Who ever thought our Hemi oil filters could be so complicated??? lol. Without going too deep into the details, here are my quick thoughts (you can spend hours researching this topic)
- those NAPA filters should be fine, but I'm not sure the guy you dealt with had the understanding of the 899 and 041 filters
- the BLACK Mopar 899 filter (mfg. in USA by Purolator) is what typically comes on the 6.2 and 6.4 from the factory
- the WHITE SRT 041 filter (mfg. by Wix at their plant in Poland) originally came on certain year Vipers, and is a popular alternative to the 899
I keep tabs a lot lately on the pathetic state of the non-accidental "supply chain" woes especially for auto parts, and I can tell you there are a lot of 899s around, at times not as many as a year ago, but plenty - example: Rock Auto had hundreds in stock last time I checked.
The 041 SRT filters have been very scarce for the last 6 months or so. I found a motherload at one of my local dealers back in February and asked the parts guy what was up - he thinks it's purely a supply problem. Others have speculated Mopar is changing suppliers, but he didn't think so. Interestingly enough, I went to the same dealer again last week to see how many 041s they had left and pick up some more, and through the open doors to the parts backroom, I could see a sign for the parts employees that said "sell aftermarket parts first"...interesting to ponder that directive - maybe that's why your parts guy gave you NAPA filters instead of at least Mopar 899s???
