Just how good is the OEM fuel filter?

Well, it should come as no surprise - not very. I changed my OEM, and decided to drain off the bottom (dirty side) of the Mega (post OEM) into a glass jar. Man what a bunch of crap came out! I'm not talking huge amounts, but stuff I could SEE.

I'd be really curious to know if anyone else has tried this???

John,

I'm just running the OEM filter (yet) and each time I've changed the filter I have drained the dirty side and have not seen a significant amount of sediment. Yes some, but not what I would consider alot. I change at the recommended time of 15K. Cut the filter open to look and have not been alarmed! I know alot of testing has been done on your part and others, but feel where fuel is bought will determine how dirty a filter will get or last. (Learned this early on when I was running an early 6.2 that fueling at cheap stations is not a good idea.) So I fuel mainly at Shell stations here in the state as I know where there fuel comes from and when I'm out of state only at busy truck stops and then use the additives (Total Power).

But with all the evidence that the OEM filter is not up to par, I will be adding a second filter this spring as a preventive measure.

Here is my take on this:

I have looked at the fuel from the tank, output of OEM and output of supplemental filter in a glass beaker while holding it up to the sunlight. After each filtration pass, the fuel gets cleaner. However, even after passing through all the filters, there were still particles present (though very difficult to visually see, needed sunlight to really see the effect).

Now look at the Fuel Test reports that have been taken and sent to AVLUBE. In these test reports, the number of particles in the fuel decrease with each subsequent filter pass. So this correlates with what the eye sees. HOWEVER, in no case did the number of particles go to zero. There are still a substantial number of particles present per milliliter of fuel.

So even if you cascaded two Mega filters together, I would expect to see particles, on the dirty side of the second Mega, laying at the bottom of the filter. There would just be fewer than what is on the bottom of the first Mega filter.

I have a Filtermag on the OE, Filtermag on the Mega, and of course both filters.

I recently made a trip to MI where I filled at 2 different stops, PLUS my local vendor had a pump problem so he filled me from a different tank. The meter wasn't right (said 34 gallons in 34 gal tank and I JUST hit the low fuel light, but this tank has a filter on it and I know the main one does not...


Multipass, multipass, multipass...

Really puts the amount of dirt processed per tank into perspective! :eek: