Subject:	Galant oil filter
Question:	very strange item..My daughter has a 1999 Galant 4 cylinder(bought new in 1999). She has 52k miles on it. She has had the oil changed at Mitsubishi and at Sears many times. I changed her oil and filter on Saturday. I don't think anyone ever changed the oil filter on this car even though she paid for it every change. The oil filter I removed was a Mitsubishi oil filter, number MD752072(MFS087 also on the filter),even though her last change was from Sears. I had purchased a Purolator filter from Straus Stores a week ago in anticipation of this change. When I removed the filter from the car I noticed it was significantly larger than the one I had purchased. I assumed Straus had given me the wrong one. When I returned it they told me it was the correct one for a 4 cylinder and the one I removed from the car(which I showed them) was for a six cylinder. The store manager said Mitsubishi probably put a six cylinder oil filter mounting on the 4 cylinder engine and that's why the filter was a six cylinder filter. I have never heard of anything like this and exchanged the 4 cyl filter for the 6 cyl filter(purolater L14459) and installed it on the car. I need your help to understand what the real story is and if I have the right filter now on the car. Also is there anyway I can determine(serial number?) if the oil filter I removed from the car is the one that was installed at the factory as I suspect. I never tried the smaller filter on the car so I do not know if it would have fit, but the guy at Straus told me it would have not fit. sorry for the long note but this is so wierd...thanks
Answer:	Frank, Don't apologize for the long note. The long ones are the most complete, and I wish I'd get more of them :) I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you have the Galant ES model. Mitsubishi made 5 styles of the Galant in 1999; 3 of which are V6 engines. And the unique thing with the ES model was that they made both a 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder ES model. Mitsubishi (along with other Japanese car manufacturers) have been known to cut corners in manufacturing whenever possible. Mitsu probably decided to design one kind of oil filter housing that would meet with a 4 cylinder car, which was for the Galant DE style. Since they made four other styles that could use the same 6 cylinder housing, they could save money buy using the same one. I can almost guarantee your filter has been changed, and is not the original factory oil filter. Most engines would stop working if the oil filter was never changed after 52k miles. Mitsubishi will always use their own oil filter when changing your oil. Sears will typically use Purolator oil filters, but may get a specific Mitsubishi oil filter when they are unsure they have the correct Purolator for the car they're working on. I would have the Mitsubishi oil filter number cross referenced at a nation-wide auto parts store; AutoZone, Advanced Auto, PepBoys. They will tell you all the oil filters they sell which meet the same specs as the Mitsu filter. I don't think you have anything to worry about having that V6 oil filter on your car. It probably is the correct filter, and if there are no leaks and the car is running fine you shouldn't expect any problems. Future recommendation: Use a high-grade sythetic oil and oil filter next time you change the oil. Up until a few years ago, I used to have kwiky lube places change my oil. It used to cost me about $25 and sometimes they didn't do a very thorough job. For the past couple years, I've done all the oil changes on my own cars. I only use sythetic oil and high-grade filters. It cost me less than having someone else do the job using standard oil. The old rumor was that oil needs to be changed every 3000 miles and any grade oil is good enough. That's been past done from generation to generation. The new truth is that synthetic oil does more for your engine than any dyno oil ever could. Plus, a high-quality synthetic oil can last anywhere from 5000 to 250000 miles between changes!. The two best synthetics I've used are Mobil 1 and AMSOIL. AMSOIL is the best, but is the most expensive and not easy to find. Sometimes the only place to find it is on their web site. The super-duty filters can last up to 12 months between oil changes; though the cost about $12 on average. But spending $12/year on an oil filter is cheaper than buying 4 regular oil filters per year. Whatever option you pick for your oil, just make sure you are buying the correct weight of oil. You should have no problem with the filter that's on your car now as long as its not leaking. Hope this was helpful!