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HELP - where's my oil pressure gone ??

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Bruce B

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1965 BJ8. I've just changed my oil and filter (spin-on Fram PH3600 replaced with Super Tech ST3600) and I now have zero oil pressure - that's right nada ... none !!

I put the old filter back one, and I'm back to my normal 50 Lbs immediatly. I also bought a spare filter, so I tried that. Same again, no oil pressure. I ran the car for 30+ seconds to let the oil circulate through the filter (yes, I did fill it up first) and still nothing !!

The filters look identical and the new SP3600 says on it that it replaces the Fram PH3600.

Anyone else had this problem ? What's going on ? Surly I couldn't have bought 2 bad filters.

I just hope I've not done any engine damage.

Thanks. Bruce.
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i heard a story at the parts store the other day. it was about some guy did an oil change , put in a new Fram filter. the filter was defective and lost his motor. word on the street is some of these filters are NFG. Beware. i went home and promptly replaced my Fram with another make of filter. better safe than sorry
..Glad you were paying attention to oil pressure guage.. kinda why i have one hanging of the dash in my midge....need to get that baby installed in the dash...
 
Well I just bough a new Fram PH3600 (the same as the one I took off) and still no oil pressure. The old fiter works fine. Could it be something like a pressure relief valve inside the filter ?

Bruce.
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Bruce

Did your spin on filter adaptor come with the 3600? My spin-on set up uses a PH16 or or PL10017 from Purolator.

Everything I've read about the Walmart filters says they're manufactured by Champion, like MANY others and they are good stuff.
 
BruceB:
Never use FRAM on an English car, spend more and get something reliable. I once used a FRAM on a customers Ford truck and it did the same no pressure. Replace with something from your main Healey supplier, never, never take the easy and quick way out with your precious baby.
Larry
 
Bruce,

The PH3600 & other brands of the same type do work with the spin on adapter which is sold by Moss & others. I personally use the K&N HP-2009 filter. It and the PH-3600 are commonly used on the 94-99 Mustang V6.

Something REALLY STRANGE is going on. I don't think that the question of "what is wrong" is answered yet. It is true that Fram is probably not the highest quality filter available, but -- we are talking about a total blockage failure, not just low quality.

The oil flow path through the filter is that oil goes in through the holes around the outside of the base, through the filter media, & back out through the center hole. There is a "rubber" flapper ring/valve covering the outer ring of base holes which acts as a one way valve to let oil into the filter but prevent it from draining back out.

For the filter to cause a complete blockage either the flapper valve would have to be completely stuck shut or something inside is really screwed up. The chances of this "just happening" are slim to none. It has to be a serious manufacturing problem of at least one batch of filters or maybe more.

I am sure that the Fram quality control people would be very interested in this problem. On the bad filters, you could try pushing the flapper valve back away from the holes with a blunt poker such as a pencil to see if it is stuck although this won't tell if something inside is really wrong.

I for one, would really like to know what is going on & I'll bet that there are other curious souls also.
D
 
While this may not be an answer to the problem, check the length of the tube the filter spins onto, then see if the depth of the hole in the filter is deeper. It could be that the tube is bottoming out, or if there are side ports in the tube, they might be restricted or sealed by the filter's inner construction.

While this has nothing to do with your problem, I remember when we were selling the early Healeys in Salt Lake we were having some filter problems. It seems there were two brands of filter assemblies used by the manufacturer, both using felt filters. It seems that the flow was opposite in the cannister and the wrong filter cartridge would either not filter, or allow the felt to be forced away from the screen into the outlet passage and restricting it. I remember having to stock both types, one with the screen on the outside of the felt, the other on the inside. Seems far fetched nowdays, but shows that not all things operate as logic indicates. After all, were dealing with LBCs aren't we.

I'm curious as to what you finally find out.
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Dave T & bluspit

[ 06-16-2003: Message edited by: Dave Thielke ]</p>
 
Hmmmm. This is a real brain teaser, that's for sure. I missed this thread the first time around, so here's my input.....

Does the original Fram 3600 spin-on filter that you "were" using have the anti-drain valve in its design? Some filters do not have this design. It's always possible that since your adapter is not original to your engine, your oil flow may have become misdirected due to improper assembly or design problem. In other words, it's possible that your oil is improperly flowing inward through the center (threaded) hole, and not able to flow back out through the outer holes because of the anti-drain valve. If the first filter did not have this valve, you would not have noticed. This idea would explain why you were able to obtain oil pressure with the first filter and not with the Super Tech filter.

Just trying to make some rhyme to reason....

Scooter
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