Using after market oil filters will void the warrenty.. What?

Originally Posted by houkouonchi

This is exactly why I get all my oil changes at the dealer.

Originally Posted by 6MT

I'm not sure what "crappy" American company you work for. But, many of my customers are Manufacturer Dealers (ie: GM, Ford, Honda, etc.). To them, warranty work is where they make their money in their service bays. If it wasn't for the warranty work, their service departmants would be out of business. And it has happened that some have closed their service bays because they aren't getting enough warranty work. So I'm not sure your explanation above holds water with a lot of dealers.

Originally Posted by MyZ4U2C

Believe me, Dealers do not like to help customers who dont service through their dealer..why would they? When I talk to Service Managers the first thing that usually comes up is the customers loyalty to the dealer and I may push to help some customers but the dealer plays a part in assistance and I am talking about customers who call in when they are out of warranty looking for help or were denied warranty due to lack of maintaining vehicle, the dealer is going to push for a customer who is loyal vs someone who doesnt service through them and all receipts for oil changes ect will be needed, If you are not loyal and use aftermarket parts and IRF's you are going to have a much harder time.

Originally Posted by 6MT

It's been my experience (25 years) that dealers are quite happy to get money from where ever they can. Loyalty, while on the surface "looks" important, is not the be-all/end-all of business practices. Especially when dealers charge outrageous prices for their services. People stay away from them. So warranty work can, and is, the bread & butter of a lot of dealership service departments.

Originally Posted by MyZ4U2C

Warranty work is done at less of a cost vs a normal repair where warranty prices are not used, the Manufacturing company pays lower labor and the part is paid at warranty cost without the markup, sure it is part of doing business, but dealers do not rely on just warranty work, the point here is, If you dont service through a dealer and only bring warranty work, the dealer most likely wont stand behind you. period! I should know, I do work for a warranty claims center lol

Originally Posted by 6MT

That's not right! Warranty work is charged to the manufacturer at full cost (labour & parts). My local GM dealewrship absolutely loves warranty work. They make the most profit on it. Now the Manufacturer.... they are the big losers.

Originally Posted by modme

All I can say is the Nissan OEM filter is one of the worse oil filters you can ever use for your car.

Originally Posted by modme

All I can say is the Nissan OEM filter is one of the worse oil filters you can ever use for your car.

Originally Posted by kenchan

really? why in the world would Nissan use it then considering all the potential warranty costs?

Originally Posted by Motor25

I have about 750 miles on my G37 now and I was thinking of changing the oil for the first time. I've always wondered what an OEM filter looked like inside. I had some free time today and decided to find out.

I visited my local dealer today and bought myself a 15208-65F0C, the stock-sized filter specified for a 2008 G37. The guy at the counter said it's the same filter used for the G35. It costs about $7/ea.

I had an extra Purolator oil filter at home. It costs about $3 (sometimes $0.01 after rebate) and is readily available at PepBoys.
NOTE: The Purolator oil filter I used is L14610. It's the longer version of the L14612 which is listed on the Purolator website as the oil filter for G37s.

Here's some pics:

Nissan OEM oil filter


Purolator oil filter


The Purolator filter is larger than the OEM filter


Now it's time to cut these open! Prepare to be shocked and disappointed.

NOTE: For those of you who've read about oil filters, you probably know that Fram has the worst reputation amongst widely available oil filters. They tend to have flimsy cans and, most disturbingly, their filter elements are made with weak cardboard end caps that can collapse or fragment in hot oil. Good filters, like Mobil 1, Purolator PureONE, and K&N are made with heavy metal "skeletons" that will neither collapse nor break down in hot oil.

OEM filter bottom


OEM filter cut open (I immediately noticed the cardboard endpiece)


Everything inside the OEM filter laid out


Close up of the OEM filter's cardboard endpiece


Time to open up the Purolator

Purolator filter bottom


Purolator filter cut open (Metal endpieces)


Everything inside the Purolator filter laid out


Close up of the Purolator's metal endpiece


Side-by-side comparo of both filters (Purolator on the left, OEM on the right). The Purolator filter element is approx 2 1/2" tall with 50 pleats vs the OEM filter element which is approx 1 7/8" tall with only 41 pleats. More pleat area = better filtering ability.


Filter top


Filter bottom


Anti-drainback valve (Purolator is made with a thicker, better quality rubber. OEM was thinner and felt flimsy)


Bypass valve


So what did I learn from all this? Pretty simple... the OEM oil filter is basically a Fram in disguise. Will I ever use one in my G37? Probably not.

Also note that the Purolator filter that I used was the PremiumPLUS filter. Purolator also makes their top oil filters called PureONE, which costs more ($5-$6). The PureONE filters are even better than the PremiumPLUS Purolators. I'll try and open one of those too when I get a chance.

So what's the best oil filter to use in our cars? You can't go wrong with any of these:

Purolator PureONE
Mobil 1
AMSOil
Bosch
K&N
Napa Gold

If you wanna save some money and do regular oil change intervals, any of these oil filters will suffice. Hell, anything's better than a Fram/OEM Nissan oil filter.

Purolator PremiumPLUS
SuperTech
STP
AC Delco
Valucraft (Autozone brand)

I've heard good things about the $2 SuperTech oil filters at Wal-Mart. That may be another viable option. I gotta read up some more and maybe cut one open. I plan on doing my first oil change in a couple of days.

Anyway, hope this post was informative for you guys.

Happy motoring!