# Spin on Oil Filter again?



## Patman (May 7, 2011)

I was on Facebook and I saw what appeared to be someone that purchased a new 2016 Cruze and one of the pictures was the bottom of the engine. What I saw appeared to be a "spin on" oil filter. Looked like the good ole' PF47 that was used on most 4 and 6cyl GM cars. I have no problems if they did this. Just a question. If anyone know yet.


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## chevrasaki (May 1, 2015)

If you look at this picture, at the bottom of the engine, I believe you can see a blue spin on can type filter. I also approve of this decision.

http://gmauthority.com/blog/wp-cont...Motors-1.4L-Turbo-I4-LE2-Engine-1024x819.jpeg


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

They went back to the element for environmental reasons. I wonder why they would go back to the can again?


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Tomko said:


> They went back to the element for environmental reasons. I wonder why they would go back to the can again?


Maybe a lack of access? It's possible that wherever the best location for the filter cartridge would've put it under the turbo, or in an inaccessible location? 

While I certainly don't mind the cartridge - it made for extraordinarily easy filter changes prior to the blower going on my Cobalt (and even now, it's not hard, just a touch messier) - this looks to be extremely easy as well. 

Oh - and *vertical*. I cannot tell you how much I hate the oil filter on the 2200 on my Cavalier - on the back of the engine, halfway down, and sideways.


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

FWIW, I did on Rock auto and it still lists the same filter as we have in 2011-2015. I only saw the pic and questioned: Spin on again? Not enough real estate on the top for a Canister filter like 2011-2015? Not enough data yet to have a part number yet?


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## chevrasaki (May 1, 2015)

MP81 said:


> Maybe a lack of access? It's possible that wherever the best location for the filter cartridge would've put it under the turbo, or in an inaccessible location?
> 
> While I certainly don't mind the cartridge - it made for extraordinarily easy filter changes prior to the blower going on my Cobalt (and even now, it's not hard, just a touch messier) - this looks to be extremely easy as well.
> 
> Oh - and *vertical*. I cannot tell you how much I hate the oil filter on the 2200 on my Cavalier - on the back of the engine, halfway down, and sideways.


Vertical is a huge advantage, keeps everything nice and clean  I hope changing the oil will be as easy as it looks like it would be. If both the drain bolt and that filter are easily accessed from under the car, without having to remove any aero shields or cross braces that'd be great.


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Pics or iT did'nt happen . Besides we want to see if there is a shield that is'nt butchered like a long haired dude with a bad hair cut .


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Aside from the filter being a PITA to get to with a wrench, I kinda like the little upside-down cartridge filter. It's very clean to take out.

My girlfriend's Toyota is one of the easiest oil changes I've done. It, too, uses a cartridge, but it's on the very bottom of the engine. There's a little drain tube/valve you open, and let that drain out, then take the cap off. Very easy to access, very not messy.


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

If that is a spin on vertical filter, I could see that being very easy to change and not messy. Using a cap wrench, I personally would only need the wrench 1 time. The first time I changed the oil then unless someone else changes it, it would be a spin on my hand for me as I never saw it necessary to tighten more than by hand and never had a leak. That is of course is what I say now but if I had one I am sure I would find it different and end up using the wrench every time.


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

I'll miss the opportunity to change the oil with the topside extractor. I really like the Cartridge style filter. Not a drop of oil comes out of that housing. I can't see how a traditional can filter can be so clean.


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

carbon02 said:


> I'll miss the opportunity to change the oil with the topside extractor. I really like the Cartridge style filter. Not a drop of oil comes out of that housing. I can't see how a traditional can filter can be so clean.


Drain the oil before removing the filter and there really should be no large amounts of oil that would spill. Maybe a drop or so but not much as most the oil in that area will be in the filter itself. Now if it were sideways, that may be a different story.


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## bbelnap (Apr 7, 2016)

I just got a 2016 Cruze. I can probably get a shot of the underside after work. I can't take too many requests, but what angles would you like?


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## cruze2011white (Feb 2, 2011)

the pictures i'm seen of the new Ecotec's they all have the oil filter on the bottom now. No longer on the top anymore.


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

bbelnap said:


> I just got a 2016 Cruze. I can probably get a shot of the underside after work. I can't take too many requests, but what angles would you like?


If you could get any pic it would be under the car by the passenger front wheel facing up to the where the radiator is. See if you can see a blue canister under there. That would be the spin on filter. If under the hood, take a pic of the top front of the engine looking down betw the engine and radiator. The current 1.4 has a oil filter screw on cap there.


