Other Styles of Oil Filters

The focus of my evaluation is Motorcraft FL-820S and equivalent filters. What about filters for other applications? As I have occasion to obtain other types off filters I plan to cut them open and add them to this page. I am not going to make measurements or cut apart the filter elements (they are all used, and cutting the media would be messy). I am just going to include pictures of the components to illustrate other filter designs. If someone wants more information on any particular sample, send me an email (ed_white@mindspring.com) and I'll try to accommodate your request.

This filter was removed from a 2006 Nissan Frontier after about 5000 miles of use. It is a small but very well made filter of "conventional" construction. I suspect that it is a Japanese manufactured Denso filter. The base gasket is identical to the "torque stopper" gasket on the Denso 150-1014 Filter I evaluated. The filter has a silicone anti-drain back valve and a dome end relief valve. I'd rate the quality of construction of this filter with the top US made filters.

A reader of this site alerted me that new versions of the Nissan 15208-9E000 Filter were now being made in China (as opposed to the original versions that were made in Japan). I cut open a China made filter to see if there was any significant difference. In my opinion, the China made filter is equivalent to the Japan made filter. The China made filter was slightly heavier, likely due to a slightly thicker can. I cannot confirm that the filter media is the same without specialized equipment. However, it appears the same. I have no concerns related to using the China made filters.

This filter was removed from a 2004 Honda Accord 4 cylinder after about 5000 miles of use. This filter is also listed as fitting my 2006 Nissan Frontier. It is a Wix made filter. It is not a bad filter, but it has a nitrile anti-drain back valve. This is a mid quality filter.

This filter was removed from a Ford (New Holland) 7710 Farm Tractor. The engine in this tractor is a turbocharged 270 cid four cylinder diesel engine. At the time this filter was removed it had been on the tractor for around 150 hours (think 5000 miles). The tractor is over 25 years old and had over 5900 hours (think 200,000 miles) on the engine when this filter was removed. We have used nothing but OEM filters and conventional 15W40 oil for this tractor (mostly Texaco Ursa).

The filter is just a large version of a typical automotive filter. It has a nitrile anti-drain back valve and a top mounted relief valve. I suspect this is a Champion Labs filter (there is a thread size designation stamped into the base - a Champion Labs characteristic). It is a very well made filter, but nothing out of the ordinary.

This filter was removed from a new 2007 Toyota RAV4 I-4 engine at the first oil change (3000 miles).

This is a very unusual filter with unique media. The media appears to be molded around the inner core out of some sort of hard but porous material. The inner core appears to be an elaborate plastic molding with channels radiating out from the center to support the media. I wish I had some idea of how efficient this media is. It certainly was ugly.

The base gasket was a "torque stopper" type gasket, identical in cross section to the gasket on after market Denso filters. Unlike the after market versions, it was silicone and held to the base by several small brackets riveted around the base. The base appeared to be a casting instead of a stamping as used by all the other filters I have evaluated. The relief valve was on the dome end and used a spring like the Purolator filters. The anti-drain back valve was silicone.

The construction is of high quality, but I wonder about the media. It is really weird. It is a Denso manufactured filter and made in Japan. It is available from http://www.mcgeorgeparts.com/PD-90915-10004.aspx for around $8.

I was so impressed with the OE Toyota filter that was installed on the 2007 four cylinder RAV4 engine that I decided I should use genuine Toyota filters on this engine in the future. After a little Internet shopping, I found genuine Toyota filters for a very good price ($3.50 each) and ordered several. I decided to sacrifice one to see how it compared to the OE filter.

Surprisingly this filter is nothing like the original equipment Toyota P/N 90915-10004 filter I removed from the RAV4 at the first oil change. It reminds me of the current Champion Laboratories or FRAM low cost filters. I rate it behind the Purolator PureOne filter I installed when I changed the RAV4’s oil for the first time. I suppose it must be adequate for the job, but it looks like a design where cost was the top priority. I particularly dislike the relief valve, the nitrile anti-drain back valve, and the poorly sealed upper end cap. It was suggested to me that the anti-drain back valve was not nitrile becasue it remained flexible at low temperatures. I suspect that it is nitrile. Nitrile is a type of synthetic rubber and the properties can be altered by choosing a particular formulation.

This filter is cheaper than a Purolator PureOne for this application, so it might be worth considering if you change your oil more frequently than 5000 miles.

This filter came off of a 2007 four cylinder RAV4 at the second oil change (4600 miles on the filter, around 7800 on the engine). It is a well made conventional filter with a silicone anti-drain back valve and base gasket. I'd rate it well ahead of the Toyota 90915-YZZF1 Oil Filter. I don't know where it fits relative to the OE Toyota P/N 90915-10004 Oil Filter. The 90915-10004 Filter is so different from conventional filters that any comparison made without the use of dedicated filter test equipment would be worthless. The Purolator PL14477 Filter can be purchased for around $6. This falls in between the Toyota 90915-10004 and 90915-YZZF1 Filters. If you are changing your oils at the recommended 5000 mile intervals, I feel this filter is a better choice than the Toyota 90915-YZZF1 Oil Filter. Whether or not the 90915-10004 filter is worth $2 bucks more than the Purolator is an open question.

This filter was recently removed from a 1997 Honda Civic 1.6L four cylinder engine. The vehicle has around 130,000 miles showing on the odometer. The filter was on the car for approximately 7500 miles. This Wix filter is noteworthy because it includes a separate relief valve installed on the base end of the filter between the anti-drain back valve and the filter element. I found it interesting that Wix chooses to include this feature on a filter intended for Hondas, while using a dome end relief valve on their FL-820S equivalent filter (in contrast to Motorcraft which includes a base end relief valve in the FL-820S). I was surprised that there was no seal between the relief valve and the filter element. Unfiltered oil can leak through this joint, although this may not be significant. Otherwise the filter was well made and was much larger than the filters used on the Toyota RAV4 I-4 or the Nissan Frontier V-6 (see above).

This filter was recently removed from a Kubota M4700 Diesel Tractor. The tractor has around 850 hours (think 30,000 miles)showing on the hourmeter. The filter was on the car for approximately 128 hours (think 4,500 miles). Although Kubota is a Japanese company, this filter was made in the USA. I beleive it was actaully manufactured by Wix. It is a conventional filter with nothing that deserves special mention.

This is a Mexican produced version of the Motorcraft FL-400 Filter. It appears to be very similar in construction to the Mexican produced MFL-820. The constrcution looks typical of other Ford filters. Unfortunately it appears to have a nitrile anti-drain back valve (but it is very soft). This filter was donated to me. It was purchased from the Auto Barn. When purchased in cases of 12, it costs $3.45 each.

For application where the silicone anti-drain back valve is not needed, I see no reason not to use this filter in place of a FL-400S.