TSB for alternate engine oil filter!

Well, I'm a little late to this party. 2016 Forester coming up on a 138k mile oil change. Been using the 15A filter since day one. Figured that the OEM filter was about the best available. I was out of oil filters and attempted to buy another box of the 15As, but where I had bought from before was no longer selling them. Did some more research and saw that there was what I thought was a new number, the SOA6351520815. I just received the order I had placed with a Subaru online retailer. Filters were just thrown loose in a box and there was no protective wrap around the filters like the original OEM had to protect against contamination. So I wondered if I had gotten some kind of Chinese knock off. Reading through this forum and several others I see that this is the new "alternate" filter and it has a couple of restrictions for use. All this time I was under the impression that the Subaru OEM filter was a premium filter and not a filter that was just good enough (Fram).

Definitely considering just pitching these things out and getting the Mazda or Wix or Purolator filter. When I first saw the oil filter on the Forester engine, I thought that it was too small. The oil filter on my motorcycle is bigger and that engine is 1.3l. After seeing the tear down of the original OEM and the reduced amount of filter media on the "alternate", I'm not comfortable in using either one. I'm not a filter snob to a severe degree, but I have done filter research on my other vehicles. The diesel truck uses Baldwin for the oil and ACDelco for the fuel. The Challenger uses either Wix or Purolator. The bike no longer runs OEM filters, but I'm stuck with OEM filters for the tractor. There are only two filter manufacturers for my airplane oil filter and they both have metal end caps on the filtration unit with a metal plate spring for the bypass.

Yep, I think I'm gonna spend a few more bucks and stay away from the Subaru filters.

If anyone is looking for the discontinued SOA 15208AA15A oil filter, Walmart is carrying them. Walmart stocks tons of Fram oil filters and my guess is that Fram is disposing of leftover Subaru filters after Subaru changed suppliers. I looked in the box and the filter is genuine:

Hi all!

Been changing the oil on my 3 subarus for a few years now. Everytime, I ALWAYS get the oem filter. They typically look like these...




recently, almost EVERY ebay listing for filters have DIFFERENT looking filters. All their listings say that subaru combined the part numbers of both the filter+crush washer.




They are now just blank with no writing on them besides a new part number stamped on the top?

I noticed that when I "thought" I was buying factory filters from Subaru Parts Online and received the ones you are showing. Not happy.......

How does one define “factory oil filter”?

Auto manufacturers rarely make their own filter, but instead buy it from suppliers meeting the manufacturer’s specifications, and have their label stamped on it. So, using that template, a factory filter is whatever is the one the manufacturer recommends…even if it isn’t the exact duplicate of what originally came on the vehicle when it was new.

So, if my Forester came equipped with the black filter originally, but when I go to the Subaru parts counter for a replacement “OEM” filter, I get a blue one…isn’t that still the OEM manufacturer’s recommended filter?

Isn’t any authorized manufacturer’s superseded part coming from a manufacturer’s officially licensed outlet still the factory part? Isn’t it still considered OEM?

I know some folks will disagree with that logic, but isn’t that how the manufacturer sees it?

FelineFreddie said:

How does one define “factory oil filter”?

Click to expand...

This is how I define it for the FB engine model years: