Mopar Oil Filter In-Depth Review To Consider Before Buying

In this article we will examine Mopar oil filters, paying particular attention to the 5038041AA or the SRT filter, a high-performance Mopar oil filter.

We will take a look at the features and specs on this oil filter, and compare it to other competing oil filters in terms of price, features, performance and quality. We will give you our rate each product and determine which oil filter offers the better overall value.

About Mopar Oil Filters

What Is Mopar?

Mopar (MOtar PARts) is the parts, service, and customer care subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles or FCA. While FCA has only been around since 2014, after the merger of Fiat and Chrysler, Mopar as a brand has existed for much longer, since 1937.

Among the many replacement parts Mopar makes for FCA vehicles are oil filters.

OEM Versus Aftermarket Suppliers

Since our product comparison of various oil filters is going to involve OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts versus aftermarket-supplied parts, let’s talk for a moment about the difference between these two sources for replacement parts.

If you think about it, OEMs have a selfish motive to sell you good replacement parts for the vehicles they sell to you.  After all, if an OEM $10 oil filter fails because of a defect, most likely the OEM is going to be on the hook for repairs or maybe even the replacement of the vehicle because of substantive warranty obligations on the vehicle.

None of that is a concern for aftermarket suppliers, and knowing that buyers may consider this distinction, aftermarket makers of things like oil filters will often include in their warranties provisions for making repairs on any damage caused to a customer’s engine by defects in an aftermarket replacement part.

In the end, OEM replacement parts are built or backed by the people who made the vehicle you purchased and theoretically they should understand the design specifics and performance demands of your vehicle better than anybody else.

The Key Nobody Wants

If it fits properly onto your make and model of vehicle, and depending on performance metrics, the third-party oil filter not only can do a good job of protecting your engine, but it may even do a better job than an OEM replacement part, and often for the same or less money.

The key is to research performance claims for the oil filters in question. The key problem in that is most people simply do not have the time to do that. So, they will do what makes sense—take their vehicles under warranty into an OEM-approved garage and have the oil and oil filter changed using all-OEM motor oil and parts.  For most people, that is a lot easier than saving $5 by being an expert on oil filters. Of course, being an expert, or at least an informed buyer of oil filters, might just save your engine, which costs a lot more than $5, right?

Standard Mopar Oil Filters Versus SRT/VIPER Filters

Mopar supplies a lot of variations of their filters to accommodate the many models of automobiles on which they are intended to work.

For the SRT or Viper models of Dodge “muscle” or racing vehicles, which is the high-performance automobile for which the SRT/Viper oil filter is intended, Mopar recommends two different filter types, one a lower-performing but less expensive filter (with a black “can”) and the other a higher-performing, somewhat more expensive filter (with a white can).

The primary differences between these filters, in addition to the several dollars more you’ll pay for the SRT oil filter, is basically a difference in overall quality.  The SRT oil filter is definitely made to supply a more efficient oil-cleansing environment, with much more surface area of filtering media in many more carefully pleated folds than you’ll find in the standard Mopar filter.

In addition, the SRT oil filter is constructed more sturdily, with a thicker, more durable metal shell or can covering the filter and metal construction throughout the filter to enable it to withstand the higher demands of heavy-RPM high-performance oil flows. For example, the many-pleated filter media is carefully secured by metal crimps instead of just being glued onto a piece of cardboard.

Product Specs

The specs on this oil filter are virtually non-existent. What we have been able to learn has involved the usual deep-dish digging, and we talk about this more in the product comparison below.

It is characteristic of OEM-built replacement parts that the manufacturer does not see any advantage in offering useful comparison data or specs to customers, because if comparison data made apparent to these buyers that they were getting a lower quality product in the OEM than what an aftermarket supplier was providing, they might (very reasonably) jump ship to Mobil 1 or Royal Purple, for example. What we do know about this SRT is that it is designed as a replacement filter for Dodge Challengers and Vipers, both high performance vehicles.

Pricing

The pricing on the Mopar oil filter is pretty consistent online. It runs around $12, although the MSRP for it is almost $17. We should note this is a little less expensive than aftermarket high-performance oil filters.

How It Compares

We picked a few similar products available on the market to see how they compare.

Mobil 1 M1-110 Extended Performance Oil Filter

Royal Purple 341777 Extended Life Oil Filter

Bosch 3330 Premium FILTECH Oil Filter

Mopar Oil Filters

Price	Features	Performance	Design Quality
$$

Pros

• The OEM recommended hi-perf oil filter
• Definitely better than the standard Mopar oil filter

Cons

• Questions on how high-performance it really is
• Mopar does not like spec sheets—a bad thing

Mobil 1 M1-110 Extended Performance Oil Filter

Features

This Mobil oil filter is extended performance, but not really high performance. The difference has something to do with the way synthetic oils work and the way “extended” oil filters are intended to work with them. Performance filters, on the other hand ,are intended to provide maximum protection to an engine capable of revving and staying revved way beyond where a standard vehicle engine is like to go.

Price	Features	Performance	Design Quality
Around $10

Pros

• Good, reliable oil filter
• Great warranty from a known company

Cons

• Not a high-performance filter

Royal Purple 341777 Extended Life Oil Filter

Features

Royal Purple specializes in selling high-performance oil filters. Because they know they are up against OEMs like Mopar, Royal Purple is much more forthcoming with specs and performance data.

Price	Features	Performance	Design Quality
Around $17

Pros

• A true high-performance filter
• Durable, reliable construction

Cons

• Not cheap—but YGWYPF

Bosch 3330 Premium FILTECH Oil Filter

Features

This Bosch oil filter, while offering quite respectable features and performance for its price, is a budget oil filter, neither designed for high performance nor for truly extended life. We offer it as a baseline so you can see what a good, cheap oil filter can provide.

Price	Features	Performance	Design Quality
Around $6

Pros

• Very inexpensive
• Good quality for the price

Cons

• Not high-performance
• Not extended life

Conclusion

In our review of the Mopar oil filter, we talked about how OEMs often get away with providing the buying public a lot less information than they should. In our product comparison, we discovered that there are alternatives to OEM replacement oil filters that might be a better buy. While Mobile 1 offers a good extended life oil filter and includes an excellent warranty, Royal Purple, a real high-performance oil filter, won our comparison with 4.67 average stars.