Stocked Up on Fleetguard LF17531 (Louver and Adhesive Pictures Inside)

[mphilleo]

For those wondering, Jay at Cummins has been very helpful and responsive with me about my concerns regarding some of the adhesive. Obviously, we're not their type of regular customers who would swap in a filter without a second thought. What I do want to say is that other than the adhesive at the end cap, which probably isn't a big deal, these filters are BUILT. Sure, they're not Stratapores, but they're heavier than the average filter of their size, the louvers are well-machined, thick baseplate o-ring, nice thread count, they have a traditional spring BPV, and previous C&Ps from Whip City shows them to have good material quality.

Considering I paid less than $7 each, I feel I got a good deal, especially with the filter market as volatile and consolidated as it is these days. Obviously, I'll let you folks know how these work out for me, who knows, maybe I'll invest in a filter cutter so I can provide a more indepth analysis. Given the details above, the cost, and the fact that I can actually get my hands on them (*cough...Donaldson...*cough*), I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Fleetguard at least on a preliminary basis.

 

[DriveHard]

The main concern with louvers is ... are they formed correctly so they are visually opened more than a mere hairline slit. The louver forming can be all over the map, and if someone doesn't look and installs one with mere slit openings, that can cause a lot of delta-p across the filter and cause it to go into bypass way more than it should.

How about this one ... NO openings on the louvers, just bumps. Total failure on louver forming.

View attachment 108898

Not opened enough.

View attachment 108900

Opened well.

View attachment 108899

assumption would be proper manufacturing capability, and properly produced product.

 

[ZeeOSix]

assumption would be proper manufacturing capability, and properly produced product.

All assumed, until you do your own QA check with your own eyes while it's in your hand.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

You can't use filters with louvers! They will cause turbulence and impede oil flow to your bearings, starving them of precious lubrication and your engine will explode.

And your wife will file for divorce,the dog will bite you, your employer of twenty five years will fire you, and worst of all, you come down with prostatitis and hemorrhoids.

 

[mphilleo]

Get a small wooden dowl or similar and see if you can break that glue strand off and shake it out or vacuum it out. The glue job looks pretty sloppy to me ... other filters don't seem to have that much glue slop all over where the center tube meets the end cap.

I took your advice, just for the couple of filters with the very small flecks of potting glue on the bottom. In this case, I used a small bamboo skewer and was able to remove the flecks pretty easily. The material could be balled when rolled in my fingers. Kind of interesting, I expected it to be more like JB Weld to the touch, but it could be related to surface adhesion and overall area. I don't claim to be an adhesives engineer.