Has anyone noticed how Toyota has started sealing the end of its oil filters with a thin piece of plastic, similar to Saran Wrap, and has pre-lubricated the O-ring so it's not necessary to do it yourself prior to installing the filter? It's a small thing but a nice upgrade in the parts department.
Toyota does not make oil filters. They buy them from suppliers.
About 10 years ago...
Also, Toyota's filters always are rated the highest by Consumer Reports.
Slight exaggeration. I bought several in the last 5 years that did not have those features.
Rich
Both of your posts are interesting. I bought a case about 7-8 years ago and they were pregreased and sealed.
Also, the last Consumer Reports article was in 1987. They haven't done an oil filter test since. Granted, it isn't rocket science, but there have been some advancements over the years.
But, I will agree that Toyota filters are fine.
True, but they spec them, so why should it matter?
So in reality, it still is a "Toyota" oil filter.
All the original one from Japan were pre-lubed since day one I started to drive the Toyota back to 20 years ago.
Manufacturers often dual source parts (to keep one from raising prices or to protect themselves against strikes, etc) and they may switch suppliers from time to time. If the same car is assembled in different plants around the world, then the likelihood of different suppliers is very high.
An oil filter is not exactly a high tech item, so there should be no problem if the manufacturer switches suppliers. Nor should there be a problem with a good quality aftermarket oil filter.
Just for grins: if Toyota doesn't manufacture them who is the prime vendor? thanks
Purolator is one of the manufacturers.
It doesn't really matter because they are manufactured to Toyota specifications. Even if you found the manufacturer, that does not mean that the filters sold under the their own label are the same. They could be better or worse. There are only about 4-5 manufacturers in the world who make oil filters, and they are all capable of making filters of any quality desired.
According to ArvinMeritor's (the owner of Purolator) 10K report filled with the SEC on 11/18/2005, they market filters under private label to customers such as Motorcraft, Quaker State, Shell, and Mobil, in addition to selling filters under the Purolator brand name.
Since they say "such as" I am sure there are others, plus OEM customers (auto manufacturers).
If you open up the house brand oil filters at either Auto Zone or Advance (I forget which) and compare them to the equivalent Purolator filter on the next shelf you will find the end plates and number stampings to be identical. That's not to say there aren't differences inside, but externally they look the same.
Denso used to make some of the OEM filters, IIRC.
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