fuel filter no longer in plastic baggy inside box??. Made in china Stanadyne looking

[schiker]

I went by Carquest and they have a traditional looking metal cap filter but its just in the paperboard box and no plastic bag. I thought a diesel filter should be inside a plastic bag. Kinda crappy its suppose to filter 5 ish microns but rattling around loose in a cardboard box with a bit of box fiber lint on the rubber lip on the bottom. And its made in China uhhhggg.

Didn't the Stanadyne filters use to come in a plastic bag? I said something to the parts guy and he said ... I haven't seen a fuel filter in a plastic bag in 40 years.

I went by Napa and the store only had the newer style with integral plastic cap also loose in the box.

Do true Stanadyne filters still come in plastic bags? Seems I remember they were sealed but could have been a cover only.

Its been too long since I changed the filter and I let it go last time but seeing the lint? on the rubber seal bothered me and I thought I would ask.

I looked at one from Oreily's and the metal cap had some burrs on perforrations under the lip for the castleations of manager housing. No warm and fuzzy there and the white inner seal looked off center to the black seal on the media. I said no thanks on that one and they did not have any more. It wasn't in plastic bag either.

 

[iamdave0887]

yes they still come in the bags. The ones we stock at work are the "old" style metal capped element that requires the black hold down ring. All the ones i see there, and all the ones i buy locally are all in little plastic bags inside the boxes. Even the ones for my 6.2, which is a rectangular metal box filter, come in plastic bags. The last few i bought didn't, but they were very old(circa mid 90s or so).

 

[GM Guy]

does anyone know if there is a purpose for the small stainless ring that I removed when I changed the filter on my 1999? I removed the plastic ring and this stainless ring before putting on the unitized filter.

my unitized filter did come in a plastic bag. it was a wix.

 

[schiker]

There is a little metal ring if I remember correctly looks like an "L" in cross section that is part of the seal on the Stanadyne filter. I think its to support the thin rubber seal. Maybe to also provide some "crush" for the metal top and ensure a nice "flat" mating or a better knife edge (small contact area) for the seal to lip seal in case the manager casting and or filter meal head are not perfectly flat together from mfg tolerances.

Maybe the the sharp knife edge will bite into the metal top of the filter better and requires less torque on the black ring. So it helps with some "crush" ???

I felt I buggered a seal up once and the ring fell off. I had very little confidence the seal was still good so threw the filter away and installed another one. Sometimes they will stick to the filter manager when you pull up the old filter iirc.

Any other thoughts?


So what brands have ya'll seen that come in plastic bags vs loose in the box? Would you trust an absolute filter 5 micron rating loose in a box. It doesn't bother me near as much on a lube filter that is multi pass and internal clearances are .002" or more. But yeah a 5 micron filter should be clean and protected in my mind.

Looking around some more on internet pictures the newer common rail filters seem to mostly all come in sealed bags (but those are more fragile systems).

Do you think the industry has some convention to bag 2 or 5 micron rating filters and not 10 micron or bigger ???? Or its just a cheap off shore sub contracted supplier not bagging them?

 

[jrsavoie]

I'd stick with a good, name brand filter. There's way to much at stake at that point in the system to cheap out.

 

[great white]

Meh, ordered a Donaldson last year for my 6.5. It didn't come in a bag and was stamped "Stanadyne" in the bottom metal support.

The metal ring:

Is a backup ring that keeps the seal in the proper shape:

And forces the seal out into the sealing area while preventing the filter "top" from deforming it while tightening:

Added insurance against improper installation and leaks.

 

[schiker]

I called a local Stanadyne distributor and he said his were in a plastic bag in a Stanadyne box. About the same price within a dollar or 2. I am going with that one.
I wonder if when Stanadyne sells to other mfg's to rebox they are bulk packaged and reboxed depending on distributor. And its a cost savings thing or attention to detail thing.

I guess it all depends on how long its been a box / how much its been moved around, how sturdy the box is, the quality of paperboard box material, and how clean the storage area is as to the danger or possiblity of contamination. I feel better if it was in a plastic bag.

Now don't go telling me the Stanadyne factory is so dirty they have to bag them to keep them clean. I don't unwrap my Mexican food. It tastes better not know it looks like baby poop inside.

I like having a warm and fuzzy feeling when I think I am putting in a hermetically sealed clean filter. I am sure its bothered me before looking at the bagless filter but seeing the lint? on the filter seal gave me a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[WarWagon]

The New wix filter I got had a rubber o ring square gasket to be installed on the FFM. I like the new style as they are not keyed to the FFM and have the metal ring etc fall out of you mess the filter clocking up on install.

The whole factory filter design sucks in general... But I don't have the funds to get a real one.