Oil change screw ups

My other vehicle is a Volkswagen. They don't even give you the layout of the fusebox. It's as complicated as it gets. I wonder if it was purely malice or they optimized it for cramming things in the engine bay as tightly as possible. It is a major PITA to replace a headlamp. By that metric, my Taco is highly user-serviceable and "open", moreover thanks to this forum. Toyota even releases manuals to users for a fee, I don't think VW does that.

 

Thanks for sharing this. My entire background is in software and electronics, and I probably only touched a wrench for 3 years in grad school and all on-the-job training from senior students. I always find working with anything mechanical very unnerving because there is no "Ctrl + Z" and stuff is expensive. Thank heavens for this forum.

What I've come to realize is that having a flair for mechanical stuff is something that you gain by working on a wide array of mechanical things – be it cars, your door knob at home, whatnot. Obviously there will be f**kups like our oil changes, but this is the kind of stuff you can't learn from books and just have to do it. The good news is, at least in my experience, it all adds up. The more I mess around with these things, the better and more confident I've become. My oil changes still cost me more than going to a lube shop or even the stealership, but they pay me in experience which will go a long way (I hope).

 

If it can't be sold in California, it's got to be the real deal. I learned my great state doesn't let people sell windshield wiper fluid that doesn't freeze.

 

Just get whatever they sell and add some methyl hydrate or other pure alcohol.
That's what we did it the old days in Canada to lower the freezing point

 

Experience is the best teacher.

 

Cheap Vodka will do in a pinch!

And you can keep a little to warm yourself-up!*



* after arrival - of course!

 

Okay, so my oil-change woes are not done yet. Even before I started my oil change, I noticed oil on the silver plug of the oil filter housing. Thinking it must be some minor thing, I went ahead and did the oil change.

Of course, I messed up the big O-ring pinching it, so I later removed the filter housing as someone here suggested only to find the old O-ring still there, removed both the pinched and the old O-ring and installed a new O-ring. Fine. Then I drove around a bit and checked my skid plate and there was oil all over. So anyway, I cleaned up the skid plate, opened the access hatch to the oil filter, and cleaned up the oil filter housing, then idled my truck for over an hour to see what happened. No oil leaks. Then I tried cranking the engine to about 3000–4000 RPM and then let the RPM down and found out that the oil would leak near the silver plug when the engine RPM fell from a high RPM to a low RPM. I cranked the plug real tight (anyway the torque was messed up) to see if it would help and let me drive around (I had to make a trip), but it was still leaking, although not much. Being risk-averse, I did not drive the truck around.

Okay, so maybe if I replace that small O-ring it will fix the problem, I thought. So I cranked the plastic housing as tight as I could (I understand this could worsen the big O-ring seal), and the silver plug did loosen up. Anyway, I replaced the small O-ring, tightened the silver plug to the correct torque, tightened the plastic housing to the correct torque (I already have a MotivX wrench and it fits so well!) and took the truck out for a spin hoping that the leak would be sealed now that I replaced the small O-ring too. Nope, I still see a drop of oil at the same spot on the silver plug. It's not as bad as earlier when my entire skid plate had oil strewn over it. So I'm starting to think maybe the valve that is part of the housing is somehow broken. Any ideas what I can do to correct this? I would ideally like to make a longer road trip very soon, but I don't know if I can do so with this small leak. One obvious thing to try would be to replace the housing, filter and both O-rings and see if the leak goes away. The other possibility is that it's just some grime stuck there, so that would be to remove all grime with a shop towel or such and perhaps put in new O-rings without changing the housing and the plug.

 

I'm wondering if there’s a hairline fracture/crack in that region that gives way to a small leak when engine revs are done as you explain.

Of course, I’m speculating that over-tightening may cause cracks in the composite plastic…it may be true of the aluminum as well.

Swapping to the aluminum housing and making sure to lubricate both o-rings before installing…and definitely avoiding over-torquing…might possibly fix your situation.

 

Make sure to put the bigger O-ring in the correct spot.

 

Interesting video regarding the composite plastic.

My plastic composite is now my back-up.

Also, I did not swap out the center tube since both were the same height as shown in the photo above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsRutBs7kPs

 

I saw another take somewhere else that the plastic will prevent accidentally messing up the threads on the chassis. Anyway, the stealership near my place only had the plastic one so I'm stuck with that for now.

 

Putting that drain on the the filter housing is plain stupid. Extra step and more crap to fail.

Never touch it, never use it. Just crack open the filter and drop the whole thing. If you don't want spill any thing, just use one of these $10 cups to turn the catch the whole thing.

$11 Pvotawp Oil Filter Funnel Oil Filter Removal Tool, Oil Funnels Multifunctional Change Remover Tool Oil Change Tools Not Touching Hands Funnels for Automotive Use Car Truck Repair Accessory (White)

https://www.amazon.com/Pvotawp-Multifunctional-Touching-Automotive-Accessory/dp/B0DBT1MM71

 

This is why...it's VERY important to take your time, do it right!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqXaJqqp2SI

Don't force the aluminum housing, "twist onto the thread."

Make sure the aluminum housing unit turns without resistance...all the way through.

Focus, focus, focus on the task at hand.

 

I replace the second o-ring so that's half of why I pre-drain.

The other half of the equation is, the additional mess from not pre-draining and just removing the entire housing.

It's an extra step I don't mind doing and it hasn't hurt my truck or me.

 

I'm also fortunate to have access to Military Base Services...like the Auto Hobby Shop on Dover Air Force Base (AFB).

I get to dispose of my oil, filter, oil container and use the shop's tools and lift. ($8/hr)

 

You don't have to over complicate simple things, it's just an oil change.

I've been using the $5 14-flute 64mm filter wrench for 20 years. It turns the stronger part of the filter housing, never failed. The ones grab the ears are the problem.

Similar to $7 on Amazon:

$7 Shonee 65mm 14 Flutes Oil Filter Wrench for Toyota,Lexus,RAV4,Camry,Tundra,Cruiser,Tacoma,Avalon,Highlander,Sienna,Scion,Prius,Corolla-Filter Removal Tool for 64mm-64.8mm Oil filter

https://www.amazon.com/Shonee-Cruiser-Highlander-Corolla-64-3mm-Removal/dp/B0CLJKTH2W

 

Snapped this at Costco 6 qts.

 

I’m very envious of this. The local lift charges $40 an hour.

 

Your recommendation is duly noted.

I've been doing oil changes for quite some time myself.

Everyone has their own processes...in everything we do.

That's the beauty of DIY (Do-It-Yourself).

Insisting on accomplishing something done in a certain way...and only that way, comes across negatively.

And I don't want to come across that way.

It's time to get back to OP's quest to make his own decision on how he will complete this task based on our positive inputs.