Hello, I wanted to share my findings with several 15400-PCX-306 OEM filters as I think its quiet concerning. I want to first say that I have installed 3 of these filters onto my engine after the PCX-004 filter was superseded. Sometime last year I was changing my oil, and noticed some metallic tear drop/bb inside the crimp/ lip of the filter. Upon further inspection I found many more inside the filter, near the bypass spring. So, I checked every filter(5) I had on hand, to find the same metallic pieces in every one of them. It appears to be weld splatter/slag from the spot welds holding the bypass spring to the filter core. Some of these pieces were laying inside the holes/perforations in the steel tube within the media, which were hard to see. I have found 2-3 pieces in each filter. All filters were sealed in the plastic. After pulling the VTEC solenoid off to check the screen, I found another one. These pieces will not be filtered out immediately after starting the car as they are on the wrong side of the filter media. I cannot be the only one to have had these in this filter. I understand most people do not look inside of an oil filter to inspect it. Maybe some do but not most. This metallic slag is very small/difficult to see. Obviously they stick to a magnet.

 

What a catch. I am going to go look at my supply as well. I have, I believe four left from the box I ordered right after the change over occurred. Will advise.

 

That is crappy quality assurance, where are they made now ? wonder if you can get filters made in other locations. Is that area riveted , looks like rivets ? Good find.

 

Can you confirm these were purchased direct from a dealer?

 

All of the stock I had was made by Mahle in Taiwan. I have lost all confidence in this filter. I can say that out of all of the 004 filters made by Filtech that I used on my current and previous S, I only had 2 filters that had fleck of steel from the threading process. Otherwise they were always spotless inside. The 306 has not been that way. I personally think they are well made but there are some quality control steps being skipped.

 

I bought them from my local dealer.

 

Thats not great, I've never thought to check mine.

 

Its spot welded, probably with a laser welder. I wish it were riveted, then the slag wouldnt be in there. I wanted to post about this sooner but I didnt have enough proof that it wasnt just a one-off fluke. I did however post about it to a local/state S2000 facebook group but no one cared. I also sent LHT an email regarding what I had found. Asking them if they had noticed or have checked the filters they install, but got no response. I figured they would see many more filters than myself and may have someone at Honda they could contact about the issue. I tried to contact Honda myself but didnt get anywhere. They need to be made aware at least, tho I doubt anything would be done to correct it. Check VTEC screens if it is a concern to anyone. I found 2 in mine that were shaped like a spider. Some look like tadpoles and others like spiders, all are a dark metallic color.

 

Inspected all three of mine (just purchased from Majestic) and they are okay.

Will continue to inspect going forward; thanks for bringing to our attention!

 

Thanks for this post. This is disconcerting, for sure. I guess that I'd better look for the older "004's" to stockpile.