? on oil fitters....
 

I own two GM vehicles and use AC Delco oil filters. My ?. Is there a difference
in the material/quality if you buy them at Wally Word or parts store like Advance?
Are should I buy another brand, if so what kind would you buy and what brand.

Thanks for your replies up front. FrankChastain

Re: ? on oil fitters....
 

I stopped using AC filters when they went from steel mesh to plastic mesh inside.
For my GMC Diesel I use top of the line Fram.
For the race car K&N, Wix or Napa gold

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Check this out:

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oil.../opinions.html

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Unfortunately, AC/Delco has been using the lowest bidder to make a lot of their oil filters. There was a time when an AC/Delco filter was a good piece. The only filter they make now that can be trusted is the PF 2232, for the DuraMax. It fits a big block and a small block Chevy as well, it is the same size as the PF35. It's the only filter they make that has the steel tube inside and good quality materials. Most of the rest of their line is "hit or miss" at best. For the price of the PF 2232, you might as well just by a K&N.

I've had the PF 35 and the PF 1218 fail internally, much like the Fram filters, causing a significant loss of oil pressure and volume. Changing the filter brought about an instant return in pressure and volume. I used to use the PF 1218 on everything. Now I just use a K&N.

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I lost 2 engines due to oil filters collapsing. Now I would not run any throw away filters on the race car. I use the System One filter. Works great. Easy to clean. Easy to check for any problems in the engine. Do not use AC delco.

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For 8 years I made Aftermarket parts ,let me give you a little info.When I worked for United Technologies, I worked in a department that made the Ford Starter Solenoids ( the Black ones mounted on the inner fenders back then).We made 8800 of them a shift. There were 125 people working in that department. 120 women assemblers, 2 Maintenance men, and 3 Material Handlers. We had two lines running down through the department. One was a Ford line,the other the " Aftermarket " line. They were identical,sort of. All the new equipment, as it came in,was put on the Ford line.Then the used Ford pieces got taken over and put on the aftermarket line. The "test sets" that tested the finished parts were allowed to be set to a little lower standard on the aftermarket line. Not that we were suppose to be doing that, but we could get away with it . Ford kept too close a watch on us, All the rejected washers,plungers,coils, and springs etc and such that were unusable were taken off the Ford lines and put over on the aftermarket line.They would be ok to be used and would pass through the test sets, but for whatever reason they were inferior when compared to the Quality Control Print. Might just be a cosmetic thing.There IS a difference in the parts, but you can't tell it by the surface.They look identical, but their not

Re: ? on oil fitters....
 

I used to manage an AC Delco parts store for almost 10 years.(from 1994 - 2004). I also worked for jobber stores who sold Fram and Wix. I have personally had a Fram filter fail on my own Chevy V8 engine in my race car. I have never had any issues with an AC Delco oil filter and can't recall any customer issues either. Most recently I sold Wix mainly while I worked for Napa. (the last 7 years). The quality of Fram has definetely deteriorated once they started being distributed by big box stores. AC Delco used to be a decent filter and whether you bought it at a dealership or at Walmart is was the same filter. Wix seems to be a good product especially the Gold series. The Wix Racing series is a stout piece but it is not available for a whole lot of engines. Presently I use Wix gold series on my bracket race 600 hp Monza. I would not recommenend a Fram to anyone,at least not the entry level orange filter. A friend uses and loves the K&N filters on his low 10 second SB Chevy Camaro. On my daily driver Suburban I use AC Delco because I bought cases of them years ago, the PF1218 and have been satisfied. Ac Delco used to be mfd by Champion Labatories (Luberfiner) at least in Canada.(our filters were white in colour while the USA versions were blue).

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Thanks guys for the comments. One reason I posted was I have noticed on my wife's TrailBlazer, straight line six, is sometimes you hear a nock or bump when you start the car up, not it the morning, but other times. As I understand there is a valve, in the filter, that keeps oil from draining out of the block so to have oil in the block for start ups. This is what I understand. The engine never did this until about 3 or 4 changes ago. I change the oil and filter every 3000 miles. Please correct me if wrong.....and again thanks..frankchastain

Please keep in mind this is a personal use car.....

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You are referring to the bypass valve.
Each car manufacturer has a specific setting for the bypass valve based on the engine design.
The worst offender of any oil filter is Fram; I stay away from them.
The best built and design oil filters are Wix (NAPA brand), Baldwin, Hastings and Amsoil.

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Anti drain back valve,allegedly developed to correct the infamous cold piston slap in millions of GM 3.1 litres back in the early 1990's.

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All I will use is Wix.

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Frank,

Thank you for starting this thread, oil filters are very essential to all of our vehicles.

My feelings are this, I have to maintain my truck, the wife's Jeep, the race car, one collector car, a compact tractor, a riding lawn mower, a chain saw and weedeater. Filters alone are tough to find in many of the "low cost" stores. I use a local automotive parts house that can get ALL of my filters, plugs, and many other maintenance related items. They used to carry Wix and I really liked them, but have recently switched to Hastings as their preffered brand. Just a general feeling it is not quite the filter, but I have seen no serious issues yet. After doing this for several years they know me by name and I can call and order the parts in advance to pick up as needed. It runs slightly more for the total, but I make one trip and get everything at one time. I also like helping my local parts house stay in business. Just my thoughts.

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Re: ? on oil fitters....
 

I work for the City of Los Angeles Fleet Services, for 26 years now. We service 1400 vehicles belonging to the City Hall pool, trucks and vans belonging to all kinds of departments,each vehicle gets into the shop twice a year, 6 months, 4000 miles,which ever comes up first.We started using Wix filters about 22 years ago, and to my knowledge,we never had a filter related issue.We get deliveries of sometimes 20 cases of filters every two weeks or so, so we're talking about thousands of filters annually. I used to use an over the counter Fram filter on my cars, truck, and race car, but had a bad experience with one. Tony Janes wanted to try an engine that he had in my Chevelle, so two weeks before Winternationals, I pulled my engine, bolted his in, changed the oil and filter, and we tested at Irwindale. After a few runs, I noticed about 20 PSI at idle, and it dropped with RPM. We took the car home, I pulled the engine, replaced the oil pump, put fresh oil in it, same problem. Chuck Norton advised me to get rid of that filter,I did, problem fixed.The internal support for the filter paper collapsed, blocking its flow. I've used AC Delco ever since, but now it looks like Napa or Wix gets the nod. Hope these companies get the message that bad goods results in future corporate failure after the bad reputation starts.

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Hastings/Baldwin manufacture some of the best filters in the market. All their filters, including the ones for general automotive use, are built to SAE and MIL-SPEC.

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Thanks SSDiv6,

My parts house has always had a reputation of offering the finest quality replacement parts. Looks like I trust them and they are right again. I appreciate the info.

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would you please list who sales them and are they listed as Hastings/Baldwin? thanks frank

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Frank, go to the Hastings or Baldwin website and you can find the resellers in your area by typing your Zip Code.

http://www.hastingsfilter.com/

www.baldwinfilter.com/

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Thanks.....