Oil Filter Failure

[hohieu]

My 99 Subaru recently lost over 1 full quart of oil in approximately 500 miles. Until this point, it had consumed a quart per 6,500 miles. The cause turned out to be a leaky oil fillter but one like I've never seen. The can was badly corroded on the side facing the front of the car allowing oil to seep out and drip down the side of the can.

 

The fiilter in question is a Purolator PureOne PL14460 and was in service for 6 months/3K mles in Ann Arbor, MI. For those familiar with these filters, it was one of the new ones with textured coating -- good for easy gripping during installation but evidently not as effective at slowing corrosion as the painted cans.

 

Here are a couple of photos:

 

http://s759.photobucket.com/albums/xx234/Subieho/Purolator/

 

I had been using mostly Purolator Premium Plus filters on this car, which now has 151K miles on the odometer.

[Olnick]

That's upsetting to hear. I always thought of Purolator as a premier brand.

[Gsir08]

damn you mus tbe going a while with no oil change if that has to time to get that rusty.

[EVOthis]

Hmmm I dont think Ive ever seen any problems with Purolator oil filters....I can say when you tighten the painted oil filters don't use the oil filter wrench you use to loosen them fore they can strip the protective paint right off...Unless the oil filter wrench is lined of course...

[nipper]

When was the last oil change? I have never ever have an issue with purolator filters in 20 years. If i saw that in my shop i would think the filter hadnt been changed in a year.

 

Are you in a salt belt?

[Fairtax4me]

Michigan...

 

I don;t buy those filters with the "grip" paint on them. I'm not sure what the stuff is, but I bought one once and before I put it on the car I looked at the bare metal on top and little yellow bits of that sand were all over it, and all down inside the filter, all over the anti drain back valve, the rubber seal, the stuff was everywhere. I took it back and got a plain old white purolator.

 

Just something unsettling to me about visualizing little yellow grip paint sand particles floating around my engine through the bearings and across the cylinder walls like a mini roller coaster ride of engine death.

[hohieu]

I'm just relieved that the cause of the oil leak was not something more serious.

 

Normally, I change the oil in this car every 12K miles/12 months; hence, I was very surprised that this filter rusted through after only 6 months/3K miles of service, tough winter with heavy snowfall notwithstanding.

 

Hmmm I dont think Ive ever seen any problems with Purolator oil filters....I can say when you tighten the painted oil filters don't use the oil filter wrench you use to loosen them fore they can strip the protective paint right off...Unless the oil filter wrench is lined of course...

I've never had a problem with Purolator filters before this one. The benefit of this new "grip" paint is that you can hand tighten the filter-- no fiilter wrench needed for the installation -- but this benefit seems outweighed by this paint's poorer corrosion resistance.

 

Fairtax4me: I had the same misgivings about this filter with the "grip" paint, but they were included in oil package deals offered by a local retailer. When possible, I purchased the older PureOne filters, which were painted blue.

Edited March 12, 2010 by hohieu
typos

[The Dude]

I'm just relieved that the cause of the oil leak was not something for serious.

 

Normally, I change the oil in this car every 12K miles/12 months; hence, I was very surprised that this filter rusted through after only 6 months/3K miles of service, tough winter with heavy snowfall notwithstanding.

 

I've never had a problem with Purolator filters before this one. The benefit of this new "grip" paint is that you can hand tighten the filter-- no fiilter wrench needed for the installation -- but this benefit seems outweighted by the this paint' poorer corrosion resistance.

 

Fairtax4me: I had the same misgivings about this filter with the "grip" paint, but they were included in oil package deals offered by a local retailer. When possilbe, I puchased the older PureOne filters, which were painted blue.

 

 

There is no real benefit, because you are NOT supposed to tighten an oil filter with a filter wrench!!!! It 's usually tighten only by hand by "X" amount after the oil gasket seats. So, this is case of an "improvement" that has zero upside, and apparently, lots of downside. This is what hapens when you let the wonks in the marketing department run the company.

[hohieu]

There is no real benefit, because you are NOT supposed to tighten an oil filter with a filter wrench!!!!.

 

That's the theory in order to discourage overtightening, but when you have oil on a metal can and your hands, you need the wrench.

[idosubaru]

AH! at least you caught it and hopefully all is well.

 

this might not be the filters fault? rock, salt, debris, something scraping the oil filter could cause an easy access point for salt, water, and rust to set in.

 

if it was the filters fault i would still be lenient. there's no way to produce, package, ship, and sell a product without some percentage of risk. it's impossible....let us resist the urge to poke fun of toyota right now

 

if this happened to me once i wouldn't write them off. unless it was a FRAM, but i've already written them off

[northguy]

I made the mistake of putting a Fram on (it was all they had in the store). It had a pinhole in it. Thus, immense amounts of smoke and engine compartment mess. Never again.

