Oil Filter and the codes for equivalent aftermarket parts

[matthewsemple]

I am going change the oil and filter on my MG Maestro 1600 that I have recently got running.

It is currently fitted with a FRAM filter with the code PH4751. I wanted to fit a Unipart one to match the battery and I found one in my garage that looks the same size which has the part number GFE 180.

Is this the correct filter? All the eBay listings suggest this is a filter for an S-Series. Does anyone know if they also fit an R-Series?

[Doctordiesel77]

According to Fram catalogue GFE 180 is 3/4 unf, but you need 13/16 unf.. Catalogue is here http://www.sogefifilterdivision.com/...K&marque=ROVER not as good as the crosland one, which would cross ref from competitor to competitor, I guess the French pulled the plug on that when they bought them all out..

[matthewsemple]

Thank you for the reply. The sizing info is useful. According to that measurement it the Unipart GFE405 should fit but according to this advert it doesnt!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Unipart-Ca...UAAOSwaB5Xpl3H

In any case the postage is £9.99 so I have instead submitted a Best Offer on a FRAM PH4751 because that is what is on there at the moment so I know that will fit.

[Simon]

The R series needs a Unipart GFE157 filter but that is NLA now. The equivalents are GFE 171 and GFE 280 which are now both NLA, It looks like these have all been superceded by GFE404 but please double-check that I'm correct though... the dimensions of a GFE404 are H95.5, Thread 13/16* and £4.61 from Unipart Autostore although you need to add a standard postage charge of £3.50, so it makes sense to order a few more to spread out the postage charge like I did when I wanted a Unipart GFE 180 for my Maestro 1.6 S Series which has been replaced by GFE 348, so I bought 5 of those from Unipart.

Doctordiesel mentions Crosland filters which is what MG Rover X Part would have supplied.

[Simon]

GFE171 is also available here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FREELANDER...QAAOSwZG9WlhAn

[matthewsemple]

Great! It is hard to find them when the cars aren't listed and the part numbers differ.

Thanks for your help everyone. I have submitted a Best Offer on the GFE171. The seller has multiple items and the P&P is free.

[Doctordiesel77]

The R series needs a Unipart GFE157 filter but that is NLA now. The equivalents are GFE 171 and GFE 280 which are now both NLA, It looks like these have all been superceded by GFE404 but please double-check that I'm correct though... the dimensions of a GFE404 are H95.5, Thread 13/16* and £4.61 from Unipart Autostore although you need to add a standard postage charge of £3.50, so it makes sense to order a few more to spread out the postage charge like I did when I wanted a Unipart GFE 180 for my Maestro 1.6 S Series which has been replaced by GFE 348, so I bought 5 of those from Unipart.

Doctordiesel mentions Crosland filters which is what MG Rover X Part would have supplied.

The odd/slightly annoying thing is that Sogefi bought Fram, Coopers and Crosland..not sure how different the brands are nowadays, but the Crosland catalogue was extremely good before the takeover, now it is just the same as the rest and they are all littered with nla filters, some of which seem identical to their replacements, but mostly they seem to have opted for smaller filters. Buying a few at a time certainly makes sense... The other really good catalogue is Donaldson Australia, which is still there but not very useful for cars.... glad you got sorted in the end...why they went for 13/16 unf I don't know, it seemed to appear with the Buick/Rover V8 which changed to 3/4 unf at a very early stage...then every so often they started using it again on other things like the Prima and L series, but 200/300tdi used 3/4.... 3/4 unf is big enough for a 4 litre Perkins turbo diesel, so you'd have thought it would do for a 1600 non turbo petrol too Could be worse though, Vauxhall changed from 3/4 to 18mm on the 1700 diesel engine...3/4 fits...but not very well .... there were one or two cases of them being put on an 18mm engine then falling off after a thousand miles......

[Simon]

I also have a cross reference book which lists MG Rover branded stuff which often has longer numbers and the letters EVA after the part number. (Handy for searching on the Rimmer Bros website) Some of those MG Rover part numbers relate to long-obsolete BMC part numbers. Very strange...

[matthewsemple]

I have now bought both a Fram and a Unipart filter from eBay both for under £5 each with free P&P. I am going to use the Fram one on the first oil change for the first 3000-odd miles and then after that change the oil again and put the Unipart filter on. This will help to flush out any crud that is in the engine after a long period of lack of use.

[matthewsemple]

I also have a cross reference book which lists MG Rover branded stuff which often has longer numbers and the letters EVA after the part number. (Handy for searching on the Rimmer Bros website) Some of those MG Rover part numbers relate to long-obsolete BMC part numbers. Very strange...

I have seen EVA before too. Do you think it indicates a replacement / aftermarket substitute? As in Equivalent?

[matthewsemple]

I carried out the oil change on Sunday and fitted the FRAM filter which went on a treat (as expected as that was what was already on there). The old oil was black but looked quite smooth, i.e. it wasn't congealed.