Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Why?

Just wonder why when listing pn#'s for the oil filters why Fram hasn't been listed. Seen a few remarks about some not using them, or disliking them. But no reasons have been stated. I've used Fram for last 40 yrs about 80% of the time, in lawn mowers, motorcycles up to including heavy off road equipment. In that time I have had only one fail due to a manufacture defect. I've had fleet vehicles go in an excess of 200,000 miles. I used the other name brand & not so name brand filters & had failures with them also. I know all filters are not constructed the same, I read that Pure One was rated the highest in recent test, so was Wix.

I know that using a certain brand of filter is based on personal expernce with said brand.
Just wonder what the reasons are for not using certain brands.
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Have a safe holiday. Keep the rubber side down.
Carl

I've never seen a Fram filter get high marks on those sites that cut open oil filters. Here's one for a Fram Extra Guard:

"This filter cartridge has a small outside diameter with a rather low filter element surface area (193 sqin), and features cardboard end caps that are glued in place. The rubber anti-drainback valve seals the rough metal backplate to the cardboard end cap and easily leaks, causing dirty oil to drain back into the pan. If you have a noisy valve train at startup, this filter is likely the cause. The bypass valves are plastic and are sometimes not molded correctly, which allows them to leak. The backplate has smaller and fewer oil inlet holes, which may restrict flow."

That doesn't sound like something I'd want on my bike.

well, I can tell you one thing. The oil REALLY is the lifeblood in this engine. While you might get away with abusing the engine (via dirty oil) in other engines, I would be hesitant here. The Cams and Crank are both seated directly in aluminun, no bearing races or journals. Which means if you do have a less than satisfactory filter, if it is letting dirty oil back into the engine, your engine may fail prematurely. This means replacing either the entire head (since the bearing journals are machined directly into the head) or the lower end, or perhaps both!!!! I'll spend the extra money on a K&N...

A long thread on Chopperweb.com tells of a guy using a Fram filter on his new chopper only to find the engine self-destructed at 50 miles. Traced the problem back to the Fram filter. My SM only gets the best products available.

I was looking at my manual and I think the top end is seated in aluminum. The bottom end uses bearing shells. I always disliked the top end not having bearing shells, plus I don't believe the valve seats can be replaced. Therefore, you have to "renew" the head if anything is out of tolerance.

I agree as well, every thing I've read comparing Fram filters seem to indicate a very cheap product. Local Dodge dealer friend of mine, says when cars come in with major engine damage due to filter failure, usually it's a fram with the cardboard blown out.

How do the K&N filters stack up?

Jay

Fram has never been known as a good filter. Maybe their racing filters are ok, but most Fram filters are all paper and cardboard on the inside. Probably the best oil filter out there is the Amsoil filters followed by Hastings filters. When you buy a $4 or $5 dollar filter don't expect much out of it. Sometimes it is true that you do get what you pay for.

The only time I have used a Fram filter is when I need to flush a engine out. I will put a cheap Fram filter on the engine, add flush to the engine, and then run the engine for 20 to 30 minutes. Then I change the oil and filter and use the good stuff.

Tom