Has anyone cut open a wix to see what is inside? The one I looked at said made in Indai on it.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Check earlier posts for Wix part numbers, there is a full flow filter and a by-pass filter. I got the full flow filter(edit: 51385), all paper, no divider.

I was at Pep Boys since and got two Fram filters made in Hungary (8 or $9). Check earlier posts for details. Edit: PH2930

My 240D after a hard run across the state with a lot of the foot to the floor running in the Ozark Hill's the gage reads above 3 bar, and at idle after an hour of hard running, just a shade above 2 bar mark. Hey I averaged 31 mpg for the trip. Love the way the 240D handles those curves, just wish I had a little more power to come out of the curves with.

I'm using a NAPA Gold filter with upper and lower divided section, see previous posted pictures, it had the inner seal and fit real snug on the post & bottom of oil filter housing and had both large & small o'ring seals. The test of the pudding will be an oil sample test in a couple more thousand miles. I using the 5w-40 Mobil synthetic Delvac 1/Truck & SUV oil and have no oil drips on the garage floor at 149,000 miles and less then 5000 miles since switching to synthetic oil.

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

I wouldn't supprise me that they do, I live in a town of 17,000 175 miles from nearest metro area and a MB dealership and the NAPA, Autozone & O'Reiley's. And there are several old MB's in town including an almost new looking '83 240D driven by a sharp looking 50'ish woman, and we always exchange waves.

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

Okay I'm convinced so today I purchased a Napa Gold oil filter (aka Wix 1385) to try it on my next oil change.

In my neck of the woods the lowest price I could get:
Napa Gold (Wix 1385) C$19.93
MANN oil filter C$13. 19

C$6.74 more for the Wix, is it worth the extra expense since I change the oil and Mann filter religiously at 5,000 km (using dino oil to 201,000 km) and now every 8,000 km (using full-synthetic oil)?

Check out the other thread. (I'll go bump it up). I found the Luberfiner filter, made by Champion, for both the 617 and the 603. This is the same filter that Baldwin purchases.
I bought six for the 603. We will see what is in them after I take one apart after the first oil change (four months from now).

The benefit, at this point, is that you can buy them for about $12.50 provided you purchase six. The distributor is willing to ship them, however, the shipment to Canada would need to be coordinated. Two of my EGR kits got held up in Canadian customs for FOUR MONTHS, until they decided that they might as well deliver them.

This is a new thread to present the factual information about current oil filters on the market for Mercedes diesel engines. This is a topic that has been difficult to keep on topic in the past and so I ask that users employ extra effort and restraint to post only factual information in this thread. I will edit the first couple posts and add information to them as it is posted so that later readers can get the salient points without reading the entire thread.

This is a work in progress and I will correct my mistakes as they are pointed out.

Edit: this is where two threads were merged, ignore the comment about this being a new thread.

Attached is a picture and flow diagram of the oil filter housing for the 617 engine. It shows that the oil filter is split into two functions. The filter is really two filters in one and the manual refers to it as a combination filter. The main filter is the bottom part of the filter and it filters oil for the bearings in the engine. The larger upper part of the filter is the bypass section and the oil filtered through it is returned to oil pan. If you look up inside a combination filter you can see a seal that separates the two sections of the filter.

There are filters available for this housing that do not have the seal on the inside and so do not have a bypass section, those are called full-flow filters and are just one big filter. The Wix 51385 filter is the only full-flow filter that I have seen, there may be others. I think NAPA may have their own number for the Wix full-flow filter.

Most of the oil filters on the market today use cotton-gin waste as the filter media in the bypass part of the oil filter. Owners have reported finding sticks, bugs, dirt, and rocks in with the cotton in the filters. There is a concern that the filter could rupture and those foreign materials could be released into the oil in the engine. If you look at the diagram you will see that if that happens the material would be returned to the oil pan where it would have to be filtered again by the main filter before it could get to the bearings in the engine where it could do damage to them. The risk of such a failure is small and the risk of engine damage is smaller even still but if you buy a filter that uses a clean media in the bypass section there is no risk at all.

There was only speculation with regard to the quality of filtering provided by the different bypass filter media.

Filters are sold under many brand names but most filters are manufactured by a few manufacturers and labeled for sale under the various brand names. Filter companies can change suppliers at any time and so you may get filters made to different specifications by different manufacturers that are sold under the same brand name and part number.

There does seem to be a lose link between where the filters were manufactured and whether they have cotton gin waste as the bypass filter media. All of the filters that are made in India and Mexico seem to have the cotton gin waste as the bypass filter media.

One user reported that a Fram CH2930 filter that was made in Turkey had a tightly woven string bypass filter that was not made of cotton-gin waste. Another user reported that a filter with the same part number, a Fram CH2930 that was made in Mexico as having the bypass filter made of cotton-gin waste.

The Baldwin P102 filter was reported as having both the main and bypass filters made of a synthetic fiber material.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Here is a link to an amateur study of oil filters for other engines. This study does not directly pertain to MB engines. Note also that the study is not up to date and suppliers of the filters mentioned likely have changed. I mention this mostly because this is not the first time that the quality of oil filters has come to my attention.
http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

Here is a thread that spun-off of the original thread:
OIL FILTERS: which one to buy????

Edit: as these threads were merged, this link is outdated and links to the thread you are reading now.

Hastings LF380 is a "combination" type filter that you describe above. The bypass section is a pleated medium that looks the same as the main filter medium. Anybody know if the pleated media of these two sections are the same? Is the bypass medium finer? If they are in fact the same thing, then I see no advantage to using this filter over a "full-flow" filter such as the Wix/Napa.

If you ever need the Napa number interchange for a WIX filter, just loose the first digit. Hence, Wix 51385 = Napa 1385. As long as I can remember Napa has been this way.

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85 300CD
83 300TD
78 240D (daughter)

Well, I've been delaying my cutting open the OE filter for the 603 for several months.

Did it today and here are the finding:

1) There is a hell of a lot of cotton wadding in this filter. See the photo. It took a good 10 minutes to pry it all out of the can.

2) There are minimal sticks in the cotton. A few here and there, but, not at all significant when compared to the Purolator. See photo.

3) There is no dirt or bugs that are readily apparent.

4) There is NO cotton bag keeping the material inside the can. Apparently, the cotton is clean enough that there is no concern of any crap leaving the can via the holes.

I'm quite impressed with this filter. I would recommend OE for anyone purchasing a filter for the 603. I'll be testing the Mahle filter in a few months at the next change.

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I wish someone would address this question I asked earlier....

" If one objects to cotton gin remnants being used in a filter.. then what would be a ' good' filter medium ? "

I think that tightly packed cotton is going to do a better job than loosely filled gin waste with intermixed bugs and sticks.

If you were to physically see the difference between the Purolator and this OE filter, you would understand.

But, it's just my $.02.

Does Baldwin make a filter for the Sdl?
If so why not use the best.
Just because it is factory and Germane does't mean it is the best.
Most Owner Operator Big Rig use Baldwin. It is their money and living.
Just one man .02.
Charlie