Fram CH10955 Fail (Pentastar V6 filter)

[davison0976]

An unfortunate event took place with a Fram CH10955 filter on my beautiful and exceptionally well maintained Pentastar V6 engine. Sometime during the OCI between October 2018 and April 2019 the inner plastic frame of the filter had failed. This is my 12th oil change in this vehicle and nothing like this had happened before. I've been using Fram and Mopar filters interchangeably in the past as both are available at local Walmart.

My concern is the missing plastic piece, - area circled in the last picture. The other pieces were intact initially until broken off while I was trying to realign different areas of the frame to see if there are any missing pieces. The plastic is very brittle.

What are the chances of the missing piece blocking an oil channel and leading to an oil starvation in some part of the engine? Is anyone familiar with Pentastar's oil supply channels downstream from the filter?

 

[blupupher]

Eww, that is not a good thing. No idea what is downstream of that, but I too would be a little worried about it.

 

[tiger862]

This is what scares me on my 18 Grand Caravan. I pulled orginal at 4500 miles and filter was stiff. I put in NAPA gold which got pulled at 4500 miles same thing. Even the medium came apart from heat generated in oil filter housing. I am now trying Mobil1 filter with Synthetic oil. To bad it takes so long to get mileage up but I plan on keeping an eye on it.

 

[oldhp]

https://prezi.com/ijeeedzmeegi/pentastar-36l-v6-lubrication-schematic/ Try this. Not good, oil goes to either main oil galleys, piston jets, cylinder heads into all the camshaft ports.

 

[WobblyElvis]

Problem with the bypass valve?
Can you get the nozzle of a shop vac in there and try to pull the piece back out of the oil passage?
I might have left that filter in one piece and sent it to Fram. If there is no problem with the bypass valve they should be on the hook for this.

 

[demarpaint]

That sucks. I wonder if the filter possibly bound up during the install and the center twisted and broke, or was compromised and later broke. It looks like something like that could happen. I've seen pictures of the media twisting a bit in some of them and often wondered if they bound up during the install and twisted a bit.

 

[Sayjac]

Stating the obvious, not a good outcome. I too am pondering the cause. It's difficult for me to imagine that with proper install, any type of engine oiling system function caused this. So, that leaves either a cage manufacturing defect or as noted some extreme twisting force exerted on it at some point with/after the screwing down of the housing cap. Or a combination of both. In my observation, the cages pretty tough, though this is one of the longer cartridge applications.

I too would be concerned about the missing piece. That said, other than checking inside the housing, at this point wouldn't think there's much that can be done. Hope for the best.

 

[oldhp]

What year, kind of vehicle???

 

[Kira]

Can you reach into the "after filter" port with a thin wire or such as a first step? Some kind of flexible optic wand?

 

[badtlc]

I love these Fram filters. I had been using them on my pentastar (CH & TG). I recently switched to Wix though since I got them for like $3/ea (6 total) on rockauto. That should last me a while.

Unfortunately, this makes me glad I did. I know this is a one off issue but it is scary. I wouldn't want to go through this situation.

 

[Sunnyinhollister]

I would contact Fram.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Did the car get revved up high when cold? That can distort media, Especially in the winter with moisture.

Still the cage should hold up. But, having worked with abvanced poylmers, its Hard to mold that without getting some cold meld lines with all those junctions

I would contact FRAM and send their FMEA group the filter where requested.
Take more Photos.

 

[Rand]

I'm wondering if the housing was overtightened its very easy to do so.

I actually drew a line on my housing so I would know when it was tight.

The O-ring is the seal you dont need to squash it down

I used only mopar filters and fram ultras ..
I felt the fram ultras were slightly longer than stock(1/8"+) and stopped using them. after removing one that was severely distorted but not failed.

 

[Job]

The plastic shouldn't be so brittle. It looks like it says Made in China. The element has to be fully seated in the cap too, before rotating it down, but you have been changing it many times. Try finding the service manual pages showing the oil circuit.

 

[IndyFan]

You can get small Shop Vac attachments at Wal Mart. I'd put those on a powerful vac and stick it down in there to try and get the piece, on the chance it is just wedged in the bottom somewhere.

As for Fram or any other filter, every manufacturer can have a defect. This is a really unfortunate one, though. You might also talk to a tech at a dealership with experience in tearing down a Pentastar. They may know how to go about retrieving the debris.

That's going to make me even more careful with inspecting filters before I install them. I hope you are able to get the debris out or that it doesn't cause an issue.

I've been using Fram Ultras with no issue. The filter media does twist, but not as badly as the original Mopar filter was twisted. I've got about 12 M1 filters on deck since I bought them for $4 bucks on clearance at Wally World. I haven't looked closely at their construction, though.

 

[Rand]

Also this makes me think.. what was wrong with spin-on oil filters again?

besides a double gasketing installation fail there is not as much to go wrong.

 

[IndyFan]

Originally Posted by Rand
Also this makes me think.. what was wrong with spin-on oil filters again?

besides a double gasketing installation fail there is not as much to go wrong.


A spin on double gasket fail led to a $12,000 Ecoboost fail in my Transit. Plus, you don't have to cut open a cartridge filter to see what's going on. I wonder how many FL400s FL500s Motorcraft/Purolator filters I've used over the years had tears in their pleats?

I'e been on Bitog awhile and have never seen someone post a failure like this, so there's not enough there to prosecute the type of filter.

 

[zrxkawboy]

I also vote for sending the pics to Fram tech support.

 

[badtlc]

Originally Posted by Rand
Also this makes me think.. what was wrong with spin-on oil filters again?

besides a double gasketing installation fail there is not as much to go wrong.


Top access cartridge filters are the best design I have seen. I much prefer it over anything else. So much less waste and much less to go wrong. Chrysler just needs to make the filter cap a little easier to access and it would be perfect.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by badtlc
Originally Posted by Rand
Also this makes me think.. what was wrong with spin-on oil filters again?

besides a double gasketing installation fail there is not as much to go wrong.


Top access cartridge filters are the best design I have seen. I much prefer it over anything else. So much less waste and much less to go wrong. Chrysler just needs to make the filter cap a little easier to access and it would be perfect.


The only problem top mounted cartridge filters is that if the filter housing is a separate part from the block the gasket in between can develop a leak.