Who was it who mentioned Fram oil filters and dropping oil pressure?

Hachiroku · 2009-11-22T22:25:23+00:00

Who was it in the Subaru group that mentioned my low oil pressure might becaused by my using Fram oil filters?There may be something to this.I picked up yet another 1992 Grand Something-or-other (in this case, aGrand Caravan. The last two were V'gers...). It has 239,000 miles on it. Igot it on eBay for $150 and had to go 135 miles to pick it up. To make along story short, we had to cut and crimp one of the rear brake lines toget the thing to move without emptying the brake cylinder, and the planwas to drive it within 100 miles from home and call AAA..."It blew a brakeline!"No need. The crimp held and the thing ran so well I drove it the entireway home! Of course, I told "Jane" to avoid highways, so it was 92 milesthrough Providence and back into Mass and on to home. All the way the oil press. guage was about 1/2 way up the guage,occasionally dropping a little below on a 68 degree November day in themiddle of Providence. Other than that, it stayed right around the halfwaymark the entire trip.Today I gave it a 'service', oil change, air filter and tranny juice andfilter. I used a Fram TG oil filter since if you bought a jug (5 qts) ofValvoline oil you got the filter $2 off. Maybe it's just on the Subaru?NOPE! After I changed the oil and took it for a test, the oil pressureguage had dropped a whole mark off halfway! I don't believe it!I'm going to wait until the next nice day, pull the oil filter and put onsomething like a Wix. Never had that problem with either OEM or Wixfilters, and Wix got high ratings from Consumer's Reports.

Nov 22, 2009 360 Replies

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clare 16 years ago

It is NOT superstition. It is PROVEN FACT

Yes they do, but the design of today's engines, and the quality of the oils, make it somewhat less serious a problem than it used to be.

No, I'm talking in particular the '70s and into the early '80s. Fuel injection has made a difference, for sure, because the oil stays good longer in short trip use than it used to with a carb.

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