[yodannyc]

I'm just relieved that the cause of the oil leak was not something more serious.

 

Normally, I change the oil in this car every 12K miles/12 months; hence, I was very surprised that this filter rusted through after only 6 months

 

wait... Am I reading this right?! You normally change your oil every 12k miles??? Dude... That is really bad. No wonder your car eats through oil, soon you'll be having worst issues then that if you continue with that habit...

[northguy]

wait... Am I reading this right?! You normally change your oil every 12k miles??? Dude... That is really bad. No wonder your car eats through oil, soon you'll be having worst issues then that if you continue with that habit...

What if he's using synthetic oil?

[nipper]

Thats still to many miles on oil. SUbaru says 7500 no matter what the oil is. I have yet to see the gas mileage increas on synthetic, but it does give me peace of mind on lots of short trips in winter. If you are going that many miles, you need to do a filter change at leats at 7500 miles. I dont care what the filter people say, as they try to make one filter fit as many cars as possible, so no two engines are alike in thier needs.

 

 

Replceing a PCV valve will help brunfing oil, but his oil consumption is not excessive.

[Fairtax4me]

Many synthetic motor oils are engineered to last up to a year under light duty driving before needing to be changed. Many European car makers now recommend 10-12k mile drain intervals with full synthetic oil. American makers are catching on. It won't be long before a 12 month oil change interval will be common place for every car on the road.

[yodannyc]

Sorry but I have to dissagree, I know first hand that the best oil is clean oil even if it is synthetic. I believe it was Chrysler that tried to say oil intervals were every 10,000miles with there synthetic and now they face a lot of law suits for peoples engines blowing up for dirty oil.

 

I change my oil every 2500 miles with dino oil and every 3500-4000 with synthetic. Think about the diffrence your car feels when you do an oil change... Obviously that mean something.

[2.5_IMP]

That's the theory in order to discourage overtightening, but when you have oil on a metal can and your hands, you need the wrench.

 

What is oil doing on your hands and the filter? Seriously, wipe it off with a rag. Even better, get some disposable nitrile gloves. An oil filter wrench isn't for tightening an oil filter, period.

 

Just use the OEM Subaru filters. If you find the right place to buy them from, they are the same price or cheaper than Fram/Wix/Purolator/whatever.

[hohieu]

AH! at least you caught it and hopefully all is well.

 

this might not be the filters fault? rock, salt, debris, something scraping the oil filter could cause an easy access point for salt, water, and rust to set in.

 

if it was the filters fault i would still be lenient. there's no way to produce, package, ship, and sell a product without some percentage of risk. it's impossible....let us resist the urge to poke fun of toyota right now

 

if this happened to me once i wouldn't write them off. unless it was a FRAM, but i've already written them off

 

Thanks grossgary, I just checked under the engine after a bit of driving and all IS well. I only lost a little over a quart so there was still over 3 quarts in the sump. Your other points are well taken, and I would not hesitate to use Purolator filters on any of my vehicles. I posted this thread only because I had never seen a filter fail in this manner.

 

Many synthetic motor oils are engineered to last up to a year under light duty driving before needing to be changed. Many European car makers now recommend 10-12k mile drain intervals with full synthetic oil. American makers are catching on. It won't be long before a 12 month oil change interval will be common place for every car on the road.

Word

 

It does depend on the application, but I feel that the displacement to sump volume ratio for these cars is pretty decent; hence, I have no problem running these longer intervals. This car has consumed 1 qt./6500 miles for the past 100K miles with this maintenance schedule.

 

Here are some photos I took when I adjusted the valves at 137K miles -- certainly no sludge problems:

 

http://s759.photobucket.com/albums/xx234/Subieho/Forester%20Valve%20Adjustment/

 

And Nipper, I know you've mentioned possible bottom end issues with these maintenance practices-- rod knock -- but unless I have an undetected blown head gasket dumping coolant into the oil sump, I don't anticipate this problem with this car. I suppose only time will tell.

 

Sorry but I have to dissagree, I know first hand that the best oil is clean oil even if it is synthetic. I believe it was Chrysler that tried to say oil intervals were every 10,000miles with there synthetic and now they face a lot of law suits for peoples engines blowing up for dirty oil.

 

I change my oil every 2500 miles with dino oil and every 3500-4000 with synthetic. Think about the diffrence your car feels when you do an oil change... Obviously that mean something.

 

It's okay that we disagree. I have no experience with these Chryslers nor do I know much about their issues. I will say, however, that the real benefit of more frequent oil changes is that someone looks at the underside of your car more frequently, thereby maximizing the probability of discovering a small problem (like my leaky oil filter) before it becomes a bigger more catastrophic one.

