I opened a 234742 (purchased last year) that I have on the shelf. The filter was not shrink-wrapped and appears dry inside. Interesting.
Every damn one of the filters I have, have an oil soaked box and a slimy bag. I personally think they have a person on the line splashing oil all over the filters. I have yet to have a failure (thank heavens). I did however have a failure with a UFI TR filter. Thank god it happend while the car was still in the shop.
The interesting thing to me is Ferrari has been through 2 oil filter companies, UFI and Perflux, both with seal failures, both with redesigns, different part numbers, TSB's etc. Lots of failures and measures taken to prevent fire yet they still cannot bring themselves to go with a major manufacturer of high quality filters. It is so like them to go to massive effort and great expense just so they can continue to buy parts from the low bidder. It is almost as bad as their long history of high pressure fuel hose problems. It is reasons like that that have convinced me over the years there must be some serious issues in their procurement operations.
