We have a 2009 Ford F-150 that’s in wonderful shape. We bought it for my wife to drive and to pull a small Winnebago she lived in for a year and a half, until I finished my job and moved to the area. Great truck.
It has an oil life monitor and she treats it like the Lord himself has commanded “Thou shalt replace thine oil!” This means that there have been a few times that we’ve had a quick oil place replace the oil and filter. I guess I’ve always more or less trusted that the oil I asked for is indeed what they used, but there’s no practical way to verify this. It’s never crossed my mind to question the filters they use. Until this weekend, that is.
I’ve always known that they don’t use top-tier type filters, of course. But, I always assumed they used the ‘right’ filter, that is, one of those that I might have bought at the auto parts store. Wrong!
Hey, It does too fit!
Changing the oil on the F-150 this weekend caused me confusion (but that’s not hard to do…). I knew that Ford had thoughtfully changed oil filters midyear, and that I had to check the filter on the truck before I went in to buy oil and filter. This I did. But when I got to the store, neither of the two filter types seemed to be the size of the one I took off of the truck. So, I bought both, intending to take the wrong one back. I found the one that had the same fitting and gasket diameter as the one on the truck, but the can diameter and length were both larger than the filter on the truck. So, I did a bit of Internet searching.
Bob, You are Indeed the Guy!
Thanks to one particular site, I sorted the situation out. Link: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ Bob is absolutely the oil guy. Long story short, oil change places use the smallest (cheapest?) filters that will physically fit the fitting and the gasket sealing surface. That’s why the filter on the truck was only maybe 2/3 the volume of either of the two filters that I bought.
Problem? Well, No . . .
This isn’t necessarily a problem, at least not for the ordinary driver with the ordinary vehicle. A smaller metal can typically means a correspondingly smaller filter element, and that’s never a plus. In addition, we’re assuming (reasonably) that the filters used aren’t the best that can be had. Does this sound like a good idea? Maybe not a terrible idea for your typical vehicle, but what about your 392 Challenger or LT4 Corvette? (See https://musclecarsmatter.com/oil-lubrication-and-bearings/ for more information) )
At the very least
I’d suggest, at the very least, that you be more aware of this than I was. If you have a performance car and get into a pinch and have to use a quick-change place, one option would be to supply them with a filter and specifically state that this is the filter to use. You’ll probably get no discount, but that’s okay under the circumstances, right? I doubt they’d push back much, even though this is an odd request for them. “I’m sorry, sir. We have to use the crappy filters that we supply!” No, I don’t see that.
Lastly, I believe that the last oil change place stripped the drain plug. It doesn’t require any action on my part, but if I do have anyone change the oil for me, I am going to inform them that some shop stripped it and that they are to hand tighten it. I don’t see any issue with requesting of the person I talk to that they place this instruction on the work form. Too much? Hey, I didn’t do that before and they stripped the darn thing!
