There is a tidy story about oil filters that goes: cars used to take a spin-on metal can, then manufacturers switched to a paper cartridge in a housing, so newer means cartridge. It is tidy, and it is wrong often enough to send people home from the parts counter with the wrong box.
Across the vehicles we list, the split is 901 spin-on to 599 cartridge. Not a transition — a coexistence.
Some manufacturers picked one and stayed there
A few makes really are all one thing, and for those the guess works:
- BMW is cartridge on every row we carry, and has been for decades of the range — including the 3 Series and X3.
- Volvo and MINI are likewise cartridge throughout, from the XC90 to the Cooper.
- Audi is cartridge on all but one row, and Volkswagen on most — see the A4 and the Jetta.
- Toyota and Lexus moved most of the range to cartridge with their newer four-cylinder and V6 families; a Camry of the current generation takes an element, not a can.
If you drive one of those, the form factor is settled and the only question is which part number.
Others offer both — in the same year, in the same model
This is where the tidy story breaks. On a 2013–2017 Chevrolet Equinox, the 2.4-litre four takes a cartridge (ACDelco PF457G) and the 3.6-litre V6 takes a spin-on (PF63). Same model, same model years, two different things to buy, decided entirely by which engine is under the hood.
The Chevrolet Colorado does the same thing three ways: the 2.5-litre four is a spin-on (PF64), the 3.6-litre V6 is a cartridge (PF2129, later PF2257G), and the 2.8-litre diesel is a cartridge again (PF2262G). Then the 2023 2.7-litre turbo goes back to a spin-on (PF66).
So on a GM product, “what year is it?” is the wrong question. “Which engine is it?” is the right one, and that is why every vehicle page here lists the filter per engine rather than per car.
One more layer: the same car, two correct answers
Occasionally the engine is not enough either. The BMW N20 and N55 engines were built with more than one oil filter housing, and the housing decides the part:
- a silver aluminium housing (most cars built from 6/2012) takes 11427953125;
- a black plastic housing takes 11427634291 on rear-wheel drive, or 11427634292 on xDrive.
Nothing on the registration document tells you which. You look at the housing. Where a vehicle has a case like this, we show both parts with the mark that distinguishes them rather than picking one and hoping — the same reason we list the GM 1.4-litre’s two filters by the cap the car was built with.
What actually changes in the driveway
The practical differences are small but real, and worth knowing before you are under the car with the old oil already drained.
A cartridge lives in a housing you open with a cap wrench sized for that car — the Mazda Skyactiv engines, for instance, use a 64 mm, 14-flute cap across the CX-5 and its siblings. The element comes with new O-rings, and the ones in the box are there to be used, not saved. Lubricate them with fresh oil, seat the element fully, and tighten the cap to the figure in your manual. We deliberately do not publish cap torque on this site: it varies by application rather than by engine family, and the free sources that quote it are guessing.
A spin-on needs a cup or strap wrench that fits that can, a film of clean oil on the new gasket, and hand-tightening about three-quarters of a turn past contact. The classic failure is the old gasket staying stuck to the block and the new filter sealing against two gaskets, which will empty the sump in a couple of minutes. Check the mating face before the new one goes on, every time.
Neither type is “better” for your engine. The manufacturer chose one for packaging and servicing reasons long before you got there, and the only thing that matters is fitting what it asks for.
How to check yours in ten seconds
Look up your year, model and engine on this site — for example a Honda Civic, a Hyundai Sonata, a Kia Telluride or a Ford F-150 — and the specifications block names the type alongside the OEM part number. Where a row’s part number is uncertain, we leave the type blank rather than deriving one from a part we are not sure about, because a filter type inferred from an unverified part is no more trustworthy than the part.