[jroden]

I just did my first oil change on my 08. I inserted my 3/8 socket into the filter housing, but the whole assembly came off rather than just the small plug removed for draining. I did not bother with removing it and just put in a new filter.

How do I hold the filter housing stationary next time so just the plug comes out?

 

[robo5]

Trust me this is a good question. BUT i do not have a correct answer for you.

The way i do it is. I use an 3/8's air gun to spin off the drain on the filter, then i can insert the drain attachment to drain the filter, then unscrew the filter cartridge.

The way you are doing it is messy. The proper way is still messy. The drain attachment is hard to press in(I bend in the tab's a bit to make it easyer to install)


toyota did this for what? the enviroment? OK Riddle me this batman. What did we save?

I would like to see what other people have to say about this?(keep it clean)

 

[jsm]

Yup. At 'my' dealership I just asked them last week how they do it. Answer was, some guys take the drain out first, others don't bother. Either way is messy. If someone comes out with a conversion back to a spin-on filter, I'm buying now!

 

[samilcar]

If the small drain plug is tighter than the filter housing itself, I've found the best way of loosening it is to give the wrench attached to the 3/8" socket extension a series of short, hard raps with your fist. This "poor mans" impact wrench action has been successful for me in getting this small plug out without loosening the whole filter assembly.

 

[bps]

I'm also in line if there is ever a conversion kit to a regular spin filter.

I changed the oil for the first time last week as well and what a messy job that is! As well there are a lot of parts to keep track of.

I do all the maintenance on my vehicles and have since the 70's so I'm not new at this, but changing the oil is not straightforward, The oil pan had a plug and washer, the filter has an internal filter and 2 gaskets that need replacing, and there are 3 things that have to be torqued. We also need a fitting and a piece of garden hose. It also took a couple of trips to the store to find the correct fitting wrench for the oil filter housing. While not much spilled on the groung my hands certainly got drenched in oil at several of the removal steps, i also found the oil filter housing to have a fair bit of dirty oil in it after removing and had to spend time chaning that as well which is not all that simple and it's tough to get a rag into it. All in all it was a PITA!

I'm sure that next time it will be a bit simpler as i know what to expect but compared to changing oil in my chevy which is one bolt with no washer on the pan and a spin on/off filter which rarely leaks when removing. This was dirty and overly complex.

 

[jsm]

I too do all my own maintenance since the 70's, and I'm not even going to try with this van for the same reason . PITA !

 

[sienna]

I know it's a PITA, that's why I have a guy I know called Amigo at the local corner lube place for $14 labor..I bring the filter element and mobil1 syn. he does the drain and fill. even gives me the old oil in 1 gal jugs which i gladly donate back to kragens auto parts.

 

[sienna]

it's good to do it once or twice (the oil change offcourse) and know how incase you run in to some emergency repairs/swap out of liquids on a vacation somewhere. I always carry two 5 quart jugs of mobil1 syn and 2 filter elements with me in my autorepair bin.

 

[jroden]

jeepers, it wasn't that hard or messy. Maybe 20 mins the first time, I assume it will be faster next time. It's interesting that the engine takes 6 quearts of oil and they add a cooler if you get the tow pack, wonder why that is. If someone made a custom relocation kit / cooler that would allow a spin on filter, I'd buy one.

My wife's 4runner has a spin on filter right on the top of the engine, it's a great location.

 

[wxm]

It really isn't too bad at all. Messy first time when you take over from the dealers. Once you are in control, it quite simple. I come to think that the dealers purposely torque the small cap higher than the big housing so that they can just use 3/8" extension to take off the whole thing to save time. Given how much effort I had to put down with vise, ratchet etc, I suspect that they actually changed the small o-ring each time - can't be a good thing given the O-ring is not designed for long lasting... Torque it right, you will see it gets quite easier next time. I'd think twice to let the dealers to do it again (though someone had warned me a potential hassle with the warranty if I did oil change yourself.)

That's said, I agree with you guys about the purpose of this design change. Mr. T better has good reason to justify this. Unfortunately it remains unclear to me. ???

 

[topspy]

There is no legal requirement for Toyota to do the oil changes, or a professional mechanic either.

To protect your warranty rights, you only need to maintain proper records showing that the work was performed.....by anyone.
Just keep receipts for parts purchased and a log-book of dates/mileage/work performed/etc. Nowadays, with digital cameras, a few dated pics might be good too.

The only benefit of having someone else do the work is that if something goes wrong, you can blame that person.....and your wife/whomever doesn't get the satisfaction of doing the "I told you so" routine.

YMMV.
Good Luck!! 8)

 

[jroden]

So is there a problem with removing the whole housing as a unit and not bothering to remove the center cap and replace the O-ring after the fact? It seems faster than messing with the draining tube.

