What is the cartridge oil filter on the V6 Vue?

[Mark G]

I received a brochure on the VUE yesterday. In it, it was talking about the new features that make it unique. It said that the VUE does not use regular spin on type oil filters, instead, it uses a cartridge filter that is supposed to be easier to replace. Does anyone know what this cartridge filter is?

[bigbird]

The cartridge oil filter is just a pleated filter element without a metal canister to house it.In most cars this pleated filter is contained in a metal housing which screws onto the engine block.On the 2.2L and 3L engines in Saturns, there is a plastic housing permanently attached to the engine block which holds this replaceable pleated filter. So, to change the oil filter in these engines, one just simply removes a large plastic nut on top of the plastic housing, pulls out the old cartridge,drops in a new cartridge, replaces the nut, and refills the engine oil.
The strange thing is that the replaceable pleated cartridge is more expensive than typical metal housed oil filters.One would think it should be cheaper, as the metal housing is not required.

[Harry]

Economy of scale. Right now there aren't a lot of metal-less filter cars around. Once the sales of ECOTECH engines go up, the price should hopefully go down.

[ricksLS1]

For the L 4 cly at the dealer (Dealer prices vary) $4.99; for the STP 9018 (FOR THE 4 ONLY) at Autozone $3.50. That's not bad. The STP is made in Korea.

[Qlara]

Corrections though: Both Ecotec 4 and V6 are using cartridge filters, but they're not in the same location. Ecotec is located in the top part of the engine (Best location ever!) and it has a plastic cap cover to house it. The V6 filter is located horizotally in the front (next to the front exhaust manifolds.....) and it's using a metal cap cover though.

Both filters are very easy to replace. Ecotec is a no brainer as it's on top, but the V6 you'll need to crawl under and drain out the residual oil carefully before you can take the used one out.