Bosch 3410 Manufacturing Defects

[Sunnyinhollister]

What I have here is a Bosch 3410 that was inservice for approximately 4000 miles over a period of six weeks. Mileage on truck at time of change was 10,000 miles. Oil was Motorcraft Synthetic Blend 5W20. I cut open the unit using a filter cutter and found the top of the element was bent downward and there was the interesting crimp pictured below on the bottom plate of the element. The center tube did not appear to be compromised nor did the media. Just an interesting find.

 

[chubbs1]

Thanks for the pics. I usually find those to be in perfect condition. That is the only problem I have with running filters too long...you never know if you have one like this.

 

[Sunnyinhollister]

I've got to admit that I've cut open a few of the Bosch filters and have never seen one like this. I wouldn't term it as a failed filter because there was no breach in the media that I could see, but it does fall into the detect catagory.

 

[cp3]

Wow, not cool at all. Can you tell if the media is still sealed where the cap is bent?

Thanx for sharing.

 

[GMBoy]

I am a Bosch filter user and I agree with the others that this is the 1st time seeing a defect for Bosch. It goes to show it can happen to anyone. I'm still going to use them, however.

 

[Sunnyinhollister]

Originally Posted By: cp3
Wow, not cool at all. Can you tell if the media is still sealed where the cap is bent?

Thanx for sharing.


From what I can see the media is still sealed. It just LOOKS real ugly!

 

[cp3]

Are you going to contact them, maybe send in the pics at least?

 

[Sunnyinhollister]

Originally Posted By: cp3
Are you going to contact them, maybe send in the pics at least?


That was my first thought, but on their web site they only list a phone number - no email. Sitting on hold listening to elevator music is the last thing I want to do.

 

[VRAY]

If this had been Fram the bashing would be all over the place

 

[ltslimjim]

^Well, it wouldn't be, because of the metal end caps.

 

[Sunnyinhollister]

Originally Posted By: VRAY
If this had been Fram the bashing would be all over the place


I can't argue with that one.

 

[kasedian]

Originally Posted By: VRAY
If this had been Fram the bashing would be all over the place


That's because its expected from a Fram. Not a Bosch.

 

[steve20]

maybe it's the lighting in the picture, but the filter element looks reallyshoe polish brown--any ideas why?


Agreed-if it was a Fram-it would have made headlines in the local papers

 

[Sunnyinhollister]

Originally Posted By: steve20
maybe it's the lighting in the picture, but the filter element looks reallyshoe polish brown--any ideas why?


Agreed-if it was a Fram-it would have made headlines in the local papers


the color is more than likely from the flash I was using, the original yellow color of the filter element, and the dirty oil. Interestingly enough the media was NOT sealed where the defect was. I found this when I cut the element apart.

 

[goodtimes]

It's all China's fault.

The machinery made a mistake, no one saw it. Purolator churns out a lot of filters, when they sell for the peanuts that they often do, every one may not be perfect.

Now if the price reflected the cost of labor to manually inspect each filter in and out, we could expect perfection in every sample. Maybe they do get inspected by a human, and the human missed it because they have too many to look at.

Seems the very few USA manufs left are showing more defects as material costs rise, although "before" no one was cutting filters up and examining them.

 

[Bruce T]

This is strange. The cut and crimp on the bottom plate looks intentional, but it serves no practical purpose. Was somebody on the assembly line fooling around with a cutting machine or shears? Maybe as goodtimes says, it was faulty robotic programming or the machinery not handling a piece correctly.