[svx_commuter]

I want to let you all know about an experience I just had with changing oil filters and an oil leak.

I had about 3k miles on the car since the last oil change and I was about to driving up to Killington so I figured I would change the oil when I got back. That would add about another 1000 miles to the car. It was using about a quart of oil every 3000 miles so I figured no problem and it was just too cold to change the oil before I left.

Well I drove up and back and everything was okay. Then I started to notice a pool of oil forming under the car when I was at work and the car had a strong burning oil smell when I stopped for lights. It used about 3 quarts in 500 miles but I didn’t know that until I changed the oil. I thought for sure the front crank seal was gone and maybe the oil pump was shot.

Then I changed the oil and changed the filter and the leak went away. So now I can wait for warmer weather to change the front seal. I put on a new Subaru filter and took off the Fram 3593A. I watched for leaks and it has been okay for 5 days. The car is not leaving pools of oil in the lot at work. So that is great for my car.

I know there is information available about how bad the Fram filters are but I was not aware of that until recently and only found out by looking around on this site. So I have been using the Fram 3593A filter in my SVX, OBS and Legacy for the past 3 years on the average that would be about 100 filters that I have used. I never had an oil leak that was caused by a bad collapsed or dirty oil filter up until last week. I will not use the Fram any more.

The other point here is that I have noticed when I fill up a Subaru filter with oil is that the oil flows right into it. With the Fram filter it takes awhile for the oil to weep through the paper and several minutes to fill up.