I've been curious for a while, but what type of oil/filter combo do you use in your ecos? I've been using mobil 1 5W30 in my ecotec, with the standard STP filter you can get from autozone. Im switching over to valvoline synpower 5W30 (cheaper than mobil 1) . Is the STP filter good to run with synthetic oil, or should I be using something better? theres like a $7 difference between the STP regular and the Fram 3x... Just curious if there is any merit to the differences in price? I know there isnt a huge difference between the synthetics, but the more I read, the more I see that the filter can be as important as the oil itself...
Stick with Mobil 1 and the AC Delco filters (or the Mobil 1 filters when they're on sale together)
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
I use whatever synthetic oil is on sale and nothing but a purolator pure one filter (it is the most effecient of all the filters at 99.9
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Dan
I personally like to use Purolator PureONEs, Bosch Distanceplus (Same as PureONE but with better media), and NAPA Gold (made by wix). Fram Xtendedguards are very, very good, but a little expensive. Stay far away from Fram Extraguard, and Toughgard. They are khrap. Mobil 1 and K&N are basically the same, but the Mobil 1 has higher efficiency. I actually bought a few weeks ago a Bosch Distanceplus and 5qts of Castrol Edge 5W-20 from Advance for $26 with the sale.
So it really depends on availability for you. ACDelco filters, some of them are Ecore filters (Plastic cage and felt endcaps) instead of the tried and true Metal tube and metal endcaps. They are prone to failure, I've seen quite a few catastrophically failed over on BITOG. Same goes for the STP filters, and quite a few of the Supertech filters from Walmart. So Purolator PureONE, Bosch Distanceplus, NAPA Gold are your best bet. Mobil 1 is next, but they are a bit too expensive for my liking, same for the Fram XG.
Rich Grayo Jr. wrote:a bit of light reading. educate yourselves and don't get ripped off.
awesome, awesome link, lots of valuable info. Thanks!
K&N
It's worth the money just to be able to forget what a pain an oil filter wrench is.
Don't buy Fram. Not even the higher end stuff.
You can't be sure you are getting a consistent product. The only thing Fram does well is advertise.
For oil, I have cases upon cases of conventional 5w-30 that I acquired for free [more money for filter!]
If I used synthetic... probably Mobil 1
IMO a gallon of house-brand oil + an expensive-QUALITY filter is far better than nice Syn oil with a garbage soup can, paper filter.
Mike Steezenberg wrote:K&N
It's worth the money just to be able to forget what a pain an oil filter wrench is.
if you're putting a filter on so tight you need a wrench to get it off, you've put it on too tight, or have tiny hands. the rest of your post i agree with 100%.
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Purolater filter and Rotella 5w40 synthetic in my 04 ecotec.
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Mike Steezenberg wrote:K&N
It's worth the money just to be able to forget what a pain an oil filter wrench is.
.
The oil filter is one of my favorite parts of the ecotec design compared to the LD9 and especially the 2200.
For those that dont know...nice location next to the intake manifold, pretty easy to reach. Its a cartridge filter so it has its own housing built into the block. Filter snaps into the housing cap...no need for goofy filter wrenches and no bending over and reaching down deep into the engine bay.
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Rich Grayo Jr. wrote:Mike Steezenberg wrote:K&N
It's worth the money just to be able to forget what a pain an oil filter wrench is.
if you're putting a filter on so tight you need a wrench to get it off, you've put it on too tight, or have tiny hands. the rest of your post i agree with 100%.
Very true, over-tightening is all to common making that useless tool exist.
And since its not a fram
with the fancy grip, it can be slippery, a 1" wrench makes light work of it.
Ronin J wrote:Mike Steezenberg wrote:K&N
It's worth the money just to be able to forget what a pain an oil filter wrench is.
.
The oil filter is one of my favorite parts of the ecotec design compared to the LD9 and especially the 2200.
