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Oil Filter

11K views 40 replies 7 participants last post by  Montemike  
#1 ·
Hello everyone,

My wife drives a 2003 Silverado 2500 gasser 6.0 we’ve had it since it was new. I changed the oil today and was thinking that the AC Delco filter PF 46E is such a small filter for a 6.0 motor. I am wondering if anyone has cross referenced to a bigger filter? My work car is a 3.8 V6 Monte Carlo and the filter for it is as big or bigger than the truck filter.
 
#2 ·
PF46E is what this engine was designed with. The bigger the filter doesn't mean better.

People say PF61E works on PF46E applications but I cannot verify for certain and pretty much you do that at your own risk. Supposedly PF61 does not have anti drain back I do not know if that carries over to the PF61E
 
#3 ·
The PF59 is a longer filter, was used on the 2wd trucks, the 4wd trucks use the shorter filter. Why, reduces vulnerability.

The PF59 is no longer made, I'm guessing GM decided it was safer to keep the bottom of the filter away from the ground and/or snow.
Here are some cross refs

 
#5 ·
Hello everyone,

My wife drives a 2003 Silverado 2500 gasser 6.0 we’ve had it since it was new. I changed the oil today and was thinking that the AC Delco filter PF 46E is such a small filter for a 6.0 motor. I am wondering if anyone has cross referenced to a bigger filter? My work car is a 3.8 V6 Monte Carlo and the filter for it is as big or bigger than the truck filter.
your wifes truck uses a wix 51042XP oil filter .......................................my 2000 5.3L truck uses the same oil filter and the filter works perfectly ..filter is strong with a great filter size ,,,also I use a pure one purolator oil filter great filter.
I dumped newGM /ac delco and fram oil filters. I cut them open, looked at them
 
#11 ·
My 2 cents says that an E-core is just a money saving exercise in construction.
Under only 40 psi of pressure, how can a plastic core be better than a steel core.
The plastic core and a plastic gasket permit very fast and cheap RF welding.

When it comes to a filter, the filtering material is all important, and my 2 cents say that any filter under $5 does not have a long life filter.

There are very few filter manufacturing companies.

GM does not make filters. Currently, the GM filters are made by Champion Labs; but not long ago, they were made by Honeywell.

And every manufacturer has cheap lines and higher priced high quality lines.

I know there is a big hate on Fram filters, I use Fram filters. I use the Fram Ultra Synthetic. I want a filter that will outlive the oil that it's filtering.

Oh, by the way, the Honeywell Company that made the AC Delco filters also made the Fram filters.
 
#16 ·
My 2 cents says that an E-core is just a money saving exercise in construction.
Under only 40 psi of pressure, how can a plastic core be better than a steel core.
The plastic core and a plastic gasket permit very fast and cheap RF welding.

When it comes to a filter, the filtering material is all important, and my 2 cents say that any filter under $5 does not have a long life filter.

There are very few filter manufacturing companies.

GM does not make filters. Currently, the GM filters are made by Champion Labs; but not long ago, they were made by Honeywell.

And every manufacturer has cheap lines and higher priced high quality lines.

I know there is a big hate on Fram filters, I use Fram filters. I use the Fram Ultra Synthetic. I want a filter that will outlive the oil that it's filtering.

Oh, by the way, the Honeywell Company that made the AC Delco filters also made the Fram filters.
These filters are made by Champion labs which is owned by First Brands group the parent company of FRAM.

These same AC Delco E-Core filter design is carried over to the Super Tech oil filters also manufactured by Champion Labs.

The Super Tech oil filters claim 10,000 mile protection with a 99% filtration efficiency so this gives a clear idea on how long these AC Delco filters are designed to last.

The E-Core is as strong as a steel core it is not regular plastic and the E-core allows for more oil flow.

I do not believe in 7,500+ mile intervals especially on modern vehicles with turbo's and direct injection. 3,500 for synthetic blend and the max I would go is 6,000 with fully synthetic but that is only if I am in a bind and cannot afford to do it for some reason otherwise 4,500-5,000. I do not care what anyone says about lab tests.

Either way these filters are designed to last the manufacturer specified intervals.
 
#12 ·
I will continue to use the ac delco and Castrol. It’s worked for me on many vehicle, S10’s, Monte Carl’s, two door SS Tahoe and my current Monte Carlo work car has 181,500 and running strong. Three of the S10‘s were over 300’000 mile. I’m sure I missed a few other vehicle. I had a 1999 3,1 V6 Monte Carlo that went over 400,00 miles the motor was never opened up, just maintenance and wear items.
 
