I opened a Hengst filter tonight - I was curious to see what the inside of a $9 filter looked like.

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The first picture below is a closeup of the bypass media (aka cotton).
The second picture below is the center tube in the bypass section. The material that covers this tube is the only device that keeps the dirt in the cotton 'at bay'.
The last picture below shows all the cotton I removed from the filter.

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The last picture shows a close up of the dirt that came out of the bypass section of the filter. This was the loose dirt, the cotton has more dirt suspended.

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Is this normal? Is this acceptable? Will this filter protect my engine (assuming it wasn't cut apart)?

Something tells me for the money I paid, I should have gotten a better bypass media.

FYI - if your curious about what the inside of a filter looks like, they are very easy to open. I used a can opener.

Some sticks and foreign material. But much better than some of the previous filters such as the Purolator. Not as good as OE (for 603 anyway).

Tomorrow, I put an OE filter in the 617. I'll cut that one up in about 6 months or so.

Ahh, the proverbial question........which will generate answers running the gamut.

It's probably acceptable, however, we continue to strive for media that is simply tightly packed cotton........no bugs.........no sticks.........no foreign material.

The purpose of the thread is to show everyone what's in each filter.

We report..........you decide which one to buy.

Pure oil now, Pure oil later. $6.99 from Pep Boys, direct from India.

I wanted to pick up a Fram too, but they didn't have one.

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Yep, I had previously cut up one of them. Complete garbage.

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The Fram filter made in Turkey is amazingly good. Filled with tight cotton string.

The Fram filter hecho in Mexico is a total piece of krap. Nothing in there to cut open, no bypass section at all.

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Palangi

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Fram CH2930 made in Turkey, purchased at AutoZone for $11.

The case is much sturdier and required me to use the good can opener (don't tell my wife) and a pair of vise grip pliers to open.

The bypass section is filled with a stringy, tightly packed cotton fibers. The center tube has a "sock" to prevent fibers from leaving the filter. There is another "sock" around the outer circumference of the filter to totally contain the long fibers. The fibers are around 10.5" long and appear to be common cotton string. I did not find any trash, debris, or twigs in this filter.

The giveaway to the filter without cutting it open is to look at the holes in the bypass section. On this one, you can see what looks like a cotton sock.

All three filters are on-line at http://www.pokrefke.com/benz/oilfilter/oilfilter.htm

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How much of the cotton is the stringy fibers as shown in the fourth photo, versus the soft packed cotton that appears in other photos?

I'm not so confident of the capability of the stringy fibers as compared to the soft packed cotton.

They are both packed quite tightly in the filter. I'm not going to guess which one, if either, is more compressed. Both could be removed form the case and still retain their packed shaped.

My concern is the oil flowing through the 'dirty' cotton, picking up small pieces of debris - be it dirt, cotton husks, etc - and getting into the engine. I'm no expert, but it seems like your oil has a better chance of staying clean if the filter media is clean to begin with.

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That's an interesting photo. The stringy fibers are on the left, but, what's on the right? Is that cotton or loose debris of some sort? Can't tell from the photo??

The left is the media from the Fram, the right is the media from the Purolator. The Fram used the string, the Purolator (and Hengst) used what I call 'cotton debris'.

Got it......thanks. Makes sense now. The Purolator is filled with that garbage.

The Fram still seems to have a bit too much "string" and not enough "cotton" for my taste, however.