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## jsusanka (Jan 31, 2011)

The only thing I can think of that would make that a pain to change would be some kind of aero shield up front underneath the radiator. That oil filter looks like it would be in the front of the engine compartment. Actually it is low so I bet there will nothing to get in the way. 

Wonder if Amsoil will make a filter for it since it is cartridge?


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

So despite the pic, is it a spin on or an upside down Cartridge pictured blue so we know where the filter is? As I said previously RockAUto has the same filter for the new Cruze as the Gen I filter. I guess we will have to wait for the official word from our one Gen IIers if they change their own oil or we get a tell tale pic ?


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## cruze01 (Mar 25, 2011)

I love the new design! IF the picture is accurate they have certainly changed the oil filter. Looks like it would be even easier to change the oil on this one than our current design, although I think it couldn't be much simpler. I changed my oil last weekend, took me about 15 minutes start to finish.

I wonder if this unit could be dropped in a 2013


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

Patman said:


> So despite the pic, is it a spin on or an upside down Cartridge pictured blue so we know where the filter is? As I said previously RockAUto has the same filter for the new Cruze as the Gen I filter. I guess we will have to wait for the official word from our one Gen IIers if they change their own oil or we get a tell tale pic ?


GM Powertrain lists some of the features of the "New 1.4L" as spin on oil filter. Rockauto lists ACDELCO UPF64R Professional along with a bunch of cartridges that fit the GEN 1 1.4L. I'm guessing this UPF64R is the correct filter. Amazon shows a picture of it being a traditional can style.


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## newsguy99 (May 24, 2013)

These pictures were taken from the front of the car, Just ducking under the front bumper, and snapping a few pictures with a sales guy at the dealership actually taking the pictures.
He said, he could reach the oil filter, from there. As you can see, there's nothing under the car to stop you from changing the oil.
It does look like the OLD style oil filter as well.
This was on the L model.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Looks nice and tidy down there.....note the two piece oil pan as well as well a what appears to be a 15mm(could be 13mm) hex drain plug head as well.

Rob


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Back to the future. 

Never seen a blue filter coming from the factory. Always black from my memory. Service was blue or white - but never black.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Tomko said:


> Back to the future.
> 
> Never seen a blue filter coming from the factory. Always black from my memory. Service was blue or white - but never black.


They are back to blue on the new cars......just changed the oil on my sons 2016 Denalli......first change, blue filter removed.
Yes, he knows he gets four free-bees but he is more anal than me, so, either I service it or he does......but the dealer, unless rods come out of it, likely won't see it till trade in time.

Rob


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

That is the direct injection engine is that correct ? I'm guessing .

Well guys GM has joined the LSPI club . Low Speed Pre Ignition ..Stochastic Preignition ...this synmtom is fatal to an engine and iT goes POP ...Good Luck Guys ...............


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

I'm not positive about D.I. Brian.....it is the 6.2 displacement on demand version........8qts w/filter.

Like you though, there are enough D.I. stories out there for me to be rather suspicious of the technology at this time......fine for diesel, gassers.......not so much.

Rob


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## Alex V. (Sep 20, 2013)

Patman said:


> Drain the oil before removing the filter and there really should be no large amounts of oil that would spill. Maybe a drop or so but not much as most the oil in that area will be in the filter itself. Now if it were sideways, that may be a different story.


Not so on any of the dozen different types of engines with vertical filters I've changed.


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

newsguy99 said:


> View attachment 188914
> View attachment 188922
> View attachment 188930
> 
> ...



Excellent!! Exactly what I wanted to know! It truly is a spin on and looks very neat under there and easy to change/work on.


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## jsusanka (Jan 31, 2011)

newsguy99 said:


> View attachment 188914
> View attachment 188922
> View attachment 188930
> 
> ...


That looks easy to change.


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## bbelnap (Apr 7, 2016)

Here it is on my LS.


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

bbelnap said:


> Here it is on my LS.
> View attachment 189226
> View attachment 189234


Beautiful. It look like you might be able to catch the drain and the filter simultaneously with a single drain pan.

