OIL FILTERS: which one to buy???? - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Brian Carlton · #31 10-03-2004, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldnavy

That would be real cool, I love to run across one of those MB branded oil filters. I don't know if they ever had one made to be sold with only MB logo on filter and sold only in MB dealership. I just assume that they did and do today, but I've never checked.

Navy, glad to see you are up and about and filling these pages with knowledge.

Now, from the original thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by fj bertrand

Well, so much for OEM "Quality" Just cut open a MB A 601 180 00
filter for the 350 sdl and guess what--SAME STUFF!!!.

Now the ginnings in the MB OEM filter are a shade whiter than the ginnings in the QS filter, but its THE SAME STUFF: straw, insects, cotton seeds, etc.

Do we need any more confirmation with regard to OE? If we do, then I'll be happy to cut open the next one out of the 603. Should happen in less than two months.

I really think that we should go back to the original thread with the oil filter discussion. Clearly, two threads results in lost information for everyone.

wolf_walker · #32 10-03-2004, 07:16 PM

OK, which one is the first thread?

Changed my oil today.
I put in a MANN filter, labled in red computer printed ink Product of Germany or something like that. It looked not much like the MANN I saw last week that said Made in Checz-something. Go figure. Neither looked like the filter I had in the car from the last oil change, which was physicaly stamped into the top of the case Made In Germany. Your guess is as good as mine. I do know looking at the holes in the bypass section I saw nothing but white, very bright clean white, in the one I just installed. Eh, what can you do.

I'll try and remember to look for the oldest OEM looking filter I can find at work, but it may take me a bit to get around to it.

oldnavy · #33 10-03-2004, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

Navy, you don't need to be 65 for that to happen. I do the same thing when I head downstairs for something, and, when I get there, I have to stop and think what the hell it was.

BTW, what's your thoughts, now, about the OE filter.

And, can we please go back to the first thread?

Yes I know, I been doing that for as long as I can remember.

Also don't shove me too far ahead, I'm only just barely 59.

My thoughts about the OE is the same as for OEM, that's why I have a NAPA/Wix filter in the 240D & the VW. What really has me worried now is what the devil does my secondary filter have inside for filter media. My guess cheapest crap available, as mine is OEM. I have a spare FF on the bench I guess I could rip it apart and see. If I had any sense I would just get a NAPA/Wix fuel filter and be done with the worry.

boneheaddoctor · #34 10-04-2004, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

Why don't you cut it open? I'm not going to cut mine apart I already did that to a $14 oil filter. But I think were safe with the fuel filters.

This thread and the original have convinced me to buy WIX filters as soon as my last Mahn filter gets used, (Have just one left)

oldnavy · #35 10-04-2004, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Cullens

I don't understand the question. If Mercedes thinks that Mann, Knecht, Mahle & Hengst are good enough to be an OE oil filter for them, why are they not good enough fot the DIY guy?

Rusty you missed the other thread where we cut a couple different brands open and foud that the upper by-pass section was filled with cheap loosely packed cotton ginn tailings. These tail;ings are ther leftover scrap that is swept up off the floor with the shells, stanks, bugs, dirt and gravel mixed right in and then stuffed in the top portion that is the by-pass section of the filter. It should be a woven cotton string tightly wraped around the center of the filter.

The problem with just stuffing loose cotton in the filter is the oil will crate tunnels through the cotton and not really do any filtering. The woven cotton filter string would probably have filter about 50 to 75 micron size particle and the paper portion about 20 to 30 micron. With just the stuffed raw cotton in the upper section withe the paper holding it in shpe in the canister, that would mean as soon as the oil backs up at the lower paper filter section it would flow through and out the by pass section without and real filtering, other then what wraps around the upper cotton section holding the cotton inside the filter.

That's why a some of here has decided to stay away from the cheap outsourced products made in India and buy US made Wix, NAPA and such filters using pleated paper filter s in the upper section.

oldnavy · #36 10-04-2004, 03:24 PM

The picture on page 7 is the oil filter from my 240D. I cut it openafter a short use period. The picture below mine of the Autozone filter is how they use to be made from the looks of the picture. Page 7

Brian Carlton · #37 10-04-2004, 04:07 PM

The issue of cotton gin waste has been found in OE, Hengst, and Mann filters.
May seem surprising, but it is true.
Read the entire tread.

