Beware 15400-RTA-003

[Evox787]

Walmart the brick and mortar store or Walmart the website?

Walmart the website is just another marketplace where scammers run amok, no better than scAmazon or eBay.

I wouldn't trust anything I didn't buy from a brick and mortar Walmart.

So hard that I had to learn it this way. At least a couple of dollars were thrown and not a new engine because the filter decided to claim its 72 virgins and grenades the engine in the process . I don’t bash it because coming from certain countries is the quality behind it that bothers me and the people gospel as whatever they use is better because it comes from (insert country). When in reality that is just a mark at the end of the process; they don’t have a clue where all the material comes from and suck the JDM market on a car that the only thing JDM is where it is put together because all the parts come from all over.

But I guess JDM right! I love my forged wheels on my car; they are from China, but I don’t have a set of wheels that everyone has to a point that all the cars look the same. Everyone has their right to do their car their way but can’t kick anyone if they’re not using (insert JDM brand) because they aren’t purists or some crap. Also, while eBay and Amazon have their advantages, some stuff like critical parts—for example, oil filters, timing chain, hydraulic tensioners, etc.— need to be OEM and they also are known to face scrutiny because the quality isn’t there. Look at the problem with the 1.5 head gaskets on Honda and all these recent recalls on parts that should not be, in particular parts that even were replaced for a long time before. My car at 15k if memory serves correctly, they did the "steering recall" that ended with replacing the whole steering rack; my ’ 06 Scion at 190k still has the OE rack and terminals, is lowered, and I used to live in Puerto Rico, where our streets are S@&”&! The gif is for your comment!

 

[blitz423]

They had it on shelves in actual stores. Finding others finding it on Walmart shelves on Reddit. Reddit screenshot below and a video from youtube.
Youtube short someone filming Walmart shelf of oil filters
Another youtube short of filters on shelf

 

[Spart]

They had it on shelves in actual stores. Finding others finding it on Walmart shelves on Reddit. Reddit screenshot below and a video sorry from youtube.
Youtube short someone filming Walmart shelf of oil filters
Another youtube short of filters on shelf
Youtube video 2 years ago

That weirds me out.

I found another photo of that box where it says "Repacked by Factory Motor Parts, Eagan MN, 55121"

That's enough for me to not buy those specifically. If fakes were not so prevalent, it would be a different story but imagine you're the guy in charge of this stuff at "Factory Motor Parts". One day, your supply of the 15400-PLM-A02 dries up. You hunt around and find a company in California that has them, and they're even cheaper. You order them, they come in different packaging but the filter in the box looks the same, so into the blue boxes they go and off to Walmart.

Surprise, the company in California was importing fakes from China by the shipping container full.

So buy those "Repacked" filters and you're at the mercy of wherever they source their filters from. Honda one day, Temu the next?

Nah. At Walmart, I'd go for Wix, Mobil 1, or the more expensive Fram options. Walmart will be getting them direct from the manufacturer with no goofy middleman swapping the boxes out.

Walmart also sells OEM AC Delco and Motorcraft, and I've bought those too. No "Factory Motor Parts" middleman changing the packaging on those. Again: in-store, never online.

 

[Spart]

bought a pack of 3 off Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWG8JYDS a while back. 3 filters and 3 washers. Washers were not packaged with the filter; just rolling around the shipping box. seems legit but take a look, thx

I want to revisit these one more time.

While that box doesn't look like any of the boxes I've seen on legit filters imported from Japan by third parties, I think this might apply:

Things that make me think they could be legit:

• The "JD" in the label probably stands for "Julian Date" and seems to be in the format where the first two digits are the year, and the next three digits are the day of the year. On counterfeits, they often get this wrong by just copying the same date codes over and over. Yours differs from his, but everything else on the label is the same.
• Honda had to scramble to replace the Fram filter supply, and these might be among those that were imported temporarily with deliberately relabeled boxes, which would explain why these look nothing like the boxes for filters that are sold in Japan.

It may be that this label is what you see on a Honda USA import rather than a third party (gray market) import.

I have gotten a few things from College Hills Honda, and they have these on their website:

https://www.collegehillshonda.com/product/15400-RTA-003.html

Here's the picture they have of the box:

Now, they could have yoinked that picture from another website. Not that far-fetched to me, I work for a company that does it's own internal product photography and other companies are constantly stealing our pictures.

But that is promising and it makes me lean more towards real than fake if you get something like that from Amazon (not like the ones in the OP though - there are lots of obvious mistakes on that one that out it as a counterfeit.)