For those that dont know...nice location next to the intake manifold, pretty easy to reach. Its a cartridge filter so it has its own housing built into the block. Filter snaps into the housing cap...no need for goofy filter wrenches and no bending over and reaching down deep into the engine bay.
My bad, the first time around I read the OP's words as "what oil/filter combo are you using on your
econos "...haha
As in the class of car.. well you know what I mean
I like the idea of a cartridge filter, you can inspect the filter media and construction a lot easier and without ruining it.
Also for off-road and even DD vehicles, less chance of busting a hole in the canister, or completely off, and locking your engine.
Oh, I didn't realize it was an ecotec. Duh. Anyway, in that case go with FRAM. Purolator cartridge filters are pretty bad, FRAMs are made by someone else and are very high quality.
ultimately its how you take care of the car as a whole not which brand filter you use, you can use the same filter for 10,000 miles without a problem if you change the oil early, and if you change it often enough you could bypass it altogether haha, but seriously frams are old school they know what they are doing, and purolator is the ORIGINAL filter they were the first in the game very trusted, mobile one is the same way, k&n well everyone knows k&n can be trusted, o and royal purple makes very very good filters-horsepower t.v. did a special on them a monthe or two ago, I honestly would say without a bias opinion any of these so long as they are not the base line filter are all out the same producing 99.7-99.9% efficency down to .02micron sized debree, and O yeah by the way, I have ALWAYS used fram extra guard(orange baseline), or mobile one filter with synthetic oil and I get mileage out of cars people cannot believe 1994 S10(sold) v6-240,000-runs like its new had it since 50k, 1998 chevrolet lumina(still have) 3.8L v6-180,000,runs perfect tons of power had it since 40k, 1998 GMC safari(still have) 4.3 v6 awd-180,000,headgasket is on its way out and plug #3 pops out of head every now and then had it since 45k, 1995 cavalier z24(still have) 2.3L-170,000 before motor spun bearing, so i'm not sure why everyone is running into problems with the fram filter, as long as you don't abuse, or negate to change your oil your car should last a long time with routine maintenance, don't get me wrong I beat the hell outta my s10 doin burnouts and the cav and lumina flyin around the hifghway and backstreets-dirt as well, you just gotta take care of them
I've always used Fram filters and never had a problem. We use Fram Tough Guard and Castrol Syntec in the Saturn.
HDRacing wrote:you can use the same filter for 10,000 miles without a problem if you change the oil early, and if you change it often enough you could bypass it altogether haha
no. just no. filters don't work that way. after 3000 miles (give or take) the filter will be clogged enough to not let oil pass through the filtering media, and will begin running UNFILTERED OIL through the bypass valve.
also:
HDRacing wrote:but seriously frams are old school they know what they are doing
yeah, they did. but back when Allied Signal (haven't heard that name in 10+ years eh?) was bought by Honeywell in 1999, they went down the drain.
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well damn that is an old name, forgot they used to own it, huh, i've let my oil go on several occasions to 10k+ between changes and for whatever reason, wheather it be because i lucked out in one way or another, but i swear that s10 had still clean oil and no 'bits n pieces' fall when drained it was truely amazing..well to me anyway, some people might not find that so exciting, my biggest point is that a filter for the most part is a filter, and the real benefit is from good clean oil, and maintained motor.
So here we are. FRAM filters have been made exactly the same way since the 70s. You would still take cardboard filters over metal ones? I don't get it. You would pay the same price, or more, for a filter made of PAPER than one with METAL endcaps. FRAM anti-drainback valves suck, they don't work 90% of the time. Can you say dry-starts? Whatever, your engine. But If you say that a filter is clogged after only 3,000 miles, no, just no. You can run a good filter for 15,000 miles and be perfectly fine. Thought it would be best if you used an extended drain filter, such as Mobil 1, FRAM Extendedguard, Bosch Distanceplus etc.
HDRacing wrote: i've let my oil go on several occasions to 10k+ between changes
Yikes.. I try to never let mine go past 5000 km (3125 miles) as recommended by the folks who designed my engine
On conventional oil that is, synthetic is another story.
