3.4l oil change rant and loose wire question

last night i did my first oil change since i bought my taco a few months ago. i've got the 3.4l, so i had read with some dread the stories about the filter. i found it relatively accessible, but oil on everything was inevitable...when the weather warms up, i'll pull the skid plates and consider solutions...what a mess...

while i was in there, i stumbled upon a dangling connector. it's a single green wire, and it appears to be broken off a sensor that is located just to the front of the oil filter on the left side of the block. does anyone know what this is? i fear that it's my oil pressure switch and i've been going without for all these miles...

thanks in advance!

 

Your oil pressure warning switch line should be a green wire with a yellow stripe.

 

Crazy. I just bought 95 taco 3.4l w broken oil pressure sensor also. must be common breakage. Im lookn to change oil for 1st too on it. So itd be easier take skid plate off huh..?

 

i didnt have problems changing mine...? put a zip lock bag over it and hardly any oil will spill. fuck taking skids off

 

I remove the skid plates on mine to change the oil. Use an oil suction tool to suck out the oil through the dipstick, and a filter wrench on an extension through the drivers side wheel well. If you're quick with the filter then only a little will spill, and it cleans up quickly with some foamy engine bright. The zip lock baggie idea sounds great, I'm going to give that a try.

 

i just open the hood reach under the alternator and turn it off. no need for an oil filter wrench and going the the wheel well

 

Mine is always too tight to turn without a wrench. The wheel well is easy; put the oil filter socket on the filter, reach in with the extensions over the wheel and give it a turn with the socket wrench. Then reach in by hand from the top and it unscrews super easy. Reaching through the wheel well only takes a couple of seconds.

 

This. But who cares if you spill a little (or more) oil? just put a drain pan under.

 

Takin skid plates off, easier than expected. Was able to pressure wash 15 yrs goo off em. I used top cut off 1ltr water bottle drain oil filter into, then unspun by hand. Btw, thx for water bottle trick. I would do it again. Not bad.thx for help.

 

i punch a couple of holes on the flat spot on the filter and let it drain back into the block. Then its just a little bit of oil left in the filter to deal with.

 

Yea I use a socket wrench to remove the drain plug after cutting my arm up twice on the skid plate access hole, screw taking em off!! And yea I use a cut off drink bottle to catch the spill from filter.
I will look on mine tomorrow for this green wire when its daylight.