATE - Defective Fram Ultra? Missing ADBV leads to engine damage in 2018 Mazda6?

Status
Not open for further replies.
*Please suggest after market oil filter brand & series which have a different placement of the ADBV than what Fram uses ?
 
I'm skeptical. ADBV are orange and the one in the picture is red.
also, just HOW the heck could the large ADBV get past the center tube and the
yet smaller diameter of the mounting tube the filter screws onto?

Wait and see, I guess.


My 2¢
 
That a big pill to swallow, I hope Fram pays for the damage.
I think I mentioned this in the other thread here that if Fram does pay, she might have to sign an NDA and keep the outcome confidential. I bet we'll never know.
 
Fram seems to use the same bypass spring for all their filters. The Ultra needs a better spring because the element is heavier, or a different spring design altogether. It isn't just one loose element, there have been quite a few, and that's just the ones caught. Others went in and off and nothing happened except no oil filtering. Now that they know they should do something about it.
 
The owner appears to have documentation from an authorized Mazda dealer citing the oil filter as the cause. I doubt the dealer stuffed a phony ADBV into the engine to get either the owner or Fram to pay for an engine. Crazy things happen. These filters do have a certain human element in their manufacturing process. I would think it would be hard to knock a filters internals loose without some serious effort? If the spring was missing, that would have seemed obvious tho so IDK. I do agree some Frams seem to have the ADBV inserted unnecessarily far into the filter body which likely led to this one way or the other. Hopefully we get an unbiased answer to how or why it happened and hopefully the owner gets treated right.
 
I’m definitely interested in Fram’s response to this. There has been talk on here before that the Ultra has some flaws to it. I myself use the Extra Guard filters.
 
This is how it works, if you question someone's honesty, do the search yourself first.
I wasn’t the initial individual who questioned your claim but I did do some searches and I found some FRAM Ultra cartridges that had the filter media separate from the cartridge tube, a few canister gasket separations (one that lead to a double-gasket situation because of improper installation), a few weeping canister gaskets, and a couple of rattling canister filters caught before installation.

Do we have any other major failures that resulted in damage? I’m not spotting any in my searches.
 
I wasn’t the initial individual who questioned your claim but I did do some searches and I found some FRAM Ultra cartridges that had the filter media separate from the cartridge tube, a few canister gasket separations (one that lead to a double-gasket situation because of improper installation), a few weeping canister gaskets, and a couple of rattling canister filters caught before installation.

Do we have any other major failures that resulted in damage? I’m not spotting any in my searches.
I said nothing about resulting damage, only rattlers which were several. Claim is not really the right word, it’s fact talked about several times in long drawn out threads. There is no question about what I said, it’s not my opinion, or “claim.”
 
Last edited:
Fram seems to use the same bypass spring for all their filters. The Ultra needs a better spring because the element is heavier, or a different spring design altogether. It isn't just one loose element, there have been quite a few, and that's just the ones caught. Others went in and off and nothing happened except no oil filtering. Now that they know they should do something about it.


If you cannot provide some evidence to back all this up then it means nothing except bashing a particular brand.
 
I said nothing about resulting damage, only rattlers which were several. Claim is not really the right word, it’s fact talked about several times in long drawn out threads. There is no question about what I said, it’s not my opinion, or “claim.”
No need to be defensive. My post was supporting your initial claim. Also, yes, posting something without any supporting evidence is a claim.

My question was separate from the supporting evidence for your claim which was do we have any examples of a FRAM Ultra failure causing damage?

This forum is phenomenal for tracking defective filters; recall the Purolator PureOne/Tearolator tracking that was occurring for quite some time on here.

I’ve been running FRAM Ultras in all of my cars and even on my mower for quite a few years now so clearly I’m not just a FRAM basher but I honestly think that it may be time to consolidate evidence related to the different types of issues that folks are experiencing with these filters. I have been noticing a trend of seemingly quality control related issues being noted over the past little while and I had a weeping gasket on my Subaru last year. Maybe it is time to start tracking this kind of info.
 
My question was separate from the supporting evidence for your claim which was do we have any examples of a FRAM Ultra failure causing damage?
Over the last 10 years I think there was one report of an oil filter many years ago doing some kind of actual engine damage reported by a member here, but I don't think it was a Fram. Of course there have been numerous reports of torn media, cut ADBVs, loose guts, closed louvers, paint over-spray on gasket area, etc, etc on various brands of filters.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top