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Oil Filter Question

BrentW

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September 1, 2013
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City, State
Tulsa, Ok
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 Explorer XLS 4.0 4x4
Dropped the lower pan off my 4.0L yesterday evening to change the gasket since it had a slight drip. I wanted to change the oil and filter in the process. No big deal, but I did find some plastic chunks down there so I know one of my guides has gave up on me. But my question is this. The oil filter the guy at Orielly gave me wasnt the right one. It wasnt ad tall as the one I took off and it would not thread onto the mounting point. Soooo.. I looked around in the garage and I found a brand new motorcraft FL-1A for a 5.0L Mustang. It looked to be dimensionally the same and the O-Ring matched up and it threaded on. Anyone see a reason this would cause a problem? In all my years I dont see any reason it wouldnt be just fine. The oil pressure (on the factory gauge) looks fine and the engine sounds fine and I drove it in to work today without any issues. But it stresses me that I didnt put the correct one on it. But I couldnt really go up to the store with no oil in my truck either. Just want a second opinion to ease my mind.
 



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2002 manual shows the Motorcraft FL-820S. The slightly higher capacity of the MC FL1A would probably be beneficial IF it fit.
FL-820s is M22x1.5 metric thread and the FL1A is 3/4-16 standard. "Feels" like it fits is still cross threading and may cause issues.

Capacities and specifications (Page 304)
http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/catalog/owner_guides/02expog6e.pdf

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2886186

Motorcraft FL-820S Oil Filter Cutaway Comparison
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3209991&postcount=1
 






Hmm.. Would have to be a really close and almost exact thread because it threaded on very easily and tightened down and felt just like it should going on. I didnt get a hint of it not being the same threads. I will probably stop and have them get me the right one just to be safe.
 






shouldn't be an issue as long as it's not cross threaded. the PO of my jeep used a longer thinner oil filter and I changed it to a shorter fatter MOPAR brand and oil pressures for those are still the same. Aside from the MOPAR brand some use the longer/bigger purolator oil filters with no issues. The change might be that it requires more oil with the larger oil filter (a little bit over 6 qts)
 






Physically the one I put on was almost the same size at the one I took off and the oil came out exactly where it should when I filled it up so no difference there. Just worried about the threads a little. It tightened down good but if the threads arent the same it could blow it off or somehow work loose which might be a bad thing. lol.. I will keep an eye on it either way.
 






I'm not sure, but you might find this interesting: My 4.6 needs timing chain guides so I have been doing some research. According to this link, the OEM Motorcraft filter has a check valve in it and should be used to prevent guide failure.

http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/115

This would seem to imply, to me, that even the third party filters at the auto part store, that are actually specified for my engine, are sub-par. That seems crazy to me.
 


















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