Yesterday I changed the oil and filter in my 2010 Forester 2.5X premium for the first time. It just passed the 1000 mile break in period. I purchased the oil filter from the parts department of the local Subaru dealership. It came off the shelf wrapped in shrinkwrap that included a crush washer. Back at my garage I removed the oil drain plug which did not have any type of washer from the factory?? After draining the oil I attempted to remove the filter but discovered that the cap wrench that fit the replacement filter would not fit over the factory filter. I ended up using a band type wrench to remove the filter. It turns out that the filter that came from the factory is considerably different than the replacement. It is manufactured in Japan and larger and heftier than the replacement. Checked the owners manual and found out for some reason it lists two different filters. One black and one blue. The black is what came from the factory and the blue is the dealers replacement. The blue one is manufactured in Canada by Honeywell which is the parent company of Fram. It appears to be a much more cheaply made replacement for the original from the factory. It is lighter, thinner and the gasket is so skimpy that once it makes contact with the engine it cannot be turned that additional 7/8 rotation. My question is if Subaru is cutting costs on something as basic as an oil filter where else are they giving up on quality?
By the way, the dealers parts dept charged $7 for the teacup sized blue filter.
By the way, the dealers parts dept charged $7 for the teacup sized blue filter.