btanchors

Now that the time for the first oil change on my 2003 GS430 has arrived, I have wrestled with the question of which oil filter to use. I reviewed all the archives on Club Lexus. For me, I narrowed down the choices to either the Mobil 1 filter (I think it's M1-102), or the Toyota 90915-20004.

Naturally, I viewed the links listed elsewhere in Clublexus that showed pictures of the internals of the two filters above. Comments were made regarding the significant differences in the filtering element between the two filters. But no one has really discussed why the elements are different. It appears to me that the element used by the Toyota filter is a depth type element, where the one in the Mobil 1 filter is a surface type. Depth type filters are not new - they've been around for years. But I am very curious why Toyota has chosen to employ a depth type element instead of a surface type. I have not found any discussions in Club Lexus that discusses the topic from this perspective - the pros/cons between a depth-type filter element vs. a surface type.

Anyone care to speculate? Why did Toyota move to a surface type element? How does its filtering efficiency compare with the surface type element used in the Mobil 1 filter? How about resistance to the flow of oil? How does the efficiency and flow rate change for the two kinds of filter elements as the filters become dirty?

As far as my opinion, I don't think you can go wrong with either type of filter, but I am interested in hearing more discussion on the topic from this perspective....

Dennis

steviej

iTrader: (1)

those are very interesting questions to ponder.
However, I do not have the time to spend wondering why one manufacturer went with surface and the other group went with depth. Someone else got paid to do the engineering ergonomics on this one. Both filters are of extremely high quality.

Might I suggest you pose this questions to the Mobil 1 engineers: you can pose any question to the experts (go to mobil1, car care, advanced, ask a question).
Here's the link: http://www.mobil1.com/index.jsp

I can say from experience that I use the Toyota OEM filter and the Mobil 1 M-102 filter interchangably and so far have had absolutely no probelm whatsoever.

steviej

parula

btanchors, good questions. I use the Toyota filter to make sure I can at least verify I bought the filter and Toyota seems to know what it's doing. WIth synthetic every 5k it's gotta work well.

PERRYinLA

You might get more info on such issues by checking out:
www.bobistheoilguy.com

Lexmexico

The Japanese made Toyota filter is better than the one you get in the States. For my money, I go with a K&N oil filter.