I am about to start the cleaning phase soon, and was wondering if you had any filter suggestions. I normally use a Motorcraft FL 820s. Should I use a cheapo filter, or something decent? I guess I wondering about the filter becoming clogged.
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2001 Ford Ranger, 4.0 V6. Mobil 1 0w-30, Motorcraft FL 820s filter, 3oz Auto Rx
Use an inexpensive filter, the majority of crud you clean will be laying on the metal ready to go into filter and it will be the rinse mode that will lift it off the engine parts and deposit it to the filter.
Thanks for the reply. I understand, so a Super Tech would do the trick for the cleaning phase. What about the rinse phase? I guess that's when the filter is most important
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2001 Ford Ranger, 4.0 V6. Mobil 1 0w-30, Motorcraft FL 820s filter, 3oz Auto Rx
Although there is certainly a chance that you'll luck out and get a good Motorcraft filter I'd personally chose anything but until Purolator addresses the quality control issues.
Sometimes you can get a bigger filter to fit your car. For example, I have a 1994 Camry and the standard filter is tiny. If you go to the purolator website you can see the filter specifications for each filter they make. I am able to get a Motorcraft 400s which is about 50% taller and increase my oil capacity to 4 qts total. The bigger the filter area or the more room you have to catch stuff. also a bigger filter will slightly increase the oil capacity.
Here is a photo of a Motorcraft FL-400S taken off of a 1996 Camry V6: http://www.positivespin.us/100_1689.JPG Look at all that crud that was on the threaded side of the filter. What is not apparent from this photo is that the media seam was not sealed, which could have allowed this junk to pass right back into the engine unfiltered had conditions been right.
Motorcraft filters are only warranted for Ford vehicles. After seeing this example I quickly realized it was too risky to use on a Toyota.
