• Welcome to the new SAOCA website. Already a member? Simply click Log In/Sign Up up and to the right and use your same username and password from the old site. If you've forgotten your password, please send an email to membership@sunbeamalpine.org for assistance.

    If you're new here, click Log In/Sign Up and enter your information. We'll approve your account as quickly as possible, typically in about 24 hours. If it takes longer, you were probably caught in our spam/scam filter.

    Enjoy.

oil filter mishap

T

Thor 1211

Silver Level Sponsor
I admit it was cold yesterday but when I started the motor, it seemed to take a while to catch and I had trouble finding the right choke setting, when blam! I thought it was a backfire. When I pulled out of the garage I saw a puddle and thought "what the heck is that"? As it turns out it was the oil filter. It had blown off the block. I was using a Fram with a square profile ring. I thought the old filter was pooched so I installed a new one, tightened down onto the filter block ok, but an extra snug and it spun free. It seems that it was only catching on the last thread.

So I cut the sealing ring down to about half and it seems to be holding ok now.

Two questions, 1)what is the proper replacement filter for a 1725?
and 2) is the threaded pipe on the filter block threaded into the block or cast as part of it? I'll back it out a bit if I can.
 
RootesRooter

RootesRooter

Donation Time
I've never heard of anyone stripping the threads off a later filter base. I see you have a 1960 with a 1725. Which oil filter/base are you using?

If it's a bad filter base (it's one-piece) it's easily replaceable. You'll probably find a dozen show-of-hands from members with extras.
 
T

Thor 1211

Silver Level Sponsor
Well, the filter was the wrong one, Fram XG3593A, which is the synthetic oil replacement for the filter the prior owner had on when I bought the car. It looked a little small to me, but what do I know? I guess I should have checked the manual. Anyway, the PH16 gives about 1/4" more thread to use. Thanks to Tom and the Rooter for the info.
 
jumpinjan

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
The following will work perfectly too:
PF-53
L10241
There's more than 1/4" of threads available to screw on. I don't understand how/why the filter blew off. It must certainly was incompatible.
Jan
 
T

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
I looked up the filter number on Fram's site to see and maybe understand what's up:

The thread on a PH16 ( Alpine) is: 3/4-16
For a 3593A ( Metric) is: 20mmx1.5mm

Note that the 3/4 in. (fitting on the filter block) is 19.05 mm. so there's a 1 mm slop in the fit. The thread on a 3/4-16 fitting has a 1.5875 pitch, pretty close to 1.5 mm. So I can see how it would "seem to fit" , but not hold on too well.

Hope you haven't screwed up the threads on the filter base. When you bought a replacement filter you shoulda looked up the correct number. The look-up books in the parts stores even list the Sunbeam Alpine.

Tom
 
B

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
Even better than that: Most filters have the thread size and pitch stamped on the base. Then it becomes a simple problem of determining if the O-ring diameter is appropriate. Knowing this can be very handy if for some reason you need a "non standard" filter for an oddball application. Like maybe a short fat filter instead of a long skinny one.

I discovered this years ago. After determining thread size (in this case, another 3/4-16), I went to the parts store with a tap of that size. On about the 4th or 5th filter, I realized I was looking at the thread size as I tried the tap.

Bill
 
George Coleman

George Coleman

Gold Level Sponsor
Most all filter makers list Sunbeams but I guess you can get a bad one, I got a bad filter one time for my Bronco that was not fun at all (Fram) I use NAPA filters on my Alpine they have a listing, I believe they are made by WIX never had a problem with them.:cool:
 
Warren

Warren

Bronze Level Sponsor
Filter area

And check valve reliability. A bunch of engineer types on other forums I was member of compared several filters and found Fram to have the least filter paper. They also checked the quality of the paper and its capability. They recommend the Wix which is also aka NAPA. I use the short one and not the Tiger remote set up.
On my other cars I have to take the front wheel off, or go thru contortions,and generally be dreadfully bent up.
It's nice to have a easy car to do. When I refit Tiger I will look at a glass fiber tighter filter and go semi synthetic.
 
Nickodell

Nickodell

Donation Time
I've had two bad experiences with filters (not on Matilda). Back in the 70s, when I came to replace the filter on my '73 TransAm I found when removing the old one what looked like rope coming out of the filter itself and several inches down the pipe to the engine. It seemed that part of the internal filter media had come loose. I sent a picture to Purolator asking their comment, but didn't receive a reply (no way were they going to admit liability.) I had a friend - still have him - who was an attorney and who told me to keep the photograph and the filter, and if any engine OP or other associated trouble developed to document everything. Luckily, nothing ever did.

The other occasion, in the 60s, was on our MG when the O-ring blew out. Luckily, my wife was following me and beeped frantically when she saw a black trail behind me. I was sure I'd lubed the O-ring and screwed the filter down firmly, but guess I hadn't done it enough.
 
65beam

65beam

Donation Time
mishap

FRAM has always been known to use a cardboard base plate for the filter element on their standard filter dependent on requirements of the manufacturers specs.. there are others that also use the paper base plate. wix, champ, and napa use a metal base plate. this base plate caused problems when filters started to have internal pressure relief valves built into the filter. back in my Valvoline days 30 years ago all street reps carried a filter cutter and we cut many fram filters apart in front of potential customers to show them the difference of the fram filter element compared to ours. there are many differences in the micron size of the filter paper from years ago to filters required today. any of the various filters will do their job if you follow the recommended service intervals and use the proper spec filter. with the very small micron filters you may find that the filter will open the bypass due to pressure build up from clogged filters if used too long or if it has a paper base it may not filter at all. liability has a lot to do with the reason why sunbeams along with many other long gone cars are still listed in the catalogs. to blow a gasket off the filter would probably require 200 to 250 psi if the filter is installed properly.
 
Last edited:
T

Thor 1211

Silver Level Sponsor
Well, I don't know how it came about that the prior owner used the wrong filter and I just replaced that filter with the Fram synthetic one. Originally, I drove thousands of miles with the Walmart replacements and then decided to upgrade to the Fram. As I said, the results were less than ideal. Tom is right, I was just lazy in not looking up the correct replacement. However, I am not to concerned about screwing up the filter base threads because it seems I didn't get the 3593A screwed far enough down to pick up any threads except perhaps just the first one. The PH 16 goes on with 4 full turns before the gasket bottoms out, so I think I'm ok.

Contrary to what was said earlier, the parts catalogue at my NAPA store hasn't shown a Sunbeam part for 25 years and the kid behind the counter with the nose stud says things like "no man, we don't carry no appliance parts here."
 
65beam

65beam

Donation Time
filter

now you know why the NAPA stores here still have real catalogs instead of depending on what the computer says. when it doesn't come up they go to manual mode and look it up. works every time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top