Toyota Oil Filter (Toyota Vs. Non – Toyota)

Years ago I worked for an independent shop that specialized exclusively in Toyota repairs. At one point the owner wanted us to consider using non-Toyota oil filter because he could buy them for less money.

We cut open the non-Toyota filter that he was considering, and compared it side-by-side to a Toyota filter that we also cut open. In this instance, there was no question in our mind that the Toyota filter was superior in two very visible counts.

First, it had an anti-bleed-back check valve, which meant that the oil filter was less likely to drain down between uses, and meant that the engine would achieve full oil pressure more immediately on initial start-up.

Delayed oil pressure leads to more rapid wear of expensive engine parts. Secondly, the Toyota filtering element was folded in such a fashion that it had far greater surface area in the same sized filter canister than the non-Toyota one had.

This doesn’t mean that no one in the world is making a filter that is equal to or even perhaps superior to the Toyota filter. But clearly the Toyota was a high quality oil filter-on the one hand, far superior to some of the aftermarket alternatives, and on the other hand, reflective enough of Toyota’s high standards for quality that we weren’t particularly motivated to do a search for something that might in some fashion surpass it for some supposed gain that would likely be minimal at best.