True story... When I had my 97 Ram 4x4 I always heard a moaning sound when I started up the motor (especially when it was cold out). The moan would occur for about 8 seconds then go away with no consequence to the performance. That went on for years and no one was able to answer my questions on "why." Well, I thought it was probably a sign of a 318 aging and didn't bother with it. Of course I changed my own oil according to factory specs (and I used to work on cars) so I thought nothing of it. I used Mobile1, Fram and WIX filters only. Well, when I got my 10 I had the oil changes performed at the stealership. The first three were expensive so I decided to do them myself and keep record of them. I used Mobile1 filters religiously. But then I started to notice that same moaning sound coming from #1900's powerplant when she was started up during the Houston winter months. WTF? This isn't a 318 motor. These two motors are nothing alike other than they are Chrysler built. So was is a Dodge thing? Couldn't be. I took it in for warranty work once and mentioned the noise. The tech raised his brow and had nothing to add. Then, later it occurred to me that I was changing my own oil using aftermarket filters. When I returned I brought this up to a Viper tech. He concluded that anything other than an OEM Viper filter may cause that to happen. To some it may sound ridiculous, but there are times my friends when one must give the ridiculous a try. And you know what? Ever since I continued using Viper filters that noise never happened again. So it goes without saying, I am an advocate for such OEM parts.
:top:Viper filter FTW!!!
