Guys have any of you using WIX filters taken a look at the micron ratings? They are WAY WAY WAY UNDER MINIMUM SPEC. NO way no how would I run any NAPA WIX filter on anything I own. Based on the data and product tolerances I have seen I would not run one on anything I own unless it was my only option at the time as it might be better than nothing.
Accurate for the purpose of this comparison:
Absolute= 95-99% per pass
Nominal= 50% per pass
Normally going from 50% to 95-99%+ the micron rating size increases 2x or more i.e. 5 mic 50% = 10-15 absolute.
First the Ford/IH spec for the 7.3 fuel bowl filter cartridge:
Motorcraft Fuel Filter ( Manufactured by RACOR) / RACOR Branded Filter
Model #: FD4596 / PFF4596
Micron Rating: 7 mic absolute
Water Removal Efficiency: 96%
Separate Water Block Membrane
_________________________________________________________________
WIX/NAPA Fuel Filter
Model #: 33818 / 3818
Micron Rating: 14 mic NOMINAL (50% per pass)
NO dedicated water removal membrane. Only the treated paper element.
No water separation performance specs I could find online but given no dedicated membrane you can come to your own conclusions.
The WIX filter likely has a 20-30 95%-99% rating based on what I have seen of spread from these percentages. Hell my oil filter has a better rating and look at what used oil looks like. Think of that stuff getting into your injectors.
Now lets take a look at the Donaldson version of the filter:
Donaldson
Model #: P550437
Micron Rating: 5 Micron Absolute
Water Removal Efficiency: 98%
Separate Water Block Membrane
Further I think there is a good amount of evidence and I had the same results: The separate fuel bowl lids tend to seal much better than the integrated ones. Now maybe this is just an issue with the manf as a whole. But the ones I have seen leak time and time again were ones like the WIX and took tweaking the tightness to finally get them to seal and some would not and had to be returned.
Also Fleetrite a major online site for WIX/NAPA Gold filters states all the filter are made by WIX in Gastonia, North Carolina, USA. This can appear the filters themselves are all made there. They are not. That is just where the company is based. They have manf sites in a number of countries with filters made in South Korea, Mexico, China etc...
So to wrap it up the WIX filters are allowing particles over 20 microns to pass thru its filters into your injectors.
Run a Donaldson or a Racor/Motorcraft if you still have a fuel bowl as those filters are at least going to get you what I consider the bare minimum in filtering performance for our injectors.
IIRC Luberfiner also has specs to match the RACOR 7microns etc..... They are one of my favor filter manf next to Donaldson. Luberfiner is the commercial side of the Champion filter corp that makes many OEM filters.