HDRacing wrote: and for whatever reason, wheather it be because i lucked out in one way or another, but i swear that s10 had still clean oil and no 'bits n pieces' fall when drained it was truely amazing..well to me anyway, some people might not find that so exciting,
Oil is supposed to be dirty, it suspends the inevitably occurring impurities in your engine within itself.
Then Ideally the impurities are taken to the filter and hopefully contained in it, until it is replaced.
If "bits and pieces" come out of the oil pan, you have had a catastrophic failure, metal SHAVINGS are bad news...
HDRacing wrote: my biggest point is that a filter for the most part is a filter
Yes a filter is a filter...and also a *hugely* important part of your engine.
HDRacing wrote: the real benefit is from good clean oil and maintained motor.
Umm....is that not EXACTLY.. what frequent, quality filter changes would accomplish??
so nick you reference fram as good, then dis on fram, but then reference a fram as being good?? all the new filters are made out of some kind of filter media, either synthetic or paper, the ends of all filters are metal or plastic(bakolite), not paper caps, thats the filter media, and to be honest yeah i'll take a synthetic paper type media over metal, like I said i've been getting hundreds of thousands of miles off factory motors without replacing any internals, or headgaskets. this is my experience and i'm putting it out there with any other knowlege I may have. Mike no pieces were ever in my oil, i'm referencing the drain out from a filter while its hot when you pull it off the motor, puncture and drain it(i'm sorry i didn't say anything about that yesterday). without puncturing it most all of the of the time there is a sludge, kinda chunky texture, not just in my cars, but in customer cars as well, it just happens as you said inevidable metal shavings and sludge build up. yeah metal shavings, every motor sheds microscopic and sometime larger bits you maybe able to see if you look closely, and some even bigger in neglected or abused motors. yeah always synthetic, i've basically lost faith, no bad wording...interest in conventional oil. synthetic offers so much more lubrication, heat transfer, thermal protection, life, ect. No mike quality OIL and routine maintenance will accomplish that. I am curious though as i write this as to how many ppl have actually seen/tested/looked at the innards of their dirty filters, or even pulled apart a new one first hand, no pictures?. point being made is that: $3 to $4 is usually how much i pay for a filter (fram ph series) if i buy one without an oil change special from advanced, if there is a synthetic special then its usually mobile 1 or k&n sometimes purolator, but i refuse to buy a high priced filter because a company claims its a performance filter and its going to make some big fairy tale difference, adn extend your engine life. honestly I don't get more power from different filters, nor does it seem to extend engine life-reference my s-10. dude RBS9009 don't waist $ on empty promises, it only leads to disappointment, but hopefully somewhere in here you got your answers.
HDRacing, there is actually reason to the madness. The standard FRAM orange can, and Toughgard are bad. This is what they look like, inside, compared to a Purolator. Notice the difference in endcaps? Cardboard, vs metal.
Yeah. Those are crap. And the sad thing is, the PureONE is often cheaper or the same price than the Toughgard, and the Purolator Classic is about the same price as a Orange Can. The PL!0111 for my 2.2L is $6. The orange can, is $5. For a $1 why would I go with the FRAM?
The FRAM extendedguard, for whatever reason, is actually a very well built, sturdy filter.
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2684/p6040862.jpg
Also, FRAM brand Cartridge filters are very good. This is because FRAM doesn't make them, they buy them from someone else. Purolator Cartrdige filters generally seem of poorer quality and build.
Now, you accuse me of not pulling filters apart, well, I've pulled these two apart.
http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii279/rudolphna/NAPA%20Gold%201040/
http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii279/rudolphna/NAPA%20Gold%201040/
Synthetic oil helps keep your engine cleaner, in general. You can also run longer oil changes on it with no bad side effects. Some, like Mobil 1 EP, Amsoil, can be run for 15,000 miles with no worry. I personally would never run dino (conventional) for longer than 6,000.
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