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You can't seem to leave it alone. You're determined to find something I'm guilty of so you can point and say, "SEE?"
As with many people on this board, I have (and have had) a number of Volvos. You've intermingled my discussion of several of these.
So let me be give you a chronology of two cars.
Car #1:
1982 blue 245DL 4/OD, bought by me, totaled, about 1987 for $2000. It had 116K miles when bought. After repairing the nose, I registered and drove it.
It would not maintain oil pressure. I dropped the pan and cleaned out about 2" of sludge. PO had NOT maintained the car.
In those days, I used Fram filters 'cause they were cheap. Using Fram filters, this car would rap on start-up, and the oil light remained on for 5-10 seconds—sometimes less, sometimes more. At the time, I didn't think much of it.
When I switched to Volvo or Mann filters, the rap-rap and oil light went away. I thought A LOT about that!
I still have that car, now with 347k miles, and NO rap-rap or 10-second oil light. The car is a genuine rustbucket beater, and will soon go to the boneyard. I'll keep the engine 'n tranny, though.
Car #2:
1981 blue 245DL A/T, bought with a seized cam in 1990 for $1,200. The odometer showed about 160K miles.
It had a Fram filter when I bought it.
The PO said, "Oh, my ex used to change the oil 'n filter all the time."
After repairing the cam, I pulled the suspect headbolt (passage clean), and then dropped the pan (clean as a whistle). The PO HAD changed the oil and filter regularly.
We drove the car often, but short trips. In 1995 I sold the car to a friend—and he's still driving it, now with about 230k or 235k miles on the odo. That's the 65k delta.
"Top end seized. BFD! How do you prove that the oil filter caused this?"
I can't prove anything, and don't feel a need to. I never ran the '81 (seized cam) with a Fram filter; so don't know if it rapped. I immediately installed a Mann filter. Today, it starts and runs quietly.
But the seized cam and Fram's reputation have shied me away from those orange POS filters.
I ran the '82 (which had the sludged-up pan) using Fram filters for 2-3 years, and it rapped on start-up like crazy—and did this from 116K to about 160k miles when I switched to Volvo/Mann filters. The rap 'n delayed oil light disappeared.
Conclusion? Fram filters don't hold oil in the system. Add that to my observation that the '81 engine (seized cam) was clean (changed oil often) had a seized cam, and was "broken in" using Frams (most likely), and I decided that dollar-for-dollar, why use the orange POS when I could use a far superior filter at the same price.
"...the pan was clean doesn't mean that the oil was changed regularly..."
Come on. Did you just fall off the turnip truck? Looking to buy a bridge?
"Maybe one of the oil passages was blocked because she never changed the air filter and all kinds of crap accumulated..."
What I know is that no additional repairs were done to the engine lubrication system, and the cam has NOT seized again in these additional 65k miles.
Note that my opinion comes mostly from my own experiences and observations. Others have voiced their opinions here, and they agree. Someone provided a link to another discussion board which likewise reveals the Fram shortcomings.
Yet I had not read those comments when I stated my opinion.
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)
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