Warning: My buddy in Anchorage swore by cheap oil filters and I paid for it

Matt told me to just buy the $4 filters from the gas station up here since "it's all the same inside." After 3,000 miles my truck started knocking real bad and the mechanic found sludge in the oil pan. Anyone else had a cheap filter wreck their engine in the cold?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_miles1mo ago

Bro, that's the worst. I ran a cheapo filter on my old F-150 one winter up here in Fairbanks and it basically turned into a solid brick of sludge after 2,500 miles. The cold just makes those gas station filters fall apart and dump all the junk right into your oil pan. Spend the extra $10 on a Wix or a Motorcraft, especially if you actually drive your truck in the winter.

daniel5521mo ago

Oh man, that's brutal but I gotta say it's actually not the cold that makes cheap filters fall apart. It's more about the hot oil breaking down the glue and paper inside, cold just makes it worse when you start up. The sludge buildup in Fairbanks is probably more about moisture and short trips than the filter dumping stuff in the pan.