Oil filter Fram or Bosch
I’ve just been purchasing Bosch filters from Halfords or eurocarparts. Oil I just use fully synthetic oil 5w30. I’ve had the car since 60k and it’s about to hit 100k and it’s still smooth as hell.
I would stick to Bosch, Mann & Mahle for filters.
I do my own. I can get a good STP or Fram filter and 5qt of high mileage oil for $32 at my local autozone, then maybe 20 minutes to do the actual oil change.
Use some seafoam in the oil before the oil change to clean deposits up. I use Rotella T6 5w40 with a high quality fram filter, XG16 if I remember correctly (avoid the orange). High zinc content in the oil is good for the lifters in these engines and the 40 is good for a high mileage engine with a wearing oil pump.
Fram actually makes the OEM Honda filters. The OEM filter is exactly the same as the Fram Tough Guard, just painted differently. The Fram Ultra is genuinely an awesome filter.
Ok... so as a DIY mechanic, how tight am I SUPPOSED to tighten oil filters? The box says 1 turn after gasket contact, so that's what I do. It gets pretty tight by the end of a full turn, but I'm still able to do it with my hand (so long as it has one of those rubber grip coated bottoms, like the Fram Tough-Guard). I never have to use a wrench to get it to that point, but it takes about all my hand grip strength to do so. Taking them off is usually requiring a strap wrench, and sometimes it dents/crushes the casing.
Fram made my oil light indicator flicker every time I turned from a stop.
Fram are by far the worst brand I've seen. Fram filters have cardboard caps on the element that can come apart. Some of them don't even crimp the ends of the element to prevent unfiltered oil from going through the gap.
when I took off the FRAM filter there was no oil that came out. After inspecting the filter it seems like it was not filtering out the oil at all. There seemed to be cleaner oil in it instead.
Just stay far far away from FRAM oil filters. I've had nothing but bad luck from those things.
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