Wrong oil filter

**blackcar** · 06-18-2013, 01:44 PM

I have a 2002 Surburban 1500 with the 5.3. I went to change my oil the other day and noticed the new oil filter was smaller than the old oil filter. I assumed the guy at NAPA had given me the wrong filter. Unfortunately NAPA was closed so I went to O'reilly's to get the right filter. Well, the one they gave me was the same as my new one. So I did a little research before I finished changing my oil.

The OLD filter was the one that was wrong. It was this one WIX 51522 - Oil Filter | O'Reilly Auto Parts

Among other things it is for the 2002 2500 6.0.

The new one is WIX 51042 - Oil Filter | O'Reilly Auto Parts

Under the specs the "wrong" filter is over 1" longer and filters better. My question is, is there any reason not to use the wrong filter for now on.

BTW I know must of us on here know that NAPA Gold and WIX are the same filters. But I found out doing this research that the part number for a WIX is the NAPA Gold part number with a 5 in front of it. For example 51042 is the WIX filter for my Suburban, but 1042 is the NAPA Gold.

**Cutlass** · 06-19-2013, 03:19 AM

you can use the long or short filter. On some trucks/suv, only the short one will fit.

**2002ssslp** · 06-19-2013, 05:41 AM

^^^^^ What he said. Some manufacturers make a tall and short version of some filters. If you have the room always use the larger filter. More oil and more filtration.

**blackcar** · 06-19-2013, 06:12 AM

That's what I was thinking. Just wanted to double check and make sure.

Doing the math, the extra length should add about 1/10 of a quart of oil. Which isn't much. I will still just put in 6 quarts. But the bigger filter filters better according to the specs.

**2002ssslp** · 06-19-2013, 06:31 PM

See. Bigger is better.

**Cutlass** · 06-20-2013, 02:31 AM

I swear when the LS-based trucks came out, they all had the long filter. Then all of a sudden they started putting the short filters on and they changed the catalog to show the short filter as the one that fits.

**blackcar** · 06-20-2013, 05:51 AM

Cutlass, I didn't even notice until you said that, that the "short" one is the one for our cars.

**KahanaReef** · 06-20-2013, 11:52 AM

That was one of the first things I noticed when I was looking for my Camaro, was how the short filter was.

**tekkauto** · 09-10-2013, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by 2002ssslp

See. Bigger is better.

Less is more! Gm engineers redesigned the filter years ago. I believe it started life as a PF 53 which was longer. Now it's a PF 46 which is shorter and I wish the aftermarket would conform to. The change happened for a reason.

**pajeff02** · 09-12-2013, 07:00 PM

I can't imagine any good reason to reduce filtration media area by employing a smaller filter. I agree that "bigger is better" up to a point. Is there any legitimate reason why we shouldn't use the longer style filter on our trucks?

**0rion** · 09-12-2013, 08:47 PM

I'm of the belief that 1" more of filter isn't going to matter much one way or the other and not as important as doing maintenance at correct intervals. I would say as long as you have the room run the longer filter but I wouldn't sweat it much either way. Run a good oil and do your maintenance.

**blackcar** · 09-13-2013, 07:36 AM

Eithier I got mixed up in the first post or they have changed the specs. In the Wix filters the shorter filter filters down to a smaller micron then the longer filter. Now we are talking a difference of 3 micron. So not much difference at all. But the longer filter only adds 1/10 of a quart of oil. So not much difference there either.

**5.0THIS** · 09-13-2013, 02:25 PM

I run the short filter on my 5.3 and blackstone oil analysis says it is filtering great. Blackstone even recommended I run a longer interval out to 6000 miles (I had been running about 5000). Adding such a minute amount of oil capacity with the longer filter means absolutely nothing, and it's obvious the smaller filter has more than enough media capacity to filter the oil.