Back when I had my MG shop doing some restorations and service work, I use
to buy Fram filters all the time, by the case.
One day a customer brought a car back a few days after having some light
service and an oil change. His concern was that it seemed to take a long
time to get oil pressure after starting the car. His engine was freshly
rebuilt and running great otherwise.
Coincidentally, I had noticed a similar problem with my own MGB/GT but I had
attributed it to engine or oil pump wear.
Looking at both cars, the big orange oil filter just grabbed our attention.
Removing it showed that the rubber seal that should slow the drainback of
oil from the filter back to the sump was defective. In fact, it had
separated and was clogging several of the oil passage holes in the filter.
Replacement of both filters with non-Fram units fixed both cars. I found
that the rest of the case of unused filters were all defective and I called
Fram directly to let them know about the problem.
No need, they knew all about it. Bad batch of glue, they said. Were they
concerned? Not really. They did say that I could take them back to the parts
store and get a refund. What about possible engine damage? After all, Fram
had that full guarantee for the engine if failure was due to a defective
filter. The comment from Fram customer service (?) was that it would have to
be proved that engine wear was caused by the bad filter, and no one had come
forward with that proof yet. Were they recalling the defective filters? No,
they didn't feel that it was warranted.
Fram was probably right, I was probably wrong, but I won't buy another Fram
filter anyway, ever.
Any company can make a mistake, or have a bad batch of parts. What you
remember is how they handle it.
Dick
54 MGTF 1250
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