[dlb]

i changed the oil on my wife's vx the other day and found out the hard way that the gasket from the old fram oil filter stuck to the block when i removed it. it then bound up when i installed a new mann-brand filter. obviously, there was no seal made but being under the intake manifold, i couldn't see this, and all the oil came pissing out as soon as the car was started. i removed the mann, found the fram's gasket, and checked the fram to confirm that it was indeed missing its gasket. i found not only that, but also that another fram filter i removed from another civic is also missing its gasket! that means that the oil filter on our other civic is currently double-gasketed (but not leaking yet, amazingly) so i'm going to remove the filter to check it.

i have heard lots of "fram sucks" over the years but never much info on why. regardless, all the bad talk was enough to keep me from buying any fram stuff, but when you buy used cars you're at the mercy of whatever the previous owner has done. this was a super ****ty experience, and a catastrophic failure on fram's part, so it has only justified all that i have heard about fram over the years.

even though i'm still relatively new to wrenching, i've done all my own oil changes since i was a teenager and have never experienced this with any of the other brands of oil filter i've used. has anyone else here had similar experiences, with fram or any other brands?