[Oh god, I can't believe I am going to do this, somebody stop me!!]
Sorry to disagree with you, Bernd, I know how much it upsets you
when you feel your viewpoint is challenged. I'm quite sure that all of
the oil filters you have seen have been of the highest quality, and
given that you work for a dealer, you are piaid to spread the gospel
according to MOPAR, but, Er, Bernd, you aren't entirely correct there.
Mopar oil filters, apparently, are made by the lowest bidder. There
is a website that someone posted a while back showing two identical part
number filters as being completely different internallly. IIRC one was
a champion (good) and one was a fram (radioactive orange, awful). I
couple of months ago, my local dodge dealership was moving into a new
building so they had a sale. one of the things they "put on clearance"
was oil filters. They were selling them $3 each or 2 for $5. I had the
parts guy grab all the filters he had for my truck (12-13 or so left,
only) and while he was making a second trip, I got to looking at the
first handfull, and lo-and-behold, I found 3 different looking filters
in the first 5 boxes I opened. The threads and seal matched, but
nothing else did. When I asked the parts guy about this, he said Mopar
uses several manufacturers, but they were all "within spec". I thought
I recognized a rebranded Fram filter in the bunch, and asked the parts
guy about it, he got really defensive and started this "well do you want
them or not?" dance... I decided to pass. Of all of Mopar's virtues,
Consistent Quality is not really their strong point, and my particular
dealer, makes me wonder if the five star designation has any meaning at
all, other than just as a marketing gimmick.
Again, I am sorry for disagreeing with you, Bernd, but if you do feel
the need to chew my butt for disagreeing with the gospel according to
MOPAR, I've got at least as much a$$ as you have teeth [grin].
>>> bernd@texas.net 11/07/03 06:29AM >>>
Look at it this way....pay the little money for a generic, pay a lot
for a
"big name", or just pay the $6-$7 for a Mopar filter that's actually
made
for our engines (yes...it's actually different inside than the
standard
filters). We tore apart five different filters at the dealership
(Fram,
WIX, NAPA, STP, and Mopar). The Fram has holes in the top (don't know
why
but the oil can go through it - not filtered)...the WIX also has a hole
in
the top, and the STP and NAPA filters use a very coarse material (and
flimsy
too). The Mopar is a very heavy duty filter with a heavy duty
anti-drainback valve....definitely a higher quality filter.
- Bernd
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of John
Neff
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2003 3:27 AM
To: Dakota Mailing List
Subject: DML: RE: Oil filters; $2 Generic vs $10 Premium
You guys have just saved me a ton of money. I've always known there had
to
be a catch with the Mobil 1 filter. I have three vehicles to keep on
the
road and this little tidbit is going to go a long way to cutting my
maintanence costs. I've been fed up with paying $10-12 per filter just
to
get one I have faith in. I guess the only thing to do from now on is
make
sure the Wally World filter stampings don't change.
Thanks!!!!
John
http://jndneff.home.texas.net/dakota/dakota.html
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