Mobil ones email response to bad oil filter.

[DuckRyder]

I don't think we have ever seen a Mobil one filter that showed evidence of having been made by Fram by having the common construction traits we see in them. Champion labs has been in evidence for sometime. It is true that they were under shared ownership for a fairly short time under the FRAM group (which included Fram Filtration and Champion labs) but they never showed evidence of being made by Fram. It is kinda like saying a Cadillac is made by Chevrolet, particularly if GM chose to make the whole thing extra confusing by renaming GM "Chevrolet Group".

In other words, they may have been made by "Fram Group" but not "Fram Filtration"

To complicate matters, at some point fairly recently it seems Champion changed some elements of construction from the familiar tapping plate in particular. So in a recent thread there were actually 3 versions, 2 Champion and a M+H.

Two Mobil 1 M1-110A filters. Different sizes

Hello, all, I bought the short one in February 2020 and the tall one in July 2020, both from Walmart. The short one is 3 5/16" and 211 grams and the tall one is 3 1/2" tall and 261 grams. Both are made in the USA, and the only difference in the packaging is the taller one specifies a steel...

www.bobistheoilguy.com

 

[dlundblad]

Somebody remind me. Did Purolator have the tearing issues before or after the M+H buyout?

 

[IndyFan]

Somebody remind me. Did Purolator have the tearing issues before or after the M+H buyout?

I'm not sure when they did the buyout, but I ran a couple Purolator PureOne cartridge filters in my 06 Solstice back when it was new and found the pleats looking very frayed, with fibers sticking out everywhere. It looked downright fuzzy. That bothered me. I then ran Fram, Wix, AC, and Supertech filters, and they all came out looking fine. The Purolators did that with only 3k OCIs. I never saw a tear, though. But we've been reading about that issue for a good while here on Bitog.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Somebody remind me. Did Purolator have the tearing issues before or after the M+H buyout?

I think before. All the torn media reports started coming in hot an heavy in the spring of 2014 IIRC. Then a year or two after that the whole Purolator line was 'revamped' looks wise, so maybe that's when M+H took over.

 

[WellOiled]

Somebody remind me. Did Purolator have the tearing issues before or after the M+H buyout?

I think before. All the torn media reports started coming in hot an heavy in the spring of 2014 IIRC. Then a year or two after that the whole Purolator line was 'revamped' looks wise, so maybe that's when M+H took over.

I will add, M+H never did anything substantial to fix the problem. By giving the filters a new paint scheme and packaging, they just put lipstick on a pig. Then ADBVs were observed with cuts, and so on.

 

[Bob Arnzen]

Mobil 1 filters were never made by Fram.

They were made for many years by Champion Laboratories, which is currently a division of UCI International.

Filter companies change ownership frequently. When that happens they don't fire all the employees and scrap the machinery and designs in the acquisition, so you find filters made in different factories owned by the same company that are radically different.

Your post doesn't include pictures of the base (which could help identify the factory source) or a description of the failure (which could help identify the reason).

 

[Arthur E]

I found that this is a follow-up to a previous post where there were more pictures:

Mobil 1 Pictures

No big deal - the ADBV apparently got cut in the manufacturing process.

He did the right thing and replaced it.

Apparently the manufacturer did the right thing and provided a replacement.

Other than an annoying startup noise, a cut ADBV should not be a big problem.

 

[Bob Arnzen]

I will add, M+H never did anything substantial to fix the problem.

What problem?

A few dozen anecdotes on a single website about tears in media?

 

[IndyFan]

What problem?

A few dozen anecdotes on a single website about tears in media?

Technically anecdotal, yes. But there are brands where we haven't seen any at all. So, you make decisions based on the best info you have. Why would I bother with Purolator when we've seen numerous examples of tears here, when I can go with a Fram Ultra where I don't believe we've seen even one. And the Ultra is very widely used here, too.

Let me ask you this. If you used Brand X and discovered a nice tear in the media after a 5k run, would you continue to use that brand on your $50k vehicle? Just curious.

 

[Bob Arnzen]

“Technically anecdotal, yes.”

Anecdotal by definition.

“But there are brands where we haven't seen any at all.”

The posts go back to 2002, 18 years.

During that time various brands have been the subject of pile-ons, starting with Fram

Fram Bashing

and including Champion, Wix, and others. I am unaware of a single brand of filter that does not experience the occasional failure - bad threads, bad seams where the can joins the base, tilted or damaged ADBV valves, stuck bypass valves, you name it.

All the manufacturers track warranty claims. Most of them make millions of OEM and aftermarket filters every year.

Fleets track failures and adjust their purchasing if they experience unusual failure rates.

All of them look for patterns that would indicate that a systemic problem is occurring that requires mediation.

Yet fleets and OEMs continue to buy the filters made in Fayetteville, NC, year after year, million after million.

That’s the difference between anecdotes and statistics.

But in the end you buy or don’t buy whatever you like or don’t like.

It’s just like voting.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

I don't think we have ever seen a Mobil one filter that showed evidence of having been made by Fram by having the common construction traits we see in them. Champion labs has been in evidence for sometime. It is true that they were under shared ownership for a fairly short time under the FRAM group (which included Fram Filtration and Champion labs) but they never showed evidence of being made by Fram. It is kinda like saying a Cadillac is made by Chevrolet, particularly if GM chose to make the whole thing extra confusing by renaming GM "Chevrolet Group".

In other words, they may have been made by "Fram Group" but not "Fram Filtration"

To complicate matters, at some point fairly recently it seems Champion changed some elements of construction from the familiar tapping plate in particular. So in a recent thread there were actually 3 versions, 2 Champion and a M+H.

Two Mobil 1 M1-110A filters. Different sizes

Hello, all, I bought the short one in February 2020 and the tall one in July 2020, both from Walmart. The short one is 3 5/16" and 211 grams and the tall one is 3 1/2" tall and 261 grams. Both are made in the USA, and the only difference in the packaging is the taller one specifies a steel...

www.bobistheoilguy.com

In my opinion. If the Bankruptcy did not happen, Fram or Champ would cease to exist today due to "cost cutting" Thankful that RANK Group did not have that opportunity to make millions off of American backs. The more competition the better.

 

[BISCUT]

Technically anecdotal, yes. But there are brands where we haven't seen any at all. So, you make decisions based on the best info you have. Why would I bother with Purolator when we've seen numerous examples of tears here, when I can go with a Fram Ultra where I don't believe we've seen even one. And the Ultra is very widely used here, too.

Let me ask you this. If you used Brand X and discovered a nice tear in the media after a 5k run, would you continue to use that brand on your $50k vehicle? Just curious.

While only 1 of dozens I've used over the last few years; I did just post an issues with a Fram Ultra that I caught in time. Could have been catastrophic. I will also say I will still use Fram Ultra filters until I see further issues.