FNJ

I hear all the time Fram filters are bad for our trucks. I have a 97 International tow truck w/ 300.0000 thousand miles 95 Jeep 200.000 81 Volkswagon diesel 530.000 90 Dodge 245.000 91 Dodge 145.000 All have had Fram filters since new. Is it too late to switch!?

manganos

I heard back in the day they had a fair amount of faulty drainback valves. Cut one in half and compare it to a fleetguard. You will never use a fram

billv45

In a layman's engineering opinion, the cut up Frams appear to be grossly inferior to almost any other filter. In my motorcycle forums, where strangly enough, oil and filters are mentioned once in a while, there's been some very intensive analysis on filters and Frams were at the bottom of the list everytime. Bosch, Mobil 1 and surprisingly Walmart filters all faired well.

Chrisreyn

WIX manufactors the WalMart store brand filters, as well as Napa filters.............

FNJ

I heard that about the drain back valve. Ihave a 78 BMW R80/7 I had to put a Fram filter in it and my friend who is a beemer bike mechanic FREAKED OUT gave no explaintion Just said get it out! The flatbed is due for an oil change guess Ill use the Fleetguard from now on thanx.

russ300h

OOPS! Champion Labs makes the Wal Mart Super Tech's, not Wix. Wix makes the NAPA and CarQuest filters.

Fram filters have cheap cardboard endcaps instead of metal. IF the filter functions properly it filters as well as any low end filter. The anti-drainback valves seriously leak causing engine noise at startup. NOT applicable to our Cummins as the filters are installed vertically. Under certain circumstances they can also collapse internally as only cardboard is holding the media together. They have been known to cause engine failures and are the filters Dodge warns you about in your owners manual. I don't know what the failure rate is, maybe one in 100 thousand, or one in a million. maybe more, maybe less. The point is why knowingly buy an inferior product that could cause a problem with a very expensive engine when for the same price you can get a Purolator or Wix filter and rest easy that your engine is protected as well as can be.

Begle1

Fram's tend to get sucked into the engine; installing a Fram is equivalent to installing a grenade.

I know a guy who took out a brand new Cummins after his first oil change; the shop he took it to put on a Fram, and it got sucked into the engine. Ultimately he had to pay for a new engine.


Then again, I have a Fram on my truck right now, since it seems that every other shop only stocks Fram's...

BearKiller

I never see anything in the Walmarts around here but FRAM, with an occassional Motorcraft.

What name is on the Walmart filters??

What color is the box??

I am a Fleetguard, or Baldwin, man myself, but I occassionally have to change oil in miscellaneous gas burners; and, when it comes to gas-burners, the cheaper, the better.

dodgetech77

I personally dont use anything but a factory mopar filter and oil.

wannadiesel

The Wal-Mart house brand was SuperTech, but I think they have phased them out in favor of the wall of orange. The one for the Cummins was $3.98 or close to that. You wouldn't have to look it up if they have it, it's the only box big enough.

I run Donaldsons on mine, that's what one local truck parts store carries. You can guess what the one right by work stocks.

russ300h

Wal-Mart still stocks the Super Tech. They are in a grey box with some green and black. The common sizes are about $2.07, more for some. As I said, they are made by Champion Labs, the same people who make the K&N, Mobil 1, STP, Bosch, DuraLast and others. All the mentioned filters are made to vendor specs and are not of the same quality. The ST's are a decent filter and far superior to Fram. Purolators have been $1.98 at Pep Boys this year as they are always on sale. If you bother with the rebates, the final price can be .99 or .01. That includes the size for Cummins. Also Advance Auto frequently has a 2 for 1 sale on their house brand filter. Final cost for the common types ends up being $1.34, no rebate. They are made by Purolator to AA's specs. At these prices, I see no need to shop Wally which in my opinion is a good thing.

big jimmy

I have seen the tests done on all the filter brands and Fram, as mentioned, was clearly inferior. Less filtering media, cheap construction, no drainback valves usually. The guy cut open every filter, unwound the media, examined the cannisters constuction etc.
Donaldson had so much more media than the fram.

russ300h

Unless things are different in different parts of the country. All the filters I have seen at Sears recently have been Purolators in plainly labeled Purolator boxes. Donaldson are absolutely premium filters, if it's true for your area, you are lucky.

big jimmy

I stand corrected. Thank you. They are the purolators at my local sears.

Big Jimmy

chuxtruk

Anecdotally, I couldn't disagree more, having used Fram filters for a lifetime on EVERY vehicle I've ever owned. I have NEVER had one problem with Fram filters, either with the filtration they do or having a quality product that doesn't come apart/fail. The main reason for all of this would most likely be that they're not in there over 3ooo - 4ooo miles, that that isn't long enough to fail under "normal conditions" whatever those are. The primary reason for my choice of Fram filters is that they're the ones most easy to find. I won't tell you how many times I've gone to somewhere like Fred Meyers (a local chain here in the northwest), K-Mart etc only to find that not only do they NOT have oil in gallon containers, they also don't stock an oil or fuel filter for our Dodge/Cummins trucks for some strange reason. When I've inquired as to why, the manager always says something dumb like "we don't get any call for those filters", which leaves me to wonder how you can sell something you don't carry. Anyway, there's a million and one of these trucks on the road, so I still can't figure out why it's hard around here to find an oil and air filter for these trucks. Of course, when you go to Cummins you SHOULD be able to get a Fleetguard filter. Trouble is around here finding the Cummins dealer....they moved last I looked. I suspect that the "bad press" about some filters is probably put out by rival manufacturers or others with some "ax to grind". Still the most commonly found filter for Dodge trucks around these parts is in the form of a Fram filter which have FAITHFULLY performed (I have never heard of any friends with Fram problems either) their duty EVERY time they've been called upon to do it in ALL of my vehicles going on 35+ years now. You'd think that in all this time and using all these filters over all these years that one of them would have failed BY NOW, wouldn't you??? Nope.... And untill something comes along that's a little bit easier to find, I will continue using and recommending Fram filters, just like I always have. Even this guy in the following links doesn't say they are BAD....and neither do I. What's bad is using this as an excuse to not change your oil or fuel filter(s). Fwiw. Chuck

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters.html

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oil...tudy.html#fram