Learn From My Mistake - Replace Plastic Oil Filter Housing With Metal

The first time I changed my oil, I over torqued the drip/drain plug. I put the whole oil filter housing in a vise and broke the drip plug loose that way. Now I just use the extension to tighten. The ratchet puts too much torque on it.

 

I haven’t changed the oil myself in the taco yet, but changing the wife’s ‘17 4Runner’s oil (same cartridge type filter as the taco) is an unnecessary pain in the ass compared to our old ‘06 Tundra, which also had a 4.0 in it like the 4runner, but it had a spin-on filter, right on the top of the engine and it made for the easiest oil change ever.

With the 4runner (and I anticipate with the taco too), I always seem to have a problem with the filter... Either the filter’s drain plug seizes up and won’t unscrew (even though I always make a point to not over-tighten it and dab a little oil on the o-ring) so I have to unscrew the whole housing full of oil and make a big mess... or the plug does come out, but the housing gets tighter over time and the tool slips on it. I had to put a jack under the filter tool the first time, and put enough of the trucks weight on the filter to break it loose (which was previously tightened by a Toyota service gorilla). Then there’s the extra time and mess of cleaning the housing, taking off the skid plate and shroud and putting them back on afterwards. Last time I accidentally dropped the filter housing because it was covered in oil and was all slippery, and the spring-loaded cylinder in the middle popped off and shot across the room and I had to find it and then figure out how it attached again. Toyota had it right on the older 4.0s, and then purposely changed the easiest and best design for an oil filter ever, to making it the most inconvenient oil change possible - on the same engine block even. Toyota re-engineered it to make it frustrating on purpose.

 

I'm gonna apologize in advance here, but it really sounds like a lot of folks haven't changed oil on some old cars that had canisters hidden in weird places. Like having to reach in through wheel wells and such.


On the cartridge side, here's our old Volvo's setup:







I never heard a bit of complaining or issues other than a couple folks that accidentally jacked on their cast aluminum oil pan with the expected results.

 

Just tighten the plastic housing until the plastic flange meets the aluminum lip, and stop. I find I need a 6" ratchet just to overcome the running friction. This is with plenty of oil on the threads and on the O-ring. The housing won't come loose.

 

It's metal, aluminum alloy. Way better than the thermoplastic crap toyota installed!

 

Recently helped a friend by fixing a few things on a 2005 Jeep Liberty. Oil filter on those is a few inches from serpentine belt and mounted horizontally. When changing oil, you're supposed to spin it off slowly and make sure oil stream from that hits a tiny galley built in underneath. What happens in reality is oil gets EVERYWHERE and totally misses whatever pan you have. Added bonus is that along with leaking ps hoses, oil changes help prevent corrosion on that part of the front end.

Not to say the taco has a great system but it's not the one above. And that's not a cannister either so not like you can pre-drain it.

 

And, we only need to hit it once every 10k, not three times as often like in the old days.

 

About to hit 100k. No issues with the plastic housing.

 

True. I've experienced this on all my vehicles when they were new. Truly very tight and I still have to use a breaker bar on each and every oil change on my Toyotas. FWIW, there is really no need to torque the canister too much since it will really not go anywhere. I am closing in 3K miles on my '21 OR and I plan to do my 5K mile oil change before I give it to the dealer for a free oil change at 10K miles.

 

this isnt just Toyotas. I talked to my neighbor today. He was changing the oil on his F150, just a std spin on filter. Took him and his son 2 1/2 hrs to get off his oil filter. Not to change the oil, JUST TO GET OFF THE FILTER!!! Imagine all the tool scenarios one would go through in his shoes, thats what he told me today. Last oil change was done at a quicky oil change place.

 

You mean like 1st gens?



Or the '90s Toyota pickup 3.slow?

 

Nice!

I like those examples.

 

From the images of damaged OEM filter caps, and the comments from the pros,

It appears that the difficulty some owner's experience is in properly keeping the service tool properly engaged with the filter housing. on removal.

Dumb is dumb.

 

I'll second the "If you think the filter on the 3rd Gen Taco is hard to get to, try x". I do all my oil changes (except for on my work truck) and can attest that some are more 'interesting' than others. On my T100 I have to park with the front wheels cranked hard to the left so I can reach through the wheel well to get to the filter. I used to have a Corolla where the filter was so hidden I actually had to call a friend who had the same car to ask where the filter was. I also have a MC which is a dry-sump system which uses one filter and two strainers. To date that engine is the most challenging oil change I've done.

 

does the motivx wrench work on the aluminum version? It doesn't seem to have the same set of ribs/tabs on the outside.

Funny the things I find I didn't know I needed before reading this site...

 

It really is as simple as being smarter than the housing.
If you have multiple instances where you put the housing on and at the next service it's extremely tight...hire a tutor.

 

Motive wrench works on both the plastic & aluminum versions. Just changed the oil last night for the first time in my '20 and the plastic housing came right off.
Highly recommend the Motive wrench as it also come with the drain plug & line so you avoid the messy oil spill when removing the cannister.
Prior to my '20 I had and '18 with the aluminum cannister & the Motive removed it just as easily.

 

They, all manufacturers are trying very hard to deter us from doing anything on our vehicles!, that's why it is up to us to learn to do as much as possible on our vehicles...and doing it right!

 

When we got my wife's 2016 Rav4 I read the forums and everyone said swap out the plastic housing....
I bought the OEM metal housing expecting the plastic to be junk after a couple years of Dealership oil changes. First oil change I did the plastic housing looked like new. What I do now is swap canisters at each change. Load up the spare canister with filter and new rings, drop the old and spin on the spare. Makes it almost like a spin on filter. I then clean up the one I just took off and it is ready for the next change.
Been driving toyotas since 1976 and these new filters are more of a pain than in the past. And I make more of a mess. But after a few changes you get a system down. I have spent a couple hours changing oil on some other makes so these aren't too bad in comparison.