Frozen and mangled oil filtter cap

I hope this will help someone down the road. I went to change the oil, sence i was going to put a new boot on cv axle and finish the driver side cab mount relocation. Let's just say that it went all bad from there. The oil filter cap was frozen and nothing i tried seemed to work. No one online had any ideas i didn't try. Got the correct wrench and immediately started breaking off plastic tabs. Tried half inch breaker bar and rounded off the housing. Pulled out my air impact and cracked filter wrench in half. Tried to tap with hammer and screwdriver, ended up putting a hole in it. Even broke out a pipe wrench and a long bar. A nogo also. At my wit's end and resigned to buy the whole housing from the dealership. I decided to try one more thing. I got a chisel and hammer. I went around the base of the cap(it's about an eighth of a n inch wide) where it seats to the housing. I chipped away at the plastic lip 360 degrees. Just like cutting the head of a bolt. That relieved the pressure and i was able to screw it off by hand. Just be careful not to point the chisel inward, just straight up. Or you will break through the plastic and defeat the purpose.

 

Who installed the housing last? Do you know if it was torqued to spec?

 

It was the dealer up until now. Makes me wonder if they ever actually changed the filter. lol I torqued the new one to 18 lbs. Hopefully i won't have to go through that again.

 

you won’t go through that again. For some reason the morons at the dealership put it on with such force it’s always an act of God to get it off. They’ve never touched mine. From the factory, the filter was almost loose coming off.

 

Now that’s one I haven’t heard before. That’s shocking but I’m also not surprised. Just one more story of a tech pissed off, had a bad day, didn’t care, wasn’t trained or didn’t take their meds and the one that suffers is the one paying the mortgage on the truck.

I have so many similar stories and the safest place for your truck is in your own garage with you doing your own work on it. Keep records of proof you did the work or immediately check the work done and make them accountable. Seek out who their best tech is and only have them assigned. Good luck, I feel your pain.

(not that this suggestion below helps you now but maybe it can someone else next time)
If you find yourself with this same situation of an over torqued oil cap or maybe anything...try heating up the area, (for the oil cap), run the engine and get it good and warm, grab a can of pressurized air, the kind that freezes anything you spray and hit the plastic cap and where it connects to the engine. Get the cap good and cold and try the breaker bar again. Heat will expand the metal threads and the cold will shrink the plastic cap. Just a thought.

 

Why not just heat the plastic housing with a torch from a distance? The plastic would have expanded and loosened. Heat is king at making things stuck, unstuck.

 

Crikey....the condition of that housing is criminal....

Just changed the oil for the first time on my new to me 2019 Tacoma. Hate the plastic thing - I almost couldn't remove it and I had to use a wrench to tighten all the way. My 2010 Lexus RX-350 (which takes the exact same filters as the Tacoma) had a removable metal oil filter housing.

Can the plastic thing be replaced with one like on the Lexus?

 

Yes

 

Heating the plastic would only make the plastic expand tighter into the metal threads. If the plastics threads were on the outside of the metal threads like a nut on a wheel bolt then yes, heat would work

 

Oh that’s a good point I forgot about that. I’m still surprised the wrench fitting didn’t work. That thing is pretty snug, has multiple points of contact and the additional tabs to lock in. I wonder if OP didn’t have the wrench on all the way, that’s pretty common.

 

just changed my oil and filter for the second time, 10K miles. Next time, I am not going to use that plastic drain thingy. While pushing it in, it got oil running down my arm until it clicked in. I probably should have pushed it in with a rag around it. Next time, just going to loosen the housing enough so I can spin it by my hand, and put a plastic ziplock bag around the whole filter housing, and unscrew it with the oil going into the bag. I also had a hard time getting the plastic thingy out of the filter housing, I have the aluminum housing. I dont remember having this much trouble at my 5k oil change, maybe its just me.

 

I personally had a first hand account of the Dealer over tightening this housing and there have been many other stories like yours on TW of people having struggles after the dealer over tightened this plastic housing. Its really a shame when it says right on it the torque spec.

 

They make a metal filter housing.
You can find all the parts need in this thread.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oil-filter-2016-tacoma-v6.396264/

 

Either put a hose on the plastic drain or be quick and intentional. To remove, use shear and not tension. Before you remove the canister, use your thumb around the plastic drain and fingers around the base of the housing to push the drain sideways and remove.

 

I have a poll thread. The consensus is that the dealers are over tightening it. Either not caring or when a person checks the work.

Mine wasn't overly tight at 5k, but took a lot of effort at the 40k service after TC was over.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-oil-change-poll-stock-nylon-cartridge-filter.688074/

 

I had a hose on the nipple, but it leaked around the sides of the plastic thingy where it plugs into the housing.
You are right, I probably needed to be quicker and more intentional. I think I was not ready for how much effort it took to push in there, and the oil was draining down my arm.
And on the removal, I was reefing straight down on that drain thingy, and it was really stuck in there. Next time I'll try to remember to pry it more sideways. Thanks for your response! Maybe I'll give it another go at 15K.

 

Keep the drain o ring in there to help seal it.

 

Been there, done that. Went to the dealer for the first 80K to have them change the oil. I decided to start doing it myself at 90k. My first oil change and it wouldn’t budge. Way over tightened. Tried the filter wrench and it broke the tabs which created a leak from the filter housing. Ended up chiseling the plastic to get it off.

 

Lol. I broke the housing on my friends Scion Tc. Cracked it with my breaker bar, then the wrench broke. Then I refilled the oil and started the car, then oil sprayed everywhere from the damaged housing. Thankfully, no engine damage occurred. Thank God.

 

Yeah they're not ideal, but it can be done w minimal mess, just like anything, change is annoying, but once u figure out what's going on, you can get better / efficient at it. The same way u remove it is the same way they should be installed, slightly at an angle then up and in forcefully. Good luck on the next try!