New (dirty) oil filters?

[chmurphy]

Been doing oil changes for the last 10 years and just in the past year I notice sometimes oil filters are dusty right out of the box. Is this normal?

This is a new wix filter:

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and after wiping it with a towel:

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and some of what is on the towel is magnetic.


Am i being a worrywart ?

 

[bucket]

I've bought filters that were dusty, assuming it to be from flopping around in the cardboard box. I've not had any problems from it, at least that I'm aware of.

 

[chmurphy]

in case anyone else was curious, i researched a bit more and found a lot of people saying its normal machining residue (oil/shavings) and it seems they just wipe the filter off and wipe the threads.

 

[Memaloose]

I wouldn't be concerned. What you do is fine, at least you look. I've seen faulty filters over the years, very rare though, good eye!

 

[chmurphy]

Out of curiosity I emailed WiX about this and they called me.

They informed me that they don't have overspray :

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And they also said for the light duty platforms they used rolled threads, which these filters have cut threads, I even cut myself wiping them down.

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I'm planning on going to orilies and check one of their wix filters on the shelf to see if the threads are rolled and to check if there is overspray. Definitely going to be inspecting oil filters from now on.

 

[rt66paul]

Do you suspect counterfeit oil filters? Where did you buy it?

 

[Raider L]

I buy Fram filters and have never seen anything whatsoever on a new filter but clean, clean, clean. And I don't care how they make the threads so long as it screws on without galling and comes off without galling. I've never had any problems from a Fram filter. And yeah, yeah, there is a lot of positive and negative info on oil filters out there. I use what I use because I've never had any problems from the filter I use, that's all.

I'm getting a feeling about what @rt66paul said. Take a good close look at the box the filter came out of. Go around to different stores and take the box for that one you got that has the stuff on it, and compare boxes. You might be surprised if you find a difference in boxes. It looks like some very sloppy and dirty manufacturing. If it looks like that on the outside, what does it look like on the inside? Cut that sucker open and take a look.

 

[chmurphy]

I was hoping I got some counterfeit filters but I went and got a filter from orilies and its even worse. I googled 'wix filter overspray' and i'm not the only guy that sees this stuff. Apparently when WiX was sold they moved manufacturing to Mexico and this is what we get.

Regarding the possibility of getting counterfeit product, I cant imagine anyone is trying to counterfeit a 'made in mexico' oil filter but anything is possible.

overspray on base plate:

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And a glitter bomb of metal shavings:

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[Raider L]

@chmurphy,

Holy crapola!! Man do no put that filthy thing on your truck whatever you do!! I know you won't but my god! I've never seen anything like that on the Fram filters I buy from Walmart, never. I always look just to make sure it's clean. But in no way am I looking for anything like that stuff because I've never seen paint, dirt, chips, metal dust or any of that stuff. I just look inside the filter.

Take that thing back and show them what you've found. And tell them you are finding it in their filters. They will log a warning to the company to be aware these filters coming out of Mexico are bad. Companies don't want to have a situation come from lawsuits from consumers with damaged engines, because there's little to no quality control down there. So the company will stop this. You really need to act on this.

You can do something here to protect the rest of us from shoddy workmanship and bad products coming out of Mexico.

 

[Corvette Ed]

After hearing stories about Fram oil filters collapsing for years,we actually had one collapse about 60 miles after an oil change.

 

[Raider L]

@Corvette Ed,

Yeah, I've gone on these sites that show you the differences between oil filters and which ones are better. And then they cut the filters open to show you the better filter element and which ones are doing a better job and whatnot, and Fram is at the bottom of the lists. I think the site may have been sponsored by Wix or one of those. Haven't you seen those sites looking for a good oil filter? I don't know why I use Fram, I think it goes back to when I owned a couple of my first cars, and I just picked it and it seemed to be doing a good job, as well as any other. Sometimes it's cost, sometimes it's whatever is available where I'm at at the time, out on the back roads and stop in somewhere. I know that's not caring much for the thousands of dollars of investment I have in this custom truck you'd think something as important as oil filtration would hold a higher priority with me than it does.

Some of it is how far I'd have to drive to get some special filter and many times being poor I couldn't afford to drive that far to get a oil filter. So I bought what was available at the nearest place to save gas. And that drives a lot of what I do....cost... to get to where this stuff is, and how much it is. Is Fram cheap? No, it's a little more than others. So I'm not trying to save money there. If I was I'd be getting some Chinese knock off for a buck. I don't want to do that. And filters like Royal Purple, is probably the most expensive or some other high end kinds. But I don't really know where to go to get these high end filters, probably because I haven't bothered to look for them. It all boils down to cost, and here I'm endangering my engine due to laziness and don't want to spend the money to keep from grenading my motor? I don't know. I've been using Fram for decades and nothing bad has ever happened so that's the one I use.

 

[Raider L]

How can you tell the filter has collapsed? What does it feel like? Is there some kind of terrible sound that happens?

 

[Turbo4whl]

So the scout camp ranger does a service on the camp's backhoe. When I'm down at camp the next weekend he asked me to look at it, the diesel engine will not run.

After fussing with it a little, realize it's not getting fuel. Trying to prime, etc, pulled off the brand new Wix fuel filter. Replaced it with another new Wix, fixed.

I really wanted to cut it open and see what was clogging it, but did not get a chance. I think it would be great if some of the replacement parts were still made in this country.

 

[FireTruck1984]

I only use NAPA Gold filters on my trucks, never any quality issues and haven’t found any shavings or debris.

 

[Octane]

@Corvette Ed,

Yeah, I've gone on these sites that show you the differences between oil filters and which ones are better. And then they cut the filters open to show you the better filter element and which ones are doing a better job and whatnot, and Fram is at the bottom of the lists. I think the site may have been sponsored by Wix or one of those. Haven't you seen those sites looking for a good oil filter? I don't know why I use Fram, I think it goes back to when I owned a couple of my first cars, and I just picked it and it seemed to be doing a good job, as well as any other. Sometimes it's cost, sometimes it's whatever is available where I'm at at the time, out on the back roads and stop in somewhere. I know that's not caring much for the thousands of dollars of investment I have in this custom truck you'd think something as important as oil filtration would hold a higher priority with me than it does.

Some of it is how far I'd have to drive to get some special filter and many times being poor I couldn't afford to drive that far to get a oil filter. So I bought what was available at the nearest place to save gas. And that drives a lot of what I do....cost... to get to where this stuff is, and how much it is. Is Fram cheap? No, it's a little more than others. So I'm not trying to save money there. If I was I'd be getting some Chinese knock off for a buck. I don't want to do that. And filters like Royal Purple, is probably the most expensive or some other high end kinds. But I don't really know where to go to get these high end filters, probably because I haven't bothered to look for them. It all boils down to cost, and here I'm endangering my engine due to laziness and don't want to spend the money to keep from grenading my motor? I don't know. I've been using Fram for decades and nothing bad has ever happened so that's the one I use.

I've used simple fram oil filters since the 1970s and never had a problem on none of the many vehicles I've owned.But as my uncle used to say....if it costs more then it must be more better.lol