 

[samilcar]

I really don't think it matters. I drain the housing before removing it, but even after doing this a few drops of oil always run down the outside of the housing while removing it. If I have to clean off the outside of the housing after doing it the "correct" way, what's really the point of draining the housing?

 

[buba]

The only time I had the housing spin off before the drain plug was after a free OC at my dealer. I think the dealer used an air gun on the drain plug and over torqued it. At least the torque on the drain plug was higher than the housing, which is why the housing spun off when I tried to remove the drain plug. I use a cheap torgue wrench when I do it myself and follow the recommend torque settings on the oil filter box. I never had an issue with the housing spinning off before the drain plug when it is torque correctly.

 

[jh818]

The first time I did the oil change on my 07 Sienna, I bought a Puralator filter that included a plastic drain plug adapter. This adapter actually screws in rather than snap in. I was able to control the rate of the flow of oil from the housing. I saved this little adapter and use it on every oil change. No little hose needed once I place the drain pan right below it.

 

[sienna2006bkl]

With oil changes on these Siennas relatively more complex than normal, is it ever possible to take these autos to the many, many lube shops or do their techs end up scratching their heads and never finding the oil filter assembly?

Net/net, is do it yourself and the dealership our only options?

By the way, I noticed that my local dealer is now charging $38 for an oil change.

 

[brian_bp]

By the way, I noticed that my local dealer is now charging $38 for an oil change.

I don't know if that price is perceived as high or low, but here the Toyota's dealer's price for an oil change is competitive with the oil-change places... and no matter what I have said about Toyota dealership service departments, they are still geniuses compared to the lube-shop crowd!

 

[homer]

So is there a problem with removing the whole housing as a unit and not bothering to remove the center cap and replace the O-ring after the fact? It seems faster than messing with the draining tube.

Its not a problem to remove the whole assembly in one sequence but its messy. The center plug is only torqued at IIRC 10flbs, so the housing at IIRC ( 27flbs) should not spin.

The tube seems to be a problem for many of the members here, personnally I like it , but there is no need to mess and fight with a hose attached to it, why a hose , do you have a hose attached to the engine drain plug ?

All you have to do is to apply the plastic adaptor against the valve inside the filter housing and hit the plastic tube with a small hammer, the tube will go in without any trouble and yet let the oil drain in your oil change container voila, piece of cake

 

[toyofan129]

Just done my first oil change and tire rotation on my 09 LE. Thanks to the suggestions and warnings from this forum, I did not spill a drop of oil! It was not messy at all to me. Of course you might have gotten some used oil on your hands. Not if you wear gloves

Since I needed to rotate the tires, I jacked up the vehicle and put it on four jack stands so that four wheels were just 2-3 inches above floor. I found it very easy to work when front passenger side wheel was removed. Luckily I could easily remove the filter housing drain plug first, then inserted plastic adapter tube into the filter housing assembly. I have to admit that it was hard to push the plastic tube into it. But it is doable without a little hammer in my case.

I kind of enjoy changing the paper cartridge filter on my van now... One caveat always tighten the filter housing and filter drain plug to spec with a torque wrench (18/10 ft-lb). Otherwise you will end up getting the whole thing out together next time when you do your oil change.

I would warn those who want to take their vans to fast lube places. You may end up sipping their stale coffee for one hour before they can figure out how to replace your cartridge filters. Or even worse, they may overtighten your filter drain plugs or housing assembly. Or worst they may not bother to replace the filter at all. No worry you are guaranteed to be charged for the filter change. ;D

 

[kanji4ever]

I just did my first oil change on my 2010 Sienna XLE at approximately 2000 miles.
It was very early to do the oil change but since the car still in "break-in" mode and I got dealer gift card when I purchased the vehicle. I figured to do a oil change wont hurt.
Went to dealer to purchase OEM filter cartridge, drain plug gasket, and 5W30 engine oil.

Drain the oil from oil pan was easy.
I was surprised at how dark the oil was. I expected it to be dirty but not that dark.
Getting the filter housing drain plug out was easy as well. Fitting the plastic drain plug in took some force and couple tries. Boy, the plastic drain plug was a tight fit.
Next was the hard part. I had my old plastic oil filter wrench I used for my other car. It was a good/tight fit. However, the filter housing was so tight that the wrench will slip. After numerous try I gave up on removing the filter. So I refilled the oil and call it a day.

I will purchase AST Toy640 oil wrench for my next oil change and see if I can get the filter housing to budge.

I figure I can just place the oil wrench on and with moderate force remove the filter housing. But obviously it was not the case for me.

Any one has any tip on removing filter housing?
Thanks in advance