#13 ·
I will continue to use the ac delco and Castrol. It’s worked for me on many vehicle, S10’s, Monte Carl’s, two door SS Tahoe and my current Monte Carlo work car has 181,500 and running strong. Three of the S10‘s were over 300’000 mile. I’m sure I missed a few other vehicles. I had a 1999 3.1 V6 Monte Carlo that went over 400,00 miles the motor was never opened up, just maintenance and wear items.
 
#17 ·
@Furious everyone has there own version of what's best for their vehicle.
As everyone knows, I use synthetic, I changed to synthetic many years ago because I was looking for easier mid winter cold weather starts.
The old conventional oil caused a lot of drag on the engine, it would turn very slowly and you prayed it would fire.
The synthetic let's the starter spin the engine like it was a summer day in January.
And my other thought was if the starter is having a hard time moving the oil, how is the oil pump going to push oil, that's as thick as glue, through the engine?
At the other end of the temp spectrum, tow a trailer on a hot day and the conventional oil will break down and the synthetic will stand the temp.
There are so many advantages to synthetic. I do not understand why anyone wouldn't use it.
And it can be expensive; but buy it at Costco and it's very well priced. And, in my opinion, cheap synthetic is better than the most expensive fossil oil.
My truck was spec'ed to use fossil oil, the oil change light program flips the light on when it thinks the oil should be changed, around 5,000 miles (sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more). I like the oil light; but I don't use it. Knowing I have synthetic I change around 8, sometimes 9, thousand miles. It comes out as good as it went in, the secret is a good filter.

I'm not trying to convert anyone, not trying to start any arguments; just stating everyone is different and here is what I do.
 
#18 ·
There is advantages to synthetic yes I agree completely however 2 of the advantages can be the downfall for older vehicles.

Synthetic oil has better cleaning properties which is great on vehicles that been running it since new or low mileage however on older vehicles that have been running conventional their whole life it can be a problem because you could have an old engine that has no leaks or only a tiny seepage and by switching to full synthetic those cleaning properties can end up causing some build up to get cleaned off that may have been preventing a seal from leaking.

As a result a non-leaking engine may start leaking because of full synthetic and on GM vehicles you have to worry about the rear main seal.

The other issue is because synthetic oil flows more it can get through what was a tiny seepage before that conventional couldn't really make it through but the synthetic can so you now have an active leak.

So aside from those 2 possibilities full synthetic is superior. And obviously if you live in a very cold environment in winter you have no choice.

I have run conventional oil in -5F no issues on vehicles but I also let my vehicles idle for a good 5 minutes minimum during cold starts and I use a product call Prolong on my vehicles which is an anti-friction additive.

My 2003 S10 4.3 was running Supertech conventional 5w30 (Same thing as Costco conventional) and where I live now the winters don't reach -5F other then rare occasions but we do reach 10F frequently but as soon as I fire the truck up it gets oil pressure immediately. However conventional oil is no longer available by me and oil companies are phasing it out completely and replacing it with the "All Mileage" which is a synthetic blend and that is what my truck runs now more specifically I run QuakerState 5w30 All Mileage.


I am actually a huge Purolator fan but I don't see any logical reason to spend $11 when I can spend $4 for an oil filter that does the job perfectly fine for my oil change intervals. I believe the majority of vehicles that shipped new with these E-Core filters have around a 7,500 recommended interval so there is still a good gap between 7,500 miles and 10,000 miles even if you go with the manufacturer recommended interval which again I do not agree with.

It is not made for people who go with extended oil changes such as that new 20,000 mile oil they come out with obviously in that case you need to buy a filter that fits that application.
 
#22 ·
Yea everything is tracked, I even notice when speaking about things around my phone sometimes ads randomly appear on sites about the same exact thing I was speaking about.

But yea I don't know much about this Auto Guide but they list AC Delco as a top oil filter with the E-Core and they even mention " According to ACDelco, this filter’s nylon core is 1.5 times stronger than filters with metal cores. " but I will say one thing about these filters yes they come pre-lubed with what seems like petroleum jelly but it is so thin and barely there that I still lube it with oil.
 
