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MG TD TF 1500 - Another Oil Filter Video

Looks like Fram still hasn't addressed their quality issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTNJLEV8CG8
Steve Simmons

Excellent video...thanks for posting, Steve.
Gene Gillam

Wixx/NAPA filters have issues as well....just talk with MGB owners and you will see why...including me. They are not what they once were.
L E D LaVerne

LaVerne, would you care to elaborate a bit more? I've been using NAPA Gold filters in the TD for years with no complaints.
Lew Palmer

Here goes Lew... This is from a post I made on another MG site a few years back and the problems related to thread issues with the filter which hasn't changed. The MGB site is filled with the same problem from more owners than I can count. The threads are also an issue on at least 6.0 GMC engines as well with the NAPA filters as well and they now sell a strap wrench and recommend that you over tighten the filter as compared to a normal hand tighten application. I came upon this as I had a problem with a couple of NAPA filters start seeping oil between the filter and the block and asked about them as well as the 1068's that I bought for decades.


The Post...

It isn't going to change folks. A few years back I ruined a filter head along with the number 4 wrist pin. I thought it was all on me until I saw others with the same issue with a filter that we hadn't had any issues with for 4 decades. I went to the NAPA store once owned by my brother in law and now my nephew. I sent him several links to the failures we had here which he forwarded to NAPA head quarters. They happen to be one of the top 5 producing NAPA stores in the country, so they do get more than a passing listen from the Main Office. I went in to the store and we had a conference call with the NAPA rep responsible for the Wixx NAPA relationship. I quizzed him about what in the process was now different since we never used to have this issue? My nephew confirmed that we had just pulled 5 1098 filters and had them sitting on the desk and out of those 5 , two we couldn't even get the correct bolt to start in the threads, two we could get started by hand but would bind up in short order and not turn the bolt in by hand. One we could turn the bolt in home by hand but met a great deal of resistance intermittently. The rep said nothing has changed. I told him my suspicians that the filters were now being made off shore as Wixx has plants world wide even though the packaging says Made in the USA. He's that they are still made in the US plant. I suspect they may be assembled in the US but that the threaded end caps are being produced in China. I have seen enough crappy thread forms on other products that lead me to that conclusion. He said they are not going to change anything as the problem we experience with the aluminium threads on the heads is less than a percent of where these filters go. I asked him what he suggested then? His response was to purchase Bosch filters, but not the ones made in the USA but the ones manufactured in Germany. He gave me the part number and had NAPA get me one. It's still in the box in my shop as I believe it is too short for the pipe riser.

Do yourself a favor and never buy a 1098 Wixx/NAPA filter again.
L E D LaVerne

There have been issues at some point with pretty much every oil filter out there. The Napa Gold issue was years ago, and I haven't heard of any problems since. Wix (who makes Napa Gold) has been a highly regarded filter for the B for decades. I personally prefer K&N but I wouldn't hesitate to use a Wix / Napa Gold if I was out of K&N units. But I think the real lesson is that Fram was a poor quality unit a decade ago and it hasn't improved since then.
Steve Simmons

In spite of my warnings about not using the Wix NAPA filters, I have been in both NAPA and Oreillys recently and checked the filters with a bolt and the thread issue has not been rectified to date.
L E D LaVerne

More discussions on the British Car Forum in the Pub section. PJ

www.britishcarforum.com
PJ Jennings

This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy. People who's opinion I respect (based on their contributions here and on other forums) have entirely different experiences with the same product. In my former career I witnessed equally qualified Psychiatrists claim a defendant was insane while the other claimed he was sane. So you guys are in good company. :-)

Tim
Timothy Burchfield

I installed a Wix filter on a friend's car not long ago and it threaded on fine. It spun on with no resistance whatsoever. That said, a little bit of resistance is actually not a bad thing in this case. Certainly better than a loose fitting thread.

Have you measured the threads of your oil filter mount and of whatever type of bolt you're using? Keep in mind that not all threads are created equal. Hardware store bolts are mostly Chinese garbage and are notoriously inaccurate in my experience, especially in the larger sizes which I find tend to run thick in the root diameter. Look at a high quality die set and you'll notice they are adjustable for depth of cut. These days I no longer buy any critical hardware from local stores. They are never up to spec, unfortunately.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that threading a hardware store bolt into something is not necessarily the same as threading it onto an oil filter mount with a precision cut thread. Next time if you're stuck with only a Napa or Wix available, try actually threading it onto the car, not just onto a random bolt. If the MGB crowd are the only ones having issues in a world where thousands of Napa and Wix filters are sold daily, then I tend to think the filters aren't the problem. Just one guy's opinion of course.

Tim, the difference is that insanity is merely a matter of perspective. Whether a thread fits or not can be determined by simply trying it! ;)
Steve Simmons

Steve I know you have a B but I'm not sure which filter mount you have. If you have the later style with the aluminum threaded filter adapter then you know that you don't just have a go throwing a questionable threaded filter on it. Good way to ruin your adapter. With steel thread mounts It isn't an issue. The bolt I use is not a cheapo Chinese made piece of crap . Just feeling inside the threaded opening of one of the filters tells me all I need to know. They are rough cut and full of burrs. Like I said on the other site. My suspician is that the bases are made in China and shipped all over the world to use in the making of the filter. Just a guess on my part. As for the rest of the filter..just fine I assume and if you are mounting to a steel thread...probably ok...however as I said before ..they have had issues even there and issued a memo that the for the 6 liter GMC would need to be tightened more than by hand because of loosening...again a thread issue I would imagine.
L E D LaVerne

I have four cars here using spin-on adapters. A B with a factory inverted mount, another B with a Moss unit, an A (with '63 B engine) using an adapter on of unknown origin, and an XPAG using a Marino adapter (which uses the same filter as a B). It's been a long time since I've used a Wix or Napa on one of my own cars but I don't recall ever having an issue with any of them. Others like yourself have reported having issues but I can't comment on that because I haven't seen it happen up close.

Pretty much everything is cheap Chinese hardware these days unless you mail order the expensive stuff. I hate that! :(
Steve Simmons

Thanks for your filter comments and suggestions. What is the recommended K&N filter number for a Grunau late TD spin-on head?
W Worden

The K&N part number for the Grunau, Taras or Marino adapters is HP-2009.
Steve Simmons

This thread was discussed between 28/12/2018 and 03/01/2019

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.