Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Sorry about repost, but I thought this Discussion may get more interest.

FYI: I have a few leftover oil filters from 1988 and 1998 as noted on the boxes of filters.

An inquiring mind wants to know:

Should I Donate the Fram's because of the construction issues?

Are the other filters or Fram still safe to use and no old filter bits will go into the oil and cause havoc?

I've read many forums and if the media wasn't exposed to moisture and no rust (except a slight rust spot here or there?) you're OK. Plus some avid Elite and Longtime MG parts distributor said Don't Worry be Happy!

Would you use them?

Because I'm paranoid, I bought some New Fancy Synthetic Oil Filters - NAPA PFL 41393 (onsale now $8.99/ reg $11.99) (equivalent to Wix filter 51393XP). Two Days of research!

Look Below for Pics of the various filters I own...I won't run out too soon! Probably have them thirty years from now!

Enjoy!

I've put worse on and never blinked an eye. I just changed filter on my Sprint and had a couple spare odds/ends filters and tried to verify their application to the Lotus without success, even though i could see they fit, same thread size, etc. I had "STP" brand, which is a known name brand, but couldn't cross reference that either.
All this to say, i'm sure a simple filter will do it's job for 3,000 miles (or one driving season) and there were lots of off-brand copies out there not as well known as the major name brands.

disclaimer = I am NOT an authority, just my 2 cents

IMHO if it fits and you're changing the oil every few thousand miles I wouldn't worry.
As discussed on your other thread the elan doesn't drain so only basic filter required.
When you bought them you were happy with them so use them!

I am not sure how helpful or relevant this is, but a long time ago I worked for a mining company. We operated a fleet of off highway dump trucks from 45 to 200 ton capacity. The environment was hot and dusty or hot and muddy. The engines were GM two Stoke diesel with a few Caterpillar. These engines were supposed to run for 10000 hours between overhauls, we could not achieve this life, our engines failed in a spectacular and expensive manner.

Our breakthrough came in the form of oil analysis, which showed three main contaminants, fuel, silica and metal. We changed our service regime to combat these problems, which resulted in an oil firer change every day, and an oil change every three days. We also changed the air fitters more frequently, but I cannot remember what it was, other than that most of the silica in the oil was due to poor air filtration. This resulted in achieving the service life of 10000 hours that the manufacturers said we should expect.

If you want to worry yourself further, look at a filter manufacturers web site such as Donaldson. At the time my vehicle was VW beetle that didn't have a filter and it ran just fine.

Richard Hawkins

I have used NOS oil filters on all my classic cars for years without problems. As two of my cars use the same filter I bought a job lot of around fifty twenty years ago at a price that amounted to less than ?1 per filter and don't expect to ever have to buy another one! I have around twenty TC filters too. As long as they are clean inside and don't show any signs of damage or corrosion I can't see there would be a problem. The choice of oil you use is likely to be much more significant!

Nigel F.

As somebody who also has a case of NOS filters, I guess the biggest concern I'd have is material deterioration, particularly adhesives. And stored in their boxes in a cool, dry place, I doubt there's much to worry about there because the air circulation needed to attack adhesives, etc. isn't present.

Stick a plain filter on a shelf in the sun and I'd be more concerned. Seems to me you're going to see the filter falling apart in your oil if that is happening.

Curiously, I think paper filters are far more stable than ones with high-tech filtration material, particularly if it's plastic of some sort. The nice foam padding that lined the back of my Audi Avant comes to mind -- it took over 10 years to turn to a nasty, messy powder, but turn it did. Sunlight was, however, involved.