Oil filters

[greasemonkey]

What are your guys' recommendation on oil filters, and what are the parts # for them? All the books I look at the parts stores only go back to about '73. Oh, by the way, it's a stock 350 on the '69. Thanks!
John

[Fast68Chevy]

PF25 and PF35 AD Delco

[Longhorn Man]

Fram PH13

[bobs409]

Only AC's for me! Your year/engine should be easy to find and should be PF25. Some are a bit tougher to find though. For my 63 283 and 63 409 with the cannister type, I have to go the Chevy dealer to find those. (PF 141)

I noticed a 5-7 pound increase in all ranges on the gauge when going from a Hastings to an AC filter on my 409. (Hastings was the only other brand I could find at the time)

[nroden]

I use the Fram. I think they had been used on my truck before because my grandpa came out with a whole box full of them never used before.... but not with the "grip surface" like the new ones. Although when I took off the old filter it was a Farmland (local service station uses all Farmland parts)

[greasemonkey]

Thanks guys. I use ACDelcos on all our other vehicles, but I didn't know that they make one for my truck. Guess I'll check them all out.

[1971LT1SWBPOSI373]

I use the PF-35 AC Delco. It's a good inexpensive filter. I usually stock up when I see them on sale. It's what the dealers use, so ya just can't go wrong with it. The fram is also pretty dam good. TJ

[Project1970]

I'll never use Fram again... here's the commentary which does a good job of describing the strengths and weaknesses of the various filters. (The raw data he got to make those conclusions can be found here.)

My pickup now only gets ACDelco, either PF35's or PF1218's. Why the 1218? It's the filter specified on a 1997 Suburban 2WD (which we just recently traded in on an '02 Trailblazer) and it also happens to fit perfectly. It also happens to always be in stock whenever the PF35 isn't.

[gmtruck71]

I have witnessed 2 oil filter failures (Fram). These were a NEW 350/300 horse GM crate motor and the other was a 454 fresh rebuild with a new stock (not a high volume and not high pressure) oil pump and pickup. Media collapsed and starved engine for oil. These were the orange Frams one purchased at Wal Mart, the other at Autozone

[passthebuck]

It's WIX for me - I once saw a "cutaway" at my local Autovalue & it compared a FRAM with a WIX - the wix was WAY beefier - the media was better designed & there is a sort of spring inside that holds the media against the mounting flange - the fram had a curved spring & the wix had a coil spring. They're a bit harder to get, a bit more $ & AutoValue doesnt have the convient hours that Walmart has but it's worth it

[C10 - C90 Bill]

I know that Fram has been the one that a lot of people have been putting down lately, and I may even switch myself, but for the last 30 years I have been using Fram on my small blocks and 6 cylinders and never had any problems.

[1971LT1SWBPOSI373]

Thanks for the info Project1970!!! I won't be buying any more fram's. That's a good site for info on filters. Everybody read up.

[truckster]

I've shopped at autozone a lot over the years, and I had one of their countermen convince me the Duetsch filter was way better than the others, so I started using them. Guess what Autozone stocks now? Fram. So I guess I should have stayed with the AC Delco after all. I think if the guys who have to stand behind the warranty use it, it's probably a pretty good filter. And I only use AC Delco plugs in my GM engines- they just don't seem to like anything else as well.

[lukecp]

I ONLY run Wix filters in my truck. They aren't too expensive, 3 or 4 bucks, and they are one of the best you can buy. I read an oil filter report on the net somewhere, proably the same one that Project1970 posted, and it changed my mind about Fram filters. With fresh Valvoline 10w30, and the Wix filter, i think that my 350 should last quite a while. Oh, the oil filters are the same (im pretty sure) for most SBC-equipped trucks into the 80's. So i would think that a oil filter for a '73 Chevy with a 350 would be exactly the same PN as the one for your truck.

[Project1970]

One other thing to note is that there's really only a few filter manufacturers out there; that site I linked to earlier breaks it down, but there's basically only ACDelcos (which are the only major type that's not rebranded as anything else, I believe...), Purolators, Wix (namely, NAPA filters, IIRC), Champion Labs (Deutsch filters are these), and Fram.

That, and the Mobil1 filters are a modified version of the Champion Labs filter, enough to qualify as their own. Too expensive to use continuously, though, especially when a PF35L is much cheaper...

Taken from http://www.f-body.org/oldfaq/html/faq/ch5.html :

Q: What GM oil filters will fit my 350?

A: Here is a summary of the AC-Delco filters for the 350 F-Body engines:

Q: What GM oil filters will fit my 350?

A: Here is a summary of the AC-Delco filters for the 350 F-Body engines:


Filter # Length Anti-Drainback Element Type
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PF-25 Short (3-4") No Duragard (20-micron paper)
PF-35 Long (5.5") No Duragard (20-micron paper)
PF-35L Long (5.5") No Ultragard (12-micron synthetic)
PF-1218 Long (5.5") Yes Duragard (20-micron paper)

(sorry, I can't get the board to keep the proper number of spaces, so it formatted poorly)

Thank god for GM part-swapping. A 350 is a 350 when it comes to oil filters. Our '94 Z28 uses the 35 as OEM, and most people run 35L's as an upgrade.

Once I get the new bottom end for my pickup (have yet to decide whether to buy new or get mine rebuilt or get it built as a 383), it'll see nothing but Mobil 1 synthetic and ACDelco PF35L filters.

That is, unless, they make a PF1218L, so one could get synthetic element and the anti-drainback...or a PF35L with the valve, since I'm not certain but I think the 35/L is marginally larger than the 1218.

[bobs409]

Walmart used to have AC's for $2.65 give or take! They have switched to Frams too. Fram must be wheeling and dealing to be taking over at all these stores.

In my area, it's getting hard to find AC filters! I never thought I'd say that but it's true. Last time I was at Advance auto, it looked like they too might be doing away with AC's as there were only a handful there.

There's always the Chevy dealers but you pay more there.

P.S. I bet Fram hates that guy that put that website up. Then again, I wonder if they know about it? Shhhhh.

[RodC]

A friend of mine had a fram filter fail in a motorcycle engine. They paid for all repairs in full.

I often wonder if Fram is not the victum of sheer numbers. They have to be the most popular filter out there so even if their failure rate was half of the others more people can say "I saw one fail" What if 90% of all cars were chevys? Even with a very low failure rate you would probably meet more folks who would say "one of them broke down on me"

People rely much more heavly on others to form opinions about something. I'm going to read the article again, but I have not seen any solid numbers that convince me. Most of his problems seem to be with the anti-drainback valve. I don't think the ole 350 chevy even has one in the filter? Plus every one I have seen has a metal jacket surrounding the filter material. I bet the new more exotic filters are giving a lot of the filter makers probs.

I have always used AC delco on all my chevys and fram on my other vehicles. The AC is not much more and looks better

I often wonder if the Quadra-Jet is also a victum of "Numbers" I wonder how many of them have been made vs others. To me they don't seem any worse than any other carb. And more "beginner" mechanics work on them leaving problems for others.

One more question, who makes Penske filters? I notice the article is going to review them. I picked up 18 of the PF36 equilvants and they look the same as the AC inside. I ONLY paid .29 cents each!

[nroden]

Looks like the next time that I change my oil I will switch from Penzoil to Castrol oil and from Fram to ACDelco Filter.

[TODDS 72]

I sell WIX and A/C DELCO at my shop.
Will be changing to carquest,I'm going to be a CARQUEST service
center,there filters are WIX just carquest on the box same no.s
I'll still keep the A/C DELCOS for the most popular GM #s.
Just my 2 cents.