#30 · (Edited)
My thinking...
engines like clean oil and clean filters the best.
Packaging, I bought an oil filter 4 days ago at AutoZone for a 2021 Corolla, looked at the K&N, Mobile One and Andy Granateli's brand. The STP was the only only out of the 3 that had the inlet/outlet ports covered with cellophane in the box for shipping.
End Caps, On an '09 and '15 Corolla the 1.8l engines that I've seen use those no can, element only change filters. Compared those to STP. STP was the only one I saw on the shelf in the box that had a Metal end cap, the rest were either fiber or plastic.
First Impressions!

And you know? I like that 1" nut on K&N filters for the that added just in case factor in tight spaces, I've mangled Waaay too many oil filters in my life time.

And Yeah, I've bought into the Hype, I won't buy Fram (or Firestone for that matter)...or Nike.

Oh, and I've had a new Purolator leak at it's seam before....
 
#31 ·
First thing to consider, there are only a very few companies that make filters. Most filters, including ACDelco are make by one of those few companies. GM, like most other retailers look for the cheapest that will fit their spec, they change manufactoring companies from time to time.

Loose, like a lot of ours you say "I don't buy Fram".
Fram, like most companies, offers a large line of filters, from the real cheap to the high performance.
Don't buy the cheap filter from any company.
Buy a good performance filter and it doesn't matter who makes it, or who's name is on it.

Loose take a look at # 2

 
#32 ·
I have used Castrol GTX for years, with which ever weight the manufacturer recommended and throw in some slick 50 around every 60,000 miles change the oil and filter every 5,000 miles and proper maintenance. I know you all are talking about trucks but my current work car is a 2003 Monte Carlo that I drive 110 miles a day and it’s got a little over 190,000 miles right now and I will drive it for another 100,000 miles before I retire. I have done the same with three S10s over the years the last S10 we gave to our daughter and it had 375,000 on it when we gave it to her. She drove it locally to work for six years while she saved up money to buy her self a new vehicle. The oil now days is much better than the oil we used to get when I first started driving. I’m not sure that synthetic is worth the extra money. Our 2019 diesel came with synthetic oil in it so I will run the synthetic oil in it. My Monte gets 29 miles to the gallon my drive to work is half and half highway driving and city. My last Monte went 60 miles short of 400,000 miles before it died and I scraped it for $200 on Craig’s list. Some one wanted it for parts if you can believe that. 😀
 
#33 ·
I wonder where the name Castrol came from? Was it ever blended with beans?
I still can remember the smell of bean mix out at the moto-X track out in the 110 degree desert.
And I've seen old advertisements online it being used as a laxative...
 
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#37 ·
Yeah, it's probably a proprietary secret, part of the additive package... but then again you would think they would have tried a little harder to not make their secret so obvious!
 
#36 ·
old engines use conventional oil . prior to the 1999 engines .the GM engines when I bought my 2000 silverado the castrol 10-30wt conventional oil starts up cold .. then the engine has piston slaps... I looked up forum members then changed synthetic oil .. I changed the mobil 1 synthetic oil at 10k miles on the odometer .. I had no piston slap... then over the years I changed the viscosity to 5-30wt ... and the engine works the same ... now my 2000 truck has no issues no oil drop ..I use pure one purolator / wix oil filters .. oil pressure when its cold starts up 65psi on cold temps then the engine oil pressure at 190F 40-45 psi at idle .....................
now new engines have small engine oil ports internal .. the conventional oil flows resistance thru the small engine oil ports also air intake into the moist air the engine conventional oil has sludge.. many have forum members that create sludge and tappet noise ..
 
#40 ·
I *think consensus would be go with the "High Mileage" labels. I *think "High Mileage" is a blend.
Gosh, and here I go. I'm not a Chemist but from reading with my abused brain, Most "Synthetic" labeled Engine Oils have a certain amount of dino oil in them (blends). I *think the closest to true "synthetic" is Amsoil, one of them anyway, and No I'm not a distributer of Amsoil, Nutrisystem, Fuller Brush or Amway.......
Me? If my motor ran good for 100K mile with no leaks and no smoke I would just keep doin what I'm doin, the, "If It Ain't Broke, Don't Break It Thing"...Experimenting on a 100K motor sounds iffy to me.

Ok, Roy, tear me a new one...
 
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#41 ·
I did do some research on Castrol. It does has a small amount of castor bean oil in it. I think that I will stick with what I have been doing. The truck only has so many miles on it because I drove it to work about half a year. I change it every six months anyway because of the low mileage of it being used around town and here at our small farm.