 

Also, my experience has been that my car "feels" no differently to me after an oil change.

 

What is oil doing on your hands and the filter? Seriously, wipe it off with a rag.

Uh...I haven't managed to remove the inverted oil filter from the car w/o getting oil on my hands.

 

Even better' date=' get some disposable nitrile gloves.[/quote'] Just didn't want to go through the hassle of changing gloves I started with.

 

An oil filter wrench isn't for tightening an oil filter' date=' period.[/quote'] Again, it's okay that we disagree on this one. I don't think it matters what you use so long as you don't overtorque the filter and/or deform the can in the process.

[forester2002s]

Sorry but I have to dissagree, I know first hand that the best oil is clean oil even if it is synthetic. I believe it was Chrysler that tried to say oil intervals were every 10,000miles with there synthetic and now they face a lot of law suits for peoples engines blowing up for dirty oil.

 

I change my oil every 2500 miles with dino oil and every 3500-4000 with synthetic. Think about the diffrence your car feels when you do an oil change... Obviously that mean something.

I agree 100%

[oldschool]

Only oem oil filters

[Fairtax4me]

Chrysler, Saab, Toyota, VW, and several others, all have major problems on their hands due to extended drain intervals which have lead to sludge buildup in their engines. That's nothing new, it has been going on since the early 90's. But I can promise you all of those cases were due to extended intervals using conventional oil, or were due to improper or complete lack of changes. Yes synthetic oil will eventually break down and lead to sludge, all oil does. But synthetic oils are full of so many detergents it takes about 15k - 20k miles for even the cheap stuff to get to that point. High quality oils such as Amsoil or Mobil 1 can go for 25k plus and still be capable of 10k more, depending on application, before the oil breaks down to the point where it needs to be changed.

[The Dude]

Chrysler, Saab, Toyota, VW, and several others, all have major problems on their hands due to extended drain intervals which have lead to sludge buildup in their engines. That's nothing new, it has been going on since the early 90's. But I can promise you all of those cases were due to extended intervals using conventional oil, or were due to improper or complete lack of changes. Yes synthetic oil will eventually break down and lead to sludge, all oil does. But synthetic oils are full of so many detergents it takes about 15k - 20k miles for even the cheap stuff to get to that point. High quality oils such as Amsoil or Mobil 1 can go for 25k plus and still be capable of 10k more, depending on application, before the oil breaks down to the point where it needs to be changed.

 

I don't accept the idea of any motor oil having a useful life of 35K miles. But for sake of arguement, let's say that I do. Ultra-long oil intervals call for special two stage oil filtration systems. Also, periodic oil testing along with other special measures. If you want to put your Subaru on the extended oil change interval of an 18 wheeler, then you have do to all the rest of the stuff that goes along with it.

My life is full enough already. I change the oil every 5K miles, and call it good. It's a car, not my soulmate.

[2.5_IMP]

Uh...I haven't managed to remove the inverted oil filter from the car w/o getting oil on my hands.

 

Just didn't want to go through the hassle of changing gloves I started with.

 

Again, it's okay that we disagree on this one. I don't think it matters what you use so long as you don't overtorque the filter and/or deform the can in the process.

 

So use a rag to wipe the oil off your gloves before you grab the new filter. No reason the new filter should be covered with oil.

 

If changing gloves is a "hassle", I imagine an oil change must be an unbearable crushing burden. If changing gloves is too much of a bother, wipe them on a rag.

 

Sure, use an oil fliter wrench if you want, but you don't need it.

[OB99W]

I may regret asking...

 

[...] Just use the OEM Subaru filters. [...]

Only oem oil filters

 

...but why do either of you favor a Fram filter (that's painted blue)?

 

When the OEM ones were Tokyo Roki, I used only those. Once Subaru switched, so did I -- to Purolator Classic. So far, no problem (other than the cup-type filter wrench that fit the Tokyo Roki doesn't fit the Purolator).

 

As to filters rusting through, I've had it happen to the external ATF filter on the 4EAT -- road salt will do that.

[nipper]

I may regret asking...

 

 

 

...but why do either of you favor a Fram filter (that's painted blue)?

 

When the OEM ones were Tokyo Roki, I used only those. Once Subaru switched, so did I -- to Purolator Classic. So far, no problem (other than the cup-type filter wrench that fit the Tokyo Roki doesn't fit the Purolator).

 

As to filters rusting through, I've had it happen to the external ATF filter on the 4EAT -- road salt will do that.

 

The ATF filters I can see that happening as they have a very long interval.

 

Fram is junk really, unless your using a very short oil change interval, but I would never use one.