First oil change @ 1200 miles - DIY Oil Change 2017 TRD OR 4x4

Finally getting around to posting some pictures I took from my first oil change on my '17 DCSB OR 4x4 and wanted to share some thoughts on it. First of all, I've always changed my own oil on every vehicle I've owned between my wife and I and am used to a 15-25 minute process from start to finish taking my time. This is my first Tacoma and my first cartridge based oil filter to have to replace and I'm definitely not a fan. Not a fan of long narratives either so I'll give you the bullet point version.

Total work time: approximately 1 hour

• Had to drop skid plate
• Oil drain plug and filter are located too far away to drain into a single pan, so you either have to do one at a time or use two oil pans (I used two oil pans).
• I made a huge mess changing the oil filter. Not sure if there is an easier way but I found it to be quite an ordeal to unscrew the retaining cap.
• ************* There was a significant amount of fine metal shavings in the bottom of the filter cartridge cap *************
• The shavings were not captured well in my pictures but I tried to zoom in to show you. There was a lot more than I was able to get a picture of. I would definitely recommend changing your oil at around 1k miles and to change your filter and rinse out the filter cap.
• The TRD OR 4x4 takes 6.2 quarts with a filter so you must buy either two 5 gallon jugs or a 5 gallon plus 2 single quart bottles. Spend money yay!
• The mobile 1 oil filter is $18!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I didn't buy it)
• The K&N (cheapest I could find) is $8 at autozone
• Total cost was something like $42 for mobile 1 advanced economy at Walmart and K&N filter at autozone.

Why must Toyota intentionally make it more difficult for owners to conduct DIY maintenance?

Toyota, If your listening:

Make my oil changes easy please, with a screw on filter.
Give me a transmission fluid dipstick

 

edit - The color of the oil in the last pic is not the color that drained out at 1200 miles. What you see there is brand new oil I was using to rinse out the metal shavings. The oil at 1200 looked pretty good but was not brand new as it looks in the pic.

 

Yeah the cartridge filter mounting sucks. They should have placed it similar to the is350 with it mounted horizontal. No mess at all with it like that.

Also you can buy the toyota filter from Amazon or ebay. 10 for about $40 with free shipping

 

Thanks for the info, LJA. I'm planning to do my first oil change on my 2016 Taco TRD OR this weekend at 2500 miles. Your metal shavings make me hope I didn't wait too long.

One question- in getting ready, I dropped my front skid plate to scope out the wonderful new oil cartridge housing. There's a strange metal tab that hangs down and appears to be soldered at the top. It looks like it will clear the housing as it rotates, but does anybody have any idea what the devil it's for??

Thanks in advance.

 

No idea what it's for. But the cap and socket clear it fine

 

just put a bucket under the filter housing. my whole filter unscrewed the little bolt on the end of it would not come off without the entire filter turning.

 

I am wondering if the little tab can be pressed in and against the filter housing to hold it in place so the smaller drain nut can be taken off .

 

I've heard a lot of people say that they couldn't get the drain plug out of the filter housing. When I did mine at 500 miles or so, I started by inserting the socket wrench into the filter plug and applying even pressure. Like others, the whole housing started to turn. I found that if I insert the socket wrench and then hit the wrench with the palm of my hand instead of giving nice even pressure, the slight shock given by whacking the wrench broke the drain bolt loose instantly in a way that wouldn't have happened with even pressure. It didn't take much of a whack. Give it a shot.

Also, mine had the shavings at both the 500 mile oil change and the 5000 mile change. Since I'm used to canister-type filters where you can't actually see what's been caught, it was a little alarming.

 

My last two changes were free so why not just use them.

 

There are a few reasons, actually.

First, my dealership will only do the recommended maintenance for free. Since the recommended intervel is 10k miles, they won't do it for free any more often than that. Since I prefer to do it at 5k intervals and at 500 total miles I'm on my own for at least every other oil change.

Second, I like to keep personal tabs on the health of my truck. The dealer wouldn't have told me about the shavings and I wouldn't have put it past them to reuse the same filter to save time and money. Also, I check for leaks and lube my drive shaft while I'm under the truck. If you never get under your truck, you won't notice if something is out of whack until it's too late.

Third, my time is valuable. I don't like making an appointment and waiting in a waiting room or even worse, dropping the truck off, riding the shuttle, and inconveniencing my friends by bumming a ride to the dealership after work.

 

Why waste oil?

 

Because it's cheap and I choose to. It's not for everyone and I'm not calling BS on a 10k interval. I'm not an engineer, so I'm not in a position to call BS.

I save the environment in many other ways. It's just a personal choice.

 

There's no scientific or engineering evidence to prove this does anything good for the motor. You're only wasting your time, money and resources.

 

Oh and

 

So be it.

It may help. It may not. One thing I know for sure is that it won't hurt anything.

 

That's an hour of your life you'll never get back

 

If it's the same hour that my wife and daughters are watching Dancing With the Stars and I spend it under my truck in the garage drinking some cold homebrew from the keg in the garage refrigerator, then I don't want the hour back. Father Time can keep the hour and kiss my ass.

 

Senseless Mr. Byrne. Senseless.

 

All engines are going to have metal shavings in the oil on the first dump. Because you dumped it so soon, you will also have shavings in your second dump.

People don't see metal shavings in their oil on the first dump across all vehicles because most people don't change their own oil

 

Filter is doing it's job, but you're not impressed?
Thanks for the write up, but telling everyone that there's too much metal observed in your filter is similar to, "there's dirt/ grime on my tires after I drove it".

The observed metal in the filter element is a given, since metal to metal parts are seating in. In the future, should you desire, there are labs that can examine your oil as well if you send in test samples. You will still find lots of contaminants that only their analysis can breakdown and give you a report.

The ATF check is easy and there's a thread with instructions on how to do that. Just need to dig a bit and read.
Only need to do it once, or twice if you're looking for repeatability. Quicker than doing the oil change if you have a warm enough transmission.