MGB: Oil Filter Study

This may be old news on this site, but the guys on one of the Land Rover BBS were disussing this recently. If your a gear head and have time on your hands, you might enjoy this article. If not, take this advice and avoid Fram filters. Here ya' go... Let the flaming begin.



-John

This has been the biggest discussoin here a few times. I used to sell Fram filters and have seen the problems some of them have created first hand. You never see a cut-away Fram shown by Fram anymore, only by their competition and they do look cheap inside.

This has been around for a while. Interestingly, I have it bookmarked at a completely different website (I wonder who stole from whom).

It is interesting reading. One thing that occurred to me, however. He is mostly comparing physical construction and filter medium area. While these things certainly are important, they are not the only factor that affect the performance of an oil filter.

For example, the type of filter medium is critical. Some filter material will filter much better than others, to the point that a filter with a smaller filter area could actually do a better job of removing particles. I'm not saying that that's the case with any of the filters tested, but it is a problem with the study.

It would be very interesting for someone with the scientific equipment and knowledge to do a comparison in which the actual amount of impurities removed from the oil was measured.

Don't get me wrong. I think that the guy who did this study did an excellent job for an amateur with limited funds and equipment. Its just that its a little like comparing the performance of a car, based on gas mileage. While it is true that high-performance cars tend to get lower gas mileage than non HP cars, there are a lot of other factors.

JDW,

After reading this article I switched to K&N oil filters on my Land Rovers and eventually mobil 1 in the engine, tranfer case, gearboxes and diffs. I now use Pure1 filters, 1/2 the cost of K&N and still good filter. Question, do you run syn in your MG?

TIA,
John

I use half Castrol 20W50 and half Mobil 1 5W50. Looks screwey, but it has worked for Tom Bedenbaugh for years and it works for me.

Author: Tom Bedenbaugh
Date: 12-15-99 17:32

I use half and half syn and regular 20/50 in all my cars. We did some reserch on the SCCA race track and found that we got less engine wear with this combo. I also talked to Castrol and they told me 50/50 mix is as good as straight syn. I sponsor 4 cars in SCCS racing and am there at the track to keep them from DNA.

Interesting, I'm going to start with a good 20w50 dino and see what kind of shape the seals are in before I use syn. I don't want to aggrevate any old seals or stir up any old deposits with syn until I know the 30 year old engine better.

Mobil 1 in my 88 Range Rover leaked all over the place, and that engine was only 12 years young the first time I tried it! It did much better after I rebuilt the top half and changed several of the lower seals.

Thanks for the feedback.
-John

Mobil 1 now sells a synthetic blend which I've been using. Should this be as good as mixing regular oil and full synthetic?

About the same thing David, exscept, the way Tom and I do it you know what the synthetic to regular ratio is. That probably isn't important, the oil companies know what they're doing with their products.

so Fram oil filters suck? i was getting oil and filter for the Explorer a couple days ago.. 5w30 mobil 1, and asked the guy at kragen for part number on the filter, he just looked it up gave me the number and sent me off to look for the Fram.... no K&N's on the shelf... guy wasn't what u would call helpful. i'm thinking about taking the filter back.. had a fram in during the last change but second thoughts this time. guess that is the downside or chain auto parts stores (Kragen) then again i should have been more assertive on what i wanted.