Would it be better to use the original mitsubishi oil filter or switch to another brand such as amsoil or K&N. I noticed on the owner's manual they say it is recommended to ONLY use mitsubishi's filter.

 

i've been using the k&N 1010 in my car.... I've always trusted K&N quality...

 

Now that I think about it. If I am switching to synthetic oil would I need an oil filter specificaly for synthetic oil? If that's so I wouldn't be able to use the mitsubishi oil filter since the stock oil is not synthetic.

 

You're thinking too hard about this! Syn or not, K&N (nice filter) or Fram (not so nice, but works)...it's up to you. I used to run semi-syn & then full-syn in my OZ, but decided that if older cars lasted 100s of thousands of miles w/o the engineering that we do now, just in the "basic" 5w-30 I now use...what the heck! So now I spend $8.xx on Castrol GTX, instead of $23.xx. So I'm already seeing benefits in my wallet! LOL

 

OEM filters are fine, they're actually not that bad...you can buy them by the case at your dealership for about $50 give or take. K&N's are my favorite...Mobil 1's or WIX aren't that bad either. Fram is crap. And whether you use dino oil or synthetic, the filter doesn't have to match the oil type.

And why are you going by what the manual says? I don't think the manual advocates installing after-market SRI's or pulleys, but you did it anyway, right?

 

he actually cares about his warranty??? this is my first car that i bought my self.. and im still debating weather to take the sri off and put the stock just before i go to the dealership for an oil change.. hehehe but im too lazy so i might not...

 

It depends on your dealership...some of them can be total jackasses when it comes to having a modded car in their service bay while others are pretty cool about it. Sniff them out to find one that's mod-friendly then you won't have to worry about it.

 

jajajaja Yea very true. I actually want what's best for my car. I get free lifetime oil changes at my dealership including free oil filters. I wouldn't mind paying an extra 5-10 bucks for a better filter if I have to.

I got along really well with the guy who sold me my car so I asked him if it was ok for me to take my car in for service with the RRM intake installed and he told me it shouldn't matter since there was another car there getting serviced wich had many other mods.
However when I talked to a person in the service department because of a problem with my paint, they took my car for a spin and when he came back he said ok I can take care of it. (I'm planning on fixing the paint and oil change at the same time).
So now I'm asking myself, did he take my car for a spin to see if there was other problems with my car? Or did he take my car for a spin to try to find a problem in my car in order to void my warranty?
The problem is that I cannot replace the RRM intake with the stock intake since I also have the front strut bar installed which is in the way. To replace it I'd have to remove the strut bar which I can't since I'm not strong enough and don't have air tools.

 

Are STP's any good?

 

They're the same as AC-Delco filters I think, which are pretty good. I usually don't buy STP's though because on the box they never mention what filtering standard they're manufactured to. I'm neurotic..what can I say?

 

The dealership tech probably isn't out to get you. This isn't directed towards you at all, so please don't take offense: People generally suck at taking care of their cars and will assume that mechanics will fix everything...even the stuff that's not brought to their attention. So, the tech may drive it around just to ensure there aren't any outstanding problems with the car that weren't mentioned when it was dropped off for service: it's just a way for them to be thorough.

And the strut bar doesn't require air tools...just a ratchet or torque wrench and the bolts should be reasonably easy to break, as they should not be torqued very high (if installed properly).

 

Maybe he just wanted to see what kinda performance you got from the mods? And couldnt help himself... He had to take a test drive.

I dont think the dealerships purposely try to find problems to void our warrantys. They are just careful when honoring them, cause if they do the work, then bill it to mitsu corp and dont get paid for it, they are hit in the pocket. Which is most likely then billed to you.

 

hasnt it been said that Fram has like 80% of the market on filters, they all do the same thing , yes there are some of different quality, but unless you go for long oil change periods like i do with my other car, i dont really think you need to do much about the filter.

I go thru 20,000 km oil changes using the Mobil Extended Proformance oil, and use their extended performance filter if its availible, if not i use the longer life sythetic oil filter.

unforunately since i am under warranty I cant go that long for these oil changes but i have a special hook up so i get the extended performance for the same price as regular mobil synthetic.

 

In order of Performance, top 4, best down.. AMSOIL EAO Series, 15 Micron Absolute... Unbeatable filter.. WIX , Mobil 1 and K&N ... the K&N filters pretty decent but has a poor ability to hold any amount of particulate..

The AMSOIL Filters are $13.15 ea but unless you are buying the oil as well, the freight is a deal breaker..

I have a couple of quotes worked up specifically for EvoM Members..

Email me at oildoc@bestoil4you.com


Doc

 

The reason the manual says to only use the mtisu filters is b/c they designed in a stop to prevent oil from backflowing thru the filter. This keeps the head lubed up on start up to reduce wear. ( Well at least Mitsu says they did. I haven't actually cut one apart to find out.)