Oil filter

[93LagunaBlueGS]

Anybody know a good reason not to use the older style oil filter (92 V6 & earlier B6) on my 93 V6? While shopping for filter & oil at Checker/Shucks/whatever I noticed that the filter I was using on my '88 Tracer was also used on the 92 GS. Fram makes about 4 different filters in the older part number, a couple of which are huge in comparison to the tiny thing called for the '93. I bought the big one and it fits fine, but my innate obsessive-compulsiveness makes me wonder if there was some good technical reason to use the newer one. Is there?

[mitmaks]

yes i want answer too, i have tracer filter laying around and its time to change oil in my '93 GS and wondering if i would have problems if i put it on my GS, since it might not fit properly and not filter and let oil just pass through

[curtklze]

if it calls for a different filter there is probably a reason, some times car maker makes changes in the oiling system or specifies a certian amout of filter flow and the current filter cant handle it so the filter companies have to change the current filter or make a new filter that will meet the manufacurers specs.<p>
many of the newer filters have anti-drain back valves, which prevents the oil in the oil passeges from draining into the oil pan when the car is turned off. Thus preventing lack of oil pressure on cold start up.(our cars have a problem with HAL's and friction gears wearing out and making noise.<p>maybe in 93 mazda relized that a diff oil filter would help keep the engine lasting longer(untill it got out of warrenty).<p>I would ask the filter maker's help line if the filter you want to use has an anti-drain back valve in side, if it does, then it should be ok, but there are other concerns like flow rate, and how well it filters the oil, also there is a by pass inside the filter so when the oil is cold it will not go through the filtering material, (the oil is too thick) and this alows the oil to get to the bearings when its cold, or if the filter gets pluged with dirt. maybe the valve is set to a different pressure on the earlyer car, and oil wont get to the engine soon enough.<p>
I dont know., I do know that on 1999-2000 gmc full sized pickups, one type of oil filter was discontinued, and a new filter was called for. If you used the old filter(we had 1 or 2 left) the check oil light would come on, when we put the new filter on, the light went out, this happend twice, and then all we used was the new part number oil filter(which looked exactly the same but had a different type of spring on the inside)