Within the maintenance of our car, there are operations that we must do every year: changing the oil (and its filter) is one of them. It is a simple, affordable and key process for the proper functioning of the engine: you can go to your trusted workshop or do it yourself. In any of the cases (and, above all, in the second), it is crucial that the parts are original (regardless of the brand). If not, the savings can be very expensive.
The oil filter is one of the simplest parts of the thousands that your car has, but that is why it is not free from fakes: installing a fake one can result in a serious… and expensive breakdown. This has been demonstrated by the YouTube channel ‘The Car Care Nut’: received a visit from a 2008 Toyota Highlander with a striking noise coming from the top of the engine. The mechanic puts us in context: it is a vehicle that has only had one owner and he has always carried out all the maintenance up to date.
A recurring failure or a major one?
The first theory points to a recurring failure suffered by Toyota’s 3.5-liter V6 engines. The gears of the VVT-i (the intelligent variable valve timing developed by the Japanese brand) used to have problems, usually due to low oil pressure. However, the problem went further: in the case of this Toyota Highlander, the VVT-i didn’t even work. An error that presaged a more serious breakdown than it seemed at first glance.
Before getting down to work, in the workshop they decided to take a look at the oil and the filter: they came across the key to everything. The oil filter fitted to the Japanese SUV was made of a crumbling material and therefore the piece had completely lost its structural integrity. Compared to a genuine (and used) filter, the differences were stark.
The danger of fake parts
As a result, the oil pressure was not adequate and this caused the VVT-i system to be unable to function properly. Unfortunately (for the Toyota Highlander owner’s pocketbook), the damage was significant: although the sound that had brought him to the shop disappeared after changing the oil and filter, it didn’t take long to return.
The bet of the mechanics of ‘The Car Care Nut’ is that the oil filter that had caused the problem was a falsification: the customer had explained that he had bought it from what he thought was a reliable place. The truth is that it is not necessary to change the parts of our car for original ones purchased from the manufacturer of our vehicle: they can be from another brand, but they must always be compatible and appropriate spare parts for our model.