The problem (as always) is that its always a little arms race. As soon as a thread pops up in public like this one, you can bet the counterfeiters are studying it and working on improving their fakery.

Regardless, I would generally trust College Hills Honda since they're a real Honda dealership. I've ordered from them on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/str/collegehillshonda When ordering on eBay, ordering from a seller account tied to a real dealer is one of the few ways you can avoid fakes.

 

[BLU RRR]

I just got a four pack from college hills yesterday. Here are a few pics.

I got 2 003s from a local dealer and the box and filter look exactly like this

 

[Amm5890]

Got 4 for $29 earlier this year. No issues for a few thousand miles. Here’s a pic of the box. Crush washers were separate

 

[Spart]

The main thing that makes those look legit (besides coming from a Honda dealership) is that the lot number or date code (the number after "JD") actually changes.

On the counterfeits, they're too lazy to change it. So for example, you see a ton of counterfeits with date code "9M31".

 

[blitz423]

Click on this to watch on Youtube someone who dissected a FAKE Ebay PLM-A02.
He bought it on Ebay and shows what to look for in a counterfeit.

Got around to getting the filters out from the garage. I originally bought 2 filters (PLM-A02) from Walmart for my brand new to me used fl5 with 17k miles and did an oil & filter change with one of the filters. Then later I ordered the 3-pack (RTA-003) from Amazon to add for future oil changes. Pictures below I intentionally left the box associated with the filter in the background so I don't have to do any editing. I think I took most of the necessary pictures. The difference that I do see is the shrink wrap are different and only the PLM-A02 has a part number sticker on the shrink wrap and the RTA-003 doesn't. They are different shade of blue too. The RTA-003 that post #66 bought from College Hills looks identical to what I have from Amazon. Box including.

I'm questioning if even the RTA-003 is any better than the PLM-A02(49 Pleats/50in). I noticed a youtuber that cut open both filters and there are less pleats and shorter on the RTA-003(41 Pleats/45in) when laid out flat compared to the PLM-A02. Is it the filter's actual type of material (cellulose) that matters more than how many pleats and length?

 

[Spart]

To my haters reporting my posts: I'm sure your parents are very proud!

The difference that I do see is the shrink wrap are different and only the PLM-A02 has a part number sticker on the shrink wrap and the RTA-003 doesn't. They are different shade of blue too. The RTA-003 that post #66 bought from College Hills looks identical to what I have from Amazon. Box including.

I'm questioning if even the RTA-003 is any better than the PLM-A02(49 Pleats/50in). I noticed a youtuber that cut open both filters and there are less pleats and shorter on the RTA-003(41 Pleats/45in) when laid out flat compared to the PLM-A02. Is it the filter's actual type of material (cellulose) that matters more than how many pleats and length?

The PLM-A02 is made in the US for Honda by Fram, the RTA-003 is made in Japan for Honda by Mahle. The sticker difference is correct and one of the things some counterfeits get wrong is putting the sticker on the shrink wrap of the RTA-003. That's not how they come.

Your PLM-A02 looks legit by everything I can see on the outside.

If you're getting into square inches of filter, # pleats, filter material, etc. - you aren't going to find the best of anything in a Honda labeled filter. They're just sort of midgrade at best.

To me, the best argument for running a Honda filter at all is if you are under warranty and don't want it to come into question. I tend to run OE filters on all of my vehicles still under warranty.

 

[FL5CW]

This is not true of the Japan market 15400-RTA-003. It is completely covered.

I have four of these filters at home right now, from Honda, and only the end cap is covered in plastic.

 

[FL5CW]

That was true many years ago. I don’t recall what year it changed but current OE filters are completely wrapped

Wild, I still have four of these at home. Im from Canada, so maybe we still have some old supply.

 

[Spart]

Wild, I still have four of these at home. Im from Canada, so maybe we still have some old supply.

Post some pictures if you can.

Even if they're NOS, it's still helpful to have examples of what things used to look like because the counterfeiters are often mimicking one or two generations behind.

 

[Evox787]

Here is the update from College Hills regarding this part number: they may not receive more than the two-month supply they already hold. I will use Purolator from now on, avoiding the trouble with Japanese, Chinese, or other sources. Having used it previously on other Hondas and Toyotas, I do not understand why Honda has this big problem with the filters.

 

[Spart]

Here is the update from College Hills regarding this part number: they may not receive more than the two-month supply they already hold.

Makes complete sense, I assume Honda USA was scrambling a bit until they could lock down production of the filters by Mahle in China.

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