WM SuperTech cartridge filters, beware

[BigAl]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
Leave the o-ring off? It's not like you have to install it..the filter comes from the factory with it.


OK . . . as long as you don't take the o-ring off . . . or if the filter manufacturer doesn't leave it off . . . or if somebody visiting the store doesn't decide to play a dirty trick on you and takes it off. As long as the o-ring is there, and is sized right, the filter should work fine.

 

[JTK]

The bad thing with the Ecotec is, you'll never know if the filter housing is staying primed with oil as is should. As soon as you begin unthreading the housing cap, the filter loosens with it. The filter element snaps into the underside of the cap.

Joel

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: BigAl
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

I'm sorry, but if this is true, this is a SERIOUS conceptual design flaw.


Personally, I really like the design. I'd call it elegant in its simplicity. Oil changes are a breeze. Providing the filter is made to fit properly in the first place, unless you leave the o-ring off on purpose, it would be awfully hard to screw it up.


Well, they could have just mounted it higher and have it drain forward. Yes, oil changes are a breeze. I don't see elegant simplicity to it. I see a risky window of vulnerability.

Look at it this way, you've got a plastic plug and an O ring sustaining your wall between full oil pressure and ZERO oil pressure. Would you feel at all comfortable if your oil filter had a plastic tit facing outward to anywhere no matter how "in place" the O ring was? I doubt it.

..but ..hey

I used to feel funky about wires and oil when wiring went internal to transmissions. The two just didn't "feel" right. So waddaeyeno

 

[BigAl]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

Look at it this way, you've got a plastic plug and an O ring sustaining your wall between full oil pressure and ZERO oil pressure. Would you feel at all comfortable if your oil filter had a plastic tit facing outward to anywhere no matter how "in place" the O ring was? I doubt it.


No design is perfect, but this small, high strength, glass-reinforced engineering grade polymer plug worries me a lot less than the .012" thin metal shell of a conventional oil filter . . . dangling outside of an engine, begging to split or be punctured . . . or to have a gasket mistakenly still stuck to the engine only to blow out down the road.

OK . . . failure of either design is unusual, but at least oil from my Ecotec doesn't run down my arm and drip off my elbow . . . or spill all over some uncleanable area when I change the filter. Plus I won't wreck my shoulder contorting myself to reach it. It's so simple. It works so well. It's a thing of beauty, it is.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: JTK
The bad thing with the Ecotec is, you'll never know if the filter housing is staying primed with oil as is should.


If you were to remove the filter after having drained the oil but with the drain plug still off, I expect that you should see some more oil come out of the drain plug if the filter housing was still primed with oil.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
If you were to remove the filter after having drained the oil but with the drain plug still off, I expect that you should see some more oil come out of the drain plug if the filter housing was still primed with oil.


That's a good plan! I'm going to try that on my Cobalt's next OCI.

Joel

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: BigAl
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

Look at it this way, you've got a plastic plug and an O ring sustaining your wall between full oil pressure and ZERO oil pressure. Would you feel at all comfortable if your oil filter had a plastic tit facing outward to anywhere no matter how "in place" the O ring was? I doubt it.




OK . . . failure of either design is unusual, but at least oil from my Ecotec doesn't run down my arm and drip off my elbow . . . or spill all over some uncleanable area when I change the filter. Plus I won't wreck my shoulder contorting myself to reach it. It's so simple. It works so well. It's a thing of beauty, it is.


Fair 'nuff

 

[leftlane]

Originally Posted By: BigAl
at least oil from my Ecotec doesn't run down my arm and drip off my elbow . . . or spill all over some uncleanable area when I change the filter.


Someone here recommended using a ziplock bag over the filter that way it wont spill all over you and everything else. Wish I'd thought of that the first time I changed the oil in my honda because the same thing happened to me. Took half an hour to clean everything up.

 

[brianl703]

I tried that ziplock idea once, it still made a mess and it didn't do anything about the fact that I had to crawl all the way under the car to get the filter off.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
Originally Posted By: JTK
The bad thing with the Ecotec is, you'll never know if the filter housing is staying primed with oil as is should.


If you were to remove the filter after having drained the oil but with the drain plug still off, I expect that you should see some more oil come out of the drain plug if the filter housing was still primed with oil.


Just did an OC on the Cobalt yesterday. Indeed some more oil drained out of the pan once I loosened the oil filter housing cap. I used an AC Delco filter and Supertech 5w20 this time around. I still get the dry start noise if the car sits an hour or more.

Joel

 

[artificialist]

I have used Supertech, Fram, and regular purolators on my ION, never had a problem with any.

Now, I would never hear a startup rattle because of my flowmaster muffler.

 

[JustinH]

I accidentally bought a 5 quart jug of 10w30 mobil 5000 for my saturn ion. Used a fram filter.

Now it doesn't make a sound.

Call me crazy...

 

[NightRiderQ45]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
I accidentally bought a 5 quart jug of 10w30 mobil 5000 for my saturn ion. Used a fram filter.

Now it doesn't make a sound.

Call me crazy...

How can you "accidentally" purchase this 5 quart of oil and filter. Did the oil float in the air and jump into your cart/hand while walking. When you scanned the oil and that cheap filter, did it blind you to the facts that you were indeed purchasing MC 5000 and the filter of death???

 

[Gary Allan]

Humor. "Hey, I really screwed up and came out pleased as punch. Call me an idiot, if you must."

 

[JustinH]

Because the car calls for 5w30, I bought the wrong weight.

Originally Posted By: NightRiderQ45
Originally Posted By: JustinH
I accidentally bought a 5 quart jug of 10w30 mobil 5000 for my saturn ion. Used a fram filter.

Now it doesn't make a sound.

Call me crazy...

How can you "accidentally" purchase this 5 quart of oil and filter. Did the oil float in the air and jump into your cart/hand while walking. When you scanned the oil and that cheap filter, did it blind you to the facts that you were indeed purchasing MC 5000 and the filter of death???

 

[LoneRanger]

I took the o-ring debate a step further:

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/proline-filter-is-better-than-delco-hengst.91023/