Who was it who mentioned Fram oil filters and dropping oil pressure?

Who was it in the Subaru group that mentioned my low oil pressure might be
caused by my using Fram oil filters?

There may be something to this.

I picked up yet another 1992 Grand Something-or-other (in this case, a
Grand Caravan. The last two were V'gers...). It has 239,000 miles on it. I
got it on eBay for $150 and had to go 135 miles to pick it up. To make a
long story short, we had to cut and crimp one of the rear brake lines to
get the thing to move without emptying the brake cylinder, and the plan
was to drive it within 100 miles from home and call AAA..."It blew a brake
line!"

No need. The crimp held and the thing ran so well I drove it the entire
way home! Of course, I told "Jane" to avoid highways, so it was 92 miles
through Providence and back into Mass and on to home.

All the way the oil press. guage was about 1/2 way up the guage,
occasionally dropping a little below on a 68 degree November day in the
middle of Providence. Other than that, it stayed right around the halfway
mark the entire trip.

Today I gave it a 'service', oil change, air filter and tranny juice and
filter. I used a Fram TG oil filter since if you bought a jug (5 qts) of
Valvoline oil you got the filter $2 off. Maybe it's just on the Subaru?

NOPE! After I changed the oil and took it for a test, the oil pressure
guage had dropped a whole mark off halfway! I don't believe it!

I'm going to wait until the next nice day, pull the oil filter and put on
something like a Wix. Never had that problem with either OEM or Wix
filters, and Wix got high ratings from Consumer's Reports.

"Hachiroku ãƒ�ãƒ�ãƒ*ク" > wrote in message
news
> NOPE! After I changed the oil and took it for a test, the oil pressure
> guage had dropped a whole mark off halfway! I don't believe it!
>
> I'm going to wait until the next nice day, pull the oil filter and put on
> something like a Wix. Never had that problem with either OEM or Wix
> filters, and Wix got high ratings from Consumer's Reports.
>
Those indicating gauges are often very inaccurate. Also, there may have
been a difference between the oil you drained out and the oil you put in,
viscosity wise.

I have never had a problem with a Fram, but I have pussed out and avoid
them strictly on their reputation.

hls wrote:
>
> "Hachiroku ãƒ�ãƒ�ãƒ*ク" > wrote in message
> news >
>> NOPE! After I changed the oil and took it for a test, the oil pressure
>> guage had dropped a whole mark off halfway! I don't believe it!
>>
>> I'm going to wait until the next nice day, pull the oil filter and put on
>> something like a Wix. Never had that problem with either OEM or Wix
>> filters, and Wix got high ratings from Consumer's Reports.
>>
> Those indicating gauges are often very inaccurate. Also, there may have
> been a difference between the oil you drained out and the oil you put in,
> viscosity wise.
>
> I have never had a problem with a Fram, but I have pussed out and avoid
> them strictly on their reputation.

Couldn't this also have meant that the filter may have been restricting
the oil flow i.e., clogged up? Just guessing.

"dsi1" > wrote in message
...

>>
>> I have never had a problem with a Fram, but I have pussed out and avoid
>> them strictly on their reputation.
>
> Couldn't this also have meant that the filter may have been restricting
> the oil flow i.e., clogged up? Just guessing.

It could mean a lot of things. Remember he changed both the filter and the
oil
on this car, and measured the results with a rather inaccurate gauge.

There are a lot of variables here.

If he wants to eliminate Fram from the equation, change to a Wix, or
something else,
as he suggested.

Now, going back to the OP, he apparently just picked up this higher mileage
vehicle.
How do we know what the seller added to the crankcase?

He will just have to work through this item by item,and I hope he will post
the results

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:08:05 -0600, hls wrote:

>
> "dsi1" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>
>>> I have never had a problem with a Fram, but I have pussed out and avoid
>>> them strictly on their reputation.
>>
>> Couldn't this also have meant that the filter may have been restricting
>> the oil flow i.e., clogged up? Just guessing.
>
> It could mean a lot of things. Remember he changed both the filter and
> the oil
> on this car, and measured the results with a rather inaccurate gauge.
>
> There are a lot of variables here.
>
> If he wants to eliminate Fram from the equation, change to a Wix, or
> something else,
> as he suggested.
>
> Now, going back to the OP, he apparently just picked up this higher
> mileage vehicle.
> How do we know what the seller added to the crankcase?
>
> He will just have to work through this item by item,and I hope he will
> post the results

I also have an '89 Soob GL Coupe, AWD. When I replaced the oil filter with
a Fram, the pressure dropped...

I have an '88 Supra. When I replaced the filter with a Fram...

I remember someone in the Soob group mentioned something about Fram
filters when I was talking about low oil p before, and now it's three for
three...

