I just have to say it… 3rd Gens suck to work on.

I told my son-in-law about the “skinny Jean” comment and he had this look on his face and said, “that tells me a lot about that person”.

It’s probably stereo-typical thinking in his mind…he’s 28 and is working on an Architecture degree. He also does work on his cars I wouldn’t even consider doing!

But this is about your complaint…on a Monday! As you know, Friday’s around here (if you haven’t noticed) are the hot days when everyone is logged in and waiting for threads like this to pop up.

I haven’t done an oil change on my Taco but it seems I’m in for some tedious messy work! I’ve never been one for doing quick oil changes…I take my time even though it’s a basic task. I still want to make sure I put the oil plug in and put a little oil around the oil filter and hand-tightened it before I add the new oil. Yeah, I’ve thought about forgetting something and making a huge mess!! Lol

What were we talking about… oh, yeah! The filter being more difficult to change.

Once I view videos and to it myself, I can’t give any advice on how to make it simpler. But one suggestion I’ve commented on this thread will definitely be used when I do my own first oil change.

E
****

 

Not until you know that Ferd tucked a turbo there.

 

Lol, found that one out the hard way!

Then, I thought I'd be SMRT and get a drain pan with nice, high sides. It worked well, until that one time, at oil change camp, when the supersonic initial surge of dirty oil hit a manufacturing imperfection in the bottom of the pan. Yep, it shot out of there in all directions!

 

The spark plugs are easy. No need to remove the intake.

 

Same! Nice laminar flow to everywhere.

 

I'm all for bitching about the brilliant oil filter cartridge housing on these things. Toyota could learn something from Chrysler on this one. It's on the top of the engine, so there's no need for a drain in the cap. And there is a 19mm "nut" on the cap. Eliminating the need for 2 special tools.

 

All this talk about European cars reminds me of watching the latest Grand Tour - Carnage a Trois. Pissing my pants the entire episode talking about absurdity of French car design and maintenance attitude. Maybe we should take their attitude to owning and maintaining our cars

 

I was thinking the same. TW would be on fire with just a few of those things.

 

OP I feel your pain with the starter. Kind of a pain in the ass. I took it apart and re assembled in the location much easier than trying to figure out

 

My first car ever was a 72 VW Super Beetle. This car had a generator that sat on the back side of the engine and these generators were notorious for burning out. And you had to drop the motor from the car to get to the damn thing. We got to where we could drop the engine on that car in about 30 minutes. Basically jack the motor/car up on a rolling jack, then remove the 4 bolts holding the engine to the transmission, then have a few guys lift the body of the car up while someone dragged the jack / motor out from underneath the car. And we could swap out fused breaker points on the side of the road and time the engine by ear! Man, those were the days.

 

Yep. The hose drain works great. The filter removal tool less great in my experience.

 

PT Cruiser that is a trigger phrase for me.
We had 2 of the damn things, the wife likes them -- and I like her...

To add oil was inconvenient, and you did have to add oil - 2 or 3 quarts between changes. Anything beyond adding oil was much worse. Pulling the intake to change the spark plugs every 30K miles for example or the need for an extra wrist joint to tighten the alternator belt. Lets not even mention the rust holes in the rocker panels at 4 years old.

Owning one is like eating pudding with a fork: you can do it but it is a constant p-i-a.

 

Well, it's some kind of galley.. maybe the "under the intake" galley.. or valley.
I don't see no lifters!

 

This thread gave me a headache! LOL. I just bought a 2022 Taco last week so it will be a while before the first oil change. Never had one of these filter setups before (this is my first Toyota) but after working on the 2012 Ford Edge with a 3.5 V6 I previously had, I'm not complaining. Having to take off the intake and a bunch of other stuff just to get to the back plugs on that thing was a PITA! Don't get me started on the brake booster on that thing. Talk about WTF engine designs, that 3.5 non turbo in it is a good motor but for some on godly reason they decided to put the water pump inside the timing cover and have it driven by the timing chain! It's something like 25 labor hours to change it. Mine had 131k miles on it, saw the coolant level drop a little and the oil level go up. Between that and the transmission leak I found on the CVT, time to go.

Sometimes I really miss my 89' F-150 with the 300ci inline 6. That motor was indestructible and super easy to work on. Mine had 230k miles on it and I would probably still have it if the AC didn't need to be replaced (old freon system). Once I moved to South Florida no AC wasn't going to work.

 

Ill see if I can get the new one up there easily if not I’ll do that. I was planning to just rebuild the solenoid but when I took it apart apparently the water got in the motor too, it was all sludge with rust starting everywhere so I just got a new one

 

Mine was the same puked water out. I went through the wheel well disconnected part of the steering like 3 bolts and had alot more room to assemble the starter. If I had to do it again, it'd be 45 minutes done

 

Yeah I got it out that way, disconnected the steering. I found a way to Tetris it out after a lot of cursing. If I don’t find the perfect angle again I’ll just take it apart(I think I might remember just how I got it out)

 

this ^
And turn in your man card while you’re at it OP.

 

Third step is to stop complaining. I understand that it is bad for your health