Rusty Cullens · #38 10-04-2004, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

The issue of cotton gin waste has been found in OE, Hengst, and Mann filters.
May seem surprising, but it is true.
Read the entire tread.

I am cutting one of each open tomorrow and I WILL post what I find.

Brian Carlton · #39 10-04-2004, 04:31 PM

Rusty,

The concern is the bypass section of the filter, where we would expect very tightly packed, and clean, cotton or other material. Instead, there has been loosely filled gotton gin waste, bug parts and other material that would not stop a grain of sand. Certainly not the 10 microns that would be expected of a bypass filter.

PLEASE, PLEASE, CAN WE GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL THREAD?

dieseldiehard · #40 10-04-2004, 06:17 PM

If we could settle on a particular brand (I think it's down to Baldwin, WIX and ?) maybe Rusty could offer a group buy?
I ttried to find Baldwin dealer that sells a filter for the OM603 but was unsuccessful. I hate to say it, but they may make great filters (for other than MB) but if they can't get the right one to market, they aren't in business to serve me.
I was leaving WIX as a last resort after hearing that some of their filters were made in India.
I'd rather buy Baldwin but have to special order from a tractor supplier in another county, they make it hard to do business at least in Metro SF Bay Area.

84300DT · #41 10-04-2004, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Cullens

I understand not buying "cheap India" filters. I do NOT understand not buying Original Mercedes filters made by Mann, Knecht, Hengst or Mahle.

i think that some folks are finding that say even if the filter is a ''Mann" it could be made in a variety of different places and have a very different qualities to it. there seems to be no consistency to this at all. theoretically you could cut open 2 new Mann filters and find 2 very different material inside.
a while back i bought and MB branded filter from a MB dealer thinking it should be made in germany as was the previous one i got but it was stamped "czech republic" on it.

oldnavy · #42 10-04-2004, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

Rusty,

The concern is the bypass section of the filter, where we would expect very tightly packed, and clean, cotton or other material. Instead, there has been loosely filled gotton gin waste, bug parts and other material that would not stop a grain of sand. Certainly not the 10 microns that would be expected of a bypass filter.

PLEASE, PLEASE, CAN WE GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL THREAD?

Brian you have the MB by-pass mixed up with the after market type of by-pass filters, the OE MB by-pass section was not, repeat not, designed to filter down to 10 microns. The main filter in lower section was never a 10 micron filter even, it was most likely a 20 to 30 micron filter, with the by-pass section being 40 to 50 micron filter. Remember as the oil backs up at the 20 micron lower section the excess oil then passes out through the upper by-pass section back to the engine and was only filter to about 50 micron.

With the loose packed cotton waste packed in the upper section, I'll bet the oil isn't filtered more then about 70 micron to 100 micron in the upper by-pass section.

Brian Carlton · #43 10-04-2004, 11:24 PM

Thanks Navy,

If that is how it works, then I did have it backwards. The bypass section on the oil filter is used when the main section cannot provide sufficient volume to maintain pressure, correct?

What controls the flow between the two sections? At what point does the bypass section get oil? On a brand new filter, right out of the box? Does it get more oil, as the main section is slowly accumulating dirt and debris over time? Any ideas on this?

MTUpower · #44 10-04-2004, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldnavy

Brian you have the MB by-pass mixed up with the after market type of by-pass filters, the OE MB by-pass section was not, repeat not, designed to filter down to 10 microns. The main filter in lower section was never a 10 micron filter even, it was most likely a 20 to 30 micron filter, with the by-pass section being 40 to 50 micron filter. Remember as the oil backs up at the 20 micron lower section the excess oil then passes out through the upper by-pass section back to the engine and was only filter to about 50 micron.

With the loose packed cotton waste packed in the upper section, I'll bet the oil isn't filtered more then about 70 micron to 100 micron in the upper by-pass section.

I've looked on the skinnerbox/steaky site and while it appears to be down right now, the diagram of the filters used did indeed say that the "bypass" section of the OEM filters did filter "more finely" than the other sections of the filter, and this "extra clean oil" was for the cams. So it looks like the "bypass" section is supposed to filter to a lower micron rating than the rest of the filter.

Brian Carlton · #45 10-04-2004, 11:44 PM

I think you might be trying to trick me.

I'm still trying to get Baldwin to respond with technical data. So far, without success.