Subaru Air Filter Housing

[Phishin]

I went to install a new Napa Gold Air Filter today in my newly obtained 2009 Subaru Forester. I was surprised at how "clunky" the air filter housing fits together. It doesn't look like it seals very good well at all along the vertical edges of the housing. Hmmm.....

Yes, I made sure the tabs on the bottom of the housing fit into their correct "slots". I still wasn't very impressed with how the housing is fits together.

Anyone else think it's a bit off? Or at least could be much better?

 

[Spartanfool]

My Subaru is clunky like that, but so are the two GM vehicles I own. The kid's Hyundai has a notably superior design.

 

[Nate1979]

Our 2010 is the same way. Makes changing the air filter a pain.

 

[CHARLIEBRONSON21]

I've learned to love the filter on my fusion...

 

[Chris142]

Check out the junk dodge put on there 96-02 pickups with the 5.9 and 5.2 gassers

 

[sxg6]

I don't think it's that bad, but I might just be use to it. I mentioned this on another forum recently, but I think it's worth mentioning again. Our engine air filters appear to be square, but they're really slightly rectangular. I would make sure the filter is installed the right way, since it can cause the airbox to bow a little if it's not. I've also found that plastic filter cage on many traditional paper filters has a curve, which might cause the poor fit feeling too. Picture example of the curve below.
http://home.comcast.net/~apexigsx/faf/1.jpg
I forget the way the pleats are supposed to face with a traditional air filter. On my AEM dryflow the pleats go up and down, and the filter is 8 3/4" tall, and 8 3/8" wide.

 

[artificialist]

It is way too difficult to properly replace the air filter in my Mitsubishi. It seems either the top half doesn't line up, or the bottom half when the top half connects properly. Once I discovered the problem the hard way because I could hear the turbo whistle much more loudly.

 

[rationull]

I noticed the same thing after I got my WRX. At first I thought it was put together wrong but I took the housing out and looked at it in more detail and came to the conclusion that it was normal -- just the way it's designed.

A lot of cars have the "seam" horizontal, though, and it's possible that a lot of them fit together this way and you just can't see the "chunkiness" as easily.

I do wish there was a little more wiggle room though. There's *just* enough room on mine to get the filter in, and I don't like having the paper element rub against the plastic housing edge.

On the up side, it's nice being able to take the intake snorkus off and check how dirty the filter is without opening the clips and disturbing the filter!