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MG MGB Technical - Oil Fliter with Internal Valve?

Couple members of our club have asked the following question: “is there an oil filter with an internal valve that keeps oil from draining out when engine is shut off & that fits the top mount MGB spin-on filter unit.” If known, what brand offers this type of filter? Thanks
danny jacob

Danny They just about all have the anti drain back valve. Its the rubber flap that covers the ring of holes inside the filter. The valve that some filters don't have is the bypass valve. You can see that by looking up the large threaded hole (right up the end). If you use the correct number you cant get into trouble. People get into trouble by using a filter just because it fits, it may or may not work correctly under all circumstances.
DENIS4

Volvo filter: Mann W917
Mike
MK Mike

MK Mike:

Is the filter that a Volvo dealer provides the same filter? Thats what I have been using thinking it was the same but with Volvo label, but that was called into question recently on this board. Thanks in advance for clarifying if you can.

Erick
Erick Vesterback

If we new where you lived Danny somebody might be able to help with relevant and specific filter information.
Roger T

Well, it won't help to figure it out before you buy a filter, but if you want to know if the anti-drain valve is working in the filter you have, you can tell when you change the oil.

Let the car sit a while before you remove the filter. If the filter is empty when you take it off, it either does not have the valve, or it is not working. If it makes a mess, then it is working. At least you will know what to buy (or not buy) next time.

Roger, it is probably not easy to spot if you aren't from the states because he didn't use any upper case letters, but it looks like Danny is in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, USA.

Charley
C R Huff

As Denis says they probably all have anti drain-back valves but they are very variable in quality. You don't have to wait to change the oil to find the quality of the valve, just count the seconds before you get oil pressure and compare a few minutes with overnight with standing 2 weeks etc.

I used Unipart GFE121, Champion and Halfords for many years without concern, then I started reading that some of these drained back pretty-well instantly and consequently had a long pressure build-up time next start. I hadn't experienced that myself (at the time or since), but at about that time a certain MG club started advertising GFE121F filters with an 'improved' valve, and these are actually Fram PH2857A. Now if you read this - http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html you will see that some Fram filters do indeed have a better valve than others, but the PH is pretty poor. But by this time I had bought some, and found the pressure build time significantly longer than I had been used to on anything other than daily running, so I kept those the for the V8 which has a hanging filter.

Then I read that the Volvo/Mann filter (3517857-3/W917) was much better, so tried that and indeed it was, building pressure in about 3 secs after 2 weeks standing as opposed to about 10 secs, and that is after 12 months of use.

While I had the Volvo filter fitted I heard about the K&N Gold, and after much found a supplier in the UK (I'm only aware of 2) and got one, but it is no better than the Champion or Halfords but is about three or four times the price.

The Volvo seems readily available from any Volvo parts place as it was used on a wide range of models for a number of years, and whilst twice the price of the Champion/Halfords (but still cheaper than the K&N) has much better oil retention, so that will be my choice in future.
Paul Hunt

Thanks Paul for confirming what I thought about the Volvo filter. I find that oil pressure builds up quicker than the old Frams I was using (I assumed they were good quality because of the name). What I do when starting my car is to operate the starter without the choke for a few seconds (till oil pressure registers), then pull the choke and fire it up. I never hear (or have heard even when the engine was worn before the rebuild) any clacking of the bearings when I do this, so I suppose this pre-lubes the bearings pretty effectively. I wish I could do this on my modern Toyota, but it being all computerized, it starts up instantly. I am sure there is no prelubing in that case.
There is a thread on another board right now that talks about prelube units - I am not sure they would be much better than my method - does turning the engine with the starter until oil pressure registers cause near the amount of bearing wear as starting it fully with no pressure registering? I would think not.
Erick Vesterback

Danny, The second best rated oil filter is sold by NAPA under their gold label. The part number is 1068 and it is manufactured by WIX. I've used this filter for 20 years and find it to be a very high quality unit. RAY
RAY

I never had any problems using a Motorcraft FL 300 for several years.

Clifton
Clifton Gordon

Erik - unless you give it the gun immediately it fires and before you have oil pressure, I doubt cranking is little different to idling. Any bearing rattle you might hear is probably drowned out by the starter - original types anyway. I think you would have to release the compression and vacuum to make much difference. You can release the vacuum if you hold the throttle wide open, but then you get more compression. I've heard of electric pre-oiling pumps, they *would* make a difference, but whether that would make any practical difference to the life of the engine is a moot point - if one was replacing the big-ends and main bearings at the recommended intervals. I can't find it at the moment but I have seen a reference to replacing the big-ends every 25k and the mains every 30k (or something like it), but one would have to be particularly anal to stick to that instead of replacing both together at either of those limits.
Paul Hunt

This site has good prices and excellent service.
http://www.germanfilters.com/mann-917-oil-filter-p-54555.html
Hope this helps.
Tim
Tim Cooper

This thread was discussed between 29/05/2008 and 04/06/2008

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