I think next time (~800 miles for the Soob) I'm going to hunt down a Wix
filter and see what happens...

On Nov 22, 4:25 pm, Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B > wrote:
> Who was it in the Subaru group that mentioned my low oil pressure might be
> caused by my using Fram oil filters?

It's a known problem on the orange Fram filters. The problem is the
anti drainback valves don't work. How much it effects the engine will
depend on the filter mounting and position.
I have two old Ford trucks, both with straight six engines. "300 and
240".
You cannot use those Fram filters on those engines unless you like
starting up with no oil pressure.
I knew about this before trying one, but I happened to get one free,
so
decided to try it. At first I thought it was ok. But I came back three
hours later to go to the store and had no oil pressure. And this is on
a
fresh rebuilt engine with a new oil pump. Not some wore out beater.
I couldn't get pressure, so i cut it off. Then I tried it again and
finally
got pressure going. I dumped that filter right there on the spot and
replaced it with a Motorcraft FL1A which is what I normally use.
Never had the problem again.
I wouldn't use one of those filters if it were free. Total junk as far
as the anti drain valves.
I wouldn't use one on any other car either just due to the problems
I had, no matter if the mounting position was a problem or not.

hls wrote:
>
> "dsi1" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>>
>>> I have never had a problem with a Fram, but I have pussed out and avoid
>>> them strictly on their reputation.
>>
>> Couldn't this also have meant that the filter may have been
>> restricting the oil flow i.e., clogged up? Just guessing.
>
> It could mean a lot of things. Remember he changed both the filter and
> the oil
> on this car, and measured the results with a rather inaccurate gauge.

My question is: is it possible to increase the oil pressure reading at
the sender by installing a filter with a high resistance to oil flow?

Might it be that a drop in oil pressure may not be a bad thing if it is
the result of installing a oil filter that allows more oil to be
filtered? Again, this is just a guess - I've never read anything about
this.

>
> There are a lot of variables here.
>
> If he wants to eliminate Fram from the equation, change to a Wix, or
> something else,
> as he suggested.
>
> Now, going back to the OP, he apparently just picked up this higher
> mileage vehicle.
> How do we know what the seller added to the crankcase?
>
> He will just have to work through this item by item,and I hope he will
> post the results

Put a Wix 51515 on it and you won't have a problem again.

Daniel
Bought a 95 Grand Caravan SE 3.3l with 223,000 miles on it for $800 and
immediatly changed to a 51515 and Mobil 1 5w30 non-EP. I have 10k miles of
my own on the van now and the engine is still going strong.

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:39:11 -0600, Daniel Who Wants to Know wrote:

> Put a Wix 51515 on it and you won't have a problem again.

Let's see if I can remember that number!
>
> Daniel
> Bought a 95 Grand Caravan SE 3.3l with 223,000 miles on it for $800 and
> immediatly changed to a 51515 and Mobil 1 5w30 non-EP. I have 10k miles of
> my own on the van now and the engine is still going strong.

When I changed the oil and started the engine, there was what sounded like
a bottom end knock in it...

I went for a 5 mile ride and the sound went awat...Thank You! Whew!

I had a Gr Voyager w/279,000 miles on it. It had had the trans replaced
under warranty and never had a problem with it, excep the guy who gave it
to me wanted it back! He ran it up to 324,000!!!

On Nov 22, 6:08*pm, "hls" > wrote:
> "dsi1" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
>
>
> >> I have never had a problem with a Fram, but I have pussed out and avoid
> >> them strictly on their reputation.
>
> > Couldn't this also have meant that the filter may have been restricting
> > the oil flow i.e., clogged up? Just guessing.
>
> It could mean a lot of things. * Remember he changed both the filter and the
> oil
> on this car, and measured the results with a rather inaccurate gauge.
>
> There are a lot of variables here.
>
> If he wants to eliminate Fram from the equation, change to a Wix, or
> something else,
> as he suggested.
>
> Now, going back to the OP, he apparently just picked up this higher mileage
> vehicle.
> How do we know what the seller added to the crankcase?
>
> He will just have to work through this item by item,and I hope he will post
> the results

Yeah, I think there are too many variables to know for sure. While I
DO believe there are filters with no/bad anti-drainback valves(and
other issues) - I just don't see how a filter could cause abnormally
low oil pressure.

As a further odd-ball failure mode, consider that new oil and/or
'disturbing' an old and possibly neglected lubrication system could
have dislodged some debris that is stuck in the oil pressure sender's
orifice. I had this happen once on an old mitsubishi/Colt Vista engine
(IIRC) . The after market sender had a much larger orifice. The OEM
was 'maybe' a millimeter !