Just taking my car out of storage since i bought it and figured i would change oil and filter. I picked up a new one from Mazda and this thing is freakin TINY!!!
I originally had a FRAM Filter on from the previous owner... But man, i cannot get over how small this thing is...

 

lol. yeah , they are pretty tiny.It looks about a two thirds smaller, but they do the job.

 

Yea, I too always wondered why they were so small.

 

internally the Mazda oil filter has almost three times the filter area than Frams, as well as twice as much most other aftermarket oil filters (including the famed Purolater and AC delco filters).

try cutting open the filter case and comparing... you would be very surprised to see how little the actual filtering element area is in a Fram when comparied to a Mazda filter.

And this really is not a 2nd gen specific thread

 

Sorry i didn't know if the 1st or 3rd gens were any bigger/smaller or whatever...

 

1st and 3rd gens can use the Mazda OEM filter you used on your 2nd gen.

 

huh. i think im going to go oem for my next filter. you are such a wealth of knowledge icemark.

 

And you'll also notice that Fram filters have cardboard end caps... Fear the lack of quality!

 

ive seen the mazda cutaways, but the fram was a suprise, theres not a lot going on in there!

 

I have no end of scorn and mocking for Fram filters :O

I know they have problems with the glue that holds the cardboard together falling apart and getting into oil gallies . . .

 

One of the few cases where [outside] size does not matter.

 

yup what mark said.They are very dense inside.

 

what can you tell me about K&N oil filters.

 

someone had a writeup on the k&n oil filters not too long ago, try a search. they said the filter made their oil pressure go up but wasnt sure if that was due to a more restrictive filter or not. the k&n does have a bolt on the top to take it off more easily.

 

The way I look at it, K&Ns are way too expensive, plus I guarentee they're not any better than the OEM filters. Plus, you can always find good deals on large cases of oil filters on Ebay and such...

 

get the v6 626 filter if you feel the OE rotary filter is too small...

same manufacturer, slightly bigger, so in theory more filtering surface area.

 

just out of curiosity any problems with using the v6 626 filter

you know like fiting being able to screw it in or anythying like that?

 

it's a direct fit. no problems whatsoever

 

If you use that filter, and you've used the OEM filter, next time you do an oil change, take the old filter and chop it open and pop out the filtering material, then unravel it to its full lenth and put the material from both filters next to eachother, and take a picture for us

Thats the only real easy way to tell :-p

 

Icemark, do you know who the manufacturer of the OEM filter is? I thought I'd read somewhere it's identical to a purolator Pure One with the anit-drainback valve.

Maybe I'll go pick up an OEM and pure one and cut into them...

 

Tennex is making the current filter for North America Mazda.

 

hey thats my line!

i have a source for the jdm oil filters if anyone is interested, same price as the usdm filters

 

my local dealer are using Mahle-made (some austrian company that makes Mazda Europe parts) Mazda OE filters.

 

mahle makes tons of stuff for euro cars (pistons, cylinders (porsche), filters etc), i dont think your dealer is buying from mazdausa though

 

i believe for a short while MUSA was sourcing some parts from MEurope suppliers...