I have a rectangular drain pan (actually a recycled cat litter box that works great), and I can almost stretch it to catch both the drain and the filter at the same time on the diesel.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Late pots, as you can see no shield whatsoever even tho there is no more fire/oil hazzard present.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

newsguy99 said:


> View attachment 188930


Can even read the label - PF64.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

GM got their engineering design "fingers" burned with their original cartridge-filter arrangement where oil leakage accumulating in the lower aero-shield occasionally caught FIRE resulting in a NHSTA Safety Recall. A vertically mounted canister-filter negates such problems.

So:
Ecology = 0
Old School = 1.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Actually the spin on is 'New School'.

Chevy, for example, used cartridge filters well into the 60's on all the V-8's........there were conversion kits marketed to adapt a spin on filter.
Now, THOSE cartridges....they were really finicky to get the housing seated correctly.....the edge seated in a channel that had a seal ring in it.
Get it right, happy joy......get it wrong and it usually blasted a quart on the floor before you could get it shut off......ah, those were the days........the setup on the 1.4 is a walk in the park.
Loosen the cap just so the 'O' ring shows.....it'll drain into the crankcase while you now pull the drain plug.

By the time the pan has drained and you reinstalled the plug the filter (and housing) are all drained down.....no mess on cap removal.

Spin on, as usual, will be somewhat juicy.

Rob


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Robby said:


> get it wrong and it usually blasted a quart on the floor before you could get it shut off.


Yeah, found that out the hard way. I cross-threaded it. I thought it was a little odd that it got tight with so few turns. Then I wondered why I couldn't get any oil pressure. And of course, after that, I had to be super careful about putting on a new filter because it was just as happy going on cross-threaded as normal - my only clue was how many turns. 

It can also be a little messy. My Corsica had a downward canister like that. Once you broke the seal, all the oil held in by the check valve would come over the top of the canister and down the sides. Absolutely nothing you could do about it other then spin it off quick and drop it into the waiting oil catch box below.


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

Robby said:


> By the time the pan has drained and you reinstalled the plug the filter (and housing) are all drained down.....no mess on cap removal.
> 
> Spin on, as usual, will be somewhat juicy.
> 
> Rob


As nice as that new setup looks, I had a similar thought. 

On the diesel, there is a nice drain tube that catches the oil as you loosen the filter cap and funnels it to a hole in the shields and presumably to a waiting pan underneath. If all goes well, it works quite nicely and is actually far less messy than that can setup will be. However, the trick is the tube doesn't go all the way down to the hole in the underpanels, and if the car is not close to level, the stream will go onto the panel instead of through the hole and make a royal mess.


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## BlueTopaz (Aug 25, 2012)

A friend of mine works at a Chevy dealership in parts and he sent me this message. 

"BTW....We got about 8-9 new style 2016 Cruze's in over the last few days...the base LS models are kinda' cheap looking, the LT models are better looking with the aluminum wheels and projector headlights, and the one Premier model (IE-LTZ) we got is absolutely out of this world unbelievably sharp! It not only has a heated steering wheel, but also has heated rear seats for the rear passengers,this one we got also has the BOSE speaker system and the RS package as well. They did go back to a spin-on oil filter, and its a new one...UPF64R"


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

Is the oil filter mount on the new 1.4L cast into the oil pan, and permanent attached? The GEN 1 (LUJ) cartridge filter housing is bolted to the block, using a series of seals and gaskets. Over time I can see the LUJ engine leaking, where the can style may not have any o-rings where the housing attaches.

I wonder if the new 1.4L has an oil cooler somewhere like the housing of the LUJ, or if that design feature has been removed.


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## AutumnCruzeRS (Sep 10, 2012)

Isnt all filters spin on. The 1st gen just happens to have a reusable can. I can see using a non reusable metal can filter on the bottom of the vehicle. Since filter is located where road debri may cause damage a metal can is much stronger than plastic. Now if they could only made a reusable metal can to save the planet.


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## joshuab (Apr 16, 2014)

I am glad they choose to use the spin on oil filter over the cartridge-filter. Because personally w/ the cartridge filter location was awful & could cause leakage & leak down on the motor & like some has mentioned cause fire risk & that just isn't good.


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## SONICJIM (Aug 23, 2016)

FYI : I did my first oil change on my Gen2 Cruze @ 4K miles. The factory installed filter that I removed was a PF64. The owner's manual calls for a UPF64 ( Ultra Guard ) . The dealer had to order one for me, since they only stocked the PF64. I was disappointed to see the factory installed filter wasn't an Ultra Guard , but I'm glad I didn't wait longer than 4K miles to change the oil. And I refilled with full synthetic DEXOS.


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