It's tight on my Daughters 2018 Forester.  I use a wrench like this.  

12 hours ago, moosens said:

No cover. The oil filter is recessed up between sections of Y pipe and whatever I haven’t discovers yet. This is an N/A car. But where they stuck the filter is blocked by pipes. 
 

Maybe I caved in too quick. It was hot and my main job had been accomplished. But I threw my ground cover down and laid under there , worked my way as deep as I could without the car being raised. I can see the oil pan and it’s drain plug. That’s all weirdly placed as well to an old schooler but easy enough. Is what it is. It’s this filter that’s inaccessible from first approach. 
 

 

make sure you aren't draining the AT fluid (is your's at or mt?)

check twice f'up once

Agreed Doc ! I did give a fair look around and believe what I saw was indeed the oil pan and not a transmission drain. It spouts towards the drivers side.

Still haven’t gotten back under there. Playing along with weather and sleep catch up. 
 

But the filter issue. I figured I’ll be needing one of those cap style wrenches and my ratchet with an extension. Thanks Larry. 
 

Won’t be trashing my old oil filter wrenches though. 1600’s and 2.2’s as long as I can keep them going. 

22 hours ago, moosens said:

No cover. The oil filter is recessed up between sections of Y pipe and whatever I haven’t discovers yet. This is an N/A car. But where they stuck the filter is blocked by pipes

must be a major difference between the H6 and the 4 of that era... his is right up front where it should be.. same place as my '02 Forester

Good luck, have fun.

 

On 7/17/2021 at 5:24 PM, moosens said:

So will I not be able to get my old school oil filter wrench up there? I don’t see any easy access. And of course the next question would be what are you using not only to remove but to tighten up the new one ? 

You'll need a new wrench that is rotated from "above" or with a ratchet, not from the side if yours is the old school handle type.  Those won't work. 

Hand tightened, no tool needed.  3/4 turn after contact by hand.  Sometimes I can get them off by hand when they're installed properly that way. 

23 hours ago, lmdew said:

It's tight on my Daughters 2018 Forester.  I use a wrench like this.  

Beast - I hadn't seen anything like that!

I think I bought a Lisle similar to above in the past, lol, can't remember where I put it....no teeth though, everything is better with TEETH lol

 

 

Not sure about how yours is configured as I have a SG Forester, but you may want to look into K&N filters.  They have a 1" "nut" welded to the top of the filter, making it super easy to loosen  with a simple ratchet/ extension setup.

Just my 2 bucks

7 hours ago, NV Zeno said:

Not sure about how yours is configured as I have a SG Forester, but you may want to look into K&N filters.  They have a 1" "nut" welded to the top of the filter, making it super easy to loosen  with a simple ratchet/ extension setup.

Just my 2 bucks

Yeah I have one or more of those hanging around. Came with a parts car. 
 

Always been a 1/4 crank in after hand seating firmly. I don’t get stupid with it but I go by what we were taught. I like the feel of a wrench on the filter over my hands so I’ll likely keep going that route.