nacademus

Ok. I bought a new AC Delco filter yesterday and when I got home and compared it to another AC Delco that I forgot I already had on reserve, I found two things to be oddly different.

The new one is a "Hengst" filter...the other one simply says "AC Delco" on it.


The black plastic caps that cap the filter pleats is thicker on my older filter as opposed to the Hengst AC. You can see what I mean here.


And finally, what really alarmed/confused me was the hole in the center. The Hengst, even though it appears to be built with more...care... has a MUCH smaller hole in the center. There must be a reason. More pressure maybe?

I'm not sure. One or the other MUST be better considering the differences.

I installed the Hengst. I didn't like how sparse and flimsy the retainer ring clip appeared on the initial AC unit. In fact, I noticed that a plastic tab was already broken off, even though I opened it fresh.

To be honest, the Wal-mart Super Tech filters, that sell for almost a third of what the AC filters cost seems to be made better, or at least equally as well as the AC type. It's as if it has the construction quality of the Hengst, with the larger diameter center hole of the OTHER AC filter.

Your thoughts?

nacademus

I think I figured it out


The bypass is in the cap. They redesigned the caps to accommodate different bypass pressure.

Any one of us could be running a filter that inadvertently tosses the oil bypass loop open and the oil is no longer filtered. If you have an old style cap, you use the large diameter centered filter.

interrex

http://www.wixfilters.com/filterlook...asp?Part=57082 I do not use Gm products because of LOW BID quality , I use WIX oil filters for the garage and all my cars. American made and no problems. If you look at STP they are a WIX repainted for STP. Just a better quality filters.

davidjb

Hengst was OE in my 08 SS

working on it

Referring to my recent post concerning filters : https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/maintenance-upkeep-50/ac-delco-oil-filter-varies-configuration-37096/ your new AC/Hengst is the exact duplicate of my Walmart-bought Fram 3X (made in China). I didn't install it, but used the AC instead. Now, since I see that the AC/Hengst is the same as the unused,untrusted Fram, I'll use it (the Fram) next oil change, with no doubts (well, maybe some). I'm beginning to think that, in this pre-apocalyptic low-bid one-world economy, you can't count on anything to be 100% up to spec everytime. It is what it is. To quote the X-files: Trust no one.