I found the Oil Filter.

Trying to find the oil filter and oil pan drain on the cut-away model was kind of guess work. On the car the oil pan is in about the same position, but with the drain plug at the opposite end, so it is toward the center of the engine. But the oil filter was elusive, no obvious filter noticed and the cut-away had only this showing.


Well being at the NAIAS I noticed a cap on the Ford Fusion Hybrid engine that was the same. Turns out the oil filter is a cartridge type. On the Prius cut-away we saw the cap was painted silver instead of the natural black it is on the car.


So to change the oil filter you must remove the bottom plastic panel, raise up the car (because the filter is behind the engine block), use a special wrench to remove the plastic oil filter cap, which from the cut-away picture is on its side pointed toward the center of the car. Make mess, clean up, replace cartridge, carefully replace cartridge cap, replace bottom panel, ask why!?!

Wayne

When we left, I wondered if anyone checked for Wayne. Poor guy. He must have been under the Prius all this time still looking for the darn filter. Glad he found it!

I'm thankful my first change, which obviously will involve lots of photo taking, will be during the summer.
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The cartridge type filter is more environmental though. Less waste. I don't see why Toyota doesn't engineer the filter to be on top, like on the German cars.

Oh brother, I traded a 2000 VW Jetta with cartridge oil filter...cartridge filters were more than double cost of standard ones and less available. Since you have to remove the element and replace one in the cartridge the mess factor increases greatly. It's a good thing Prius filters need less frequent changes

The oil for start up comes from the pan, not the filter.

Good observation. I had noticed the oil filter location on Monday night but had not realized that it was a cartridge type. That makes sense since Toyota is moving to cartridge filters for all its new engine designs.

Since the oil filter is mounted on its side, the oil can drain out when the car is parked overnight. Hence as a DIYer if you want to minimize mess when draining oil, use EV mode to position the car where you want it. Then drain the oil and remove the filter. Hopefully, relatively little oil will leak out as you remove the filter cap. I found this to be the case when replacing the oil filter on my HiHy; zero oil came out as I removed the sideways mounted filter since I did not allow the engine to start while moving the SUV to the driveway.

If the cartridge container cap is indeed plastic, that would seem less durable than aluminum.

ahh, DH was thinking the same thing. good call, Wayne!

TRD to the rescue! :cheer2:

I wonder how much it will cost in aluminum...

Note: this is speculation

I have a feeling that this is government recycle regulation issue. An ordinary oil filter cartridge cannot drain all the oil out, and requires to cut the cartridge up to drain.
This will cause the recycle center extra money.

I have more suspicion with more than one manufacturer going to same design.

The paper cartridge will be much easier and cost less to recycle.

That is very unfortunate. I was hoping (though I really didn't think you would make such a mistake) the photo was 90 degrees off and the filter was vertical. Of course, since it is a cartridge you take out of a housing, it will be messy in any position, shy of having the cap on the top and the ability to lift the filter element out.

I do not trust my local dealer to change my oil (they've screwed up every time I let them). Making the job messier and harder given the 'hard to get to' location of the filter is not very owner friendly. So much for a few pumps on the floor jack to change the oil and filter just by reaching under the bumper. And since the filter is on the back of the block, I suspect getting a wrench in there will be a tad difficult.

At the very least, they should include a oil monitoring system so you don't have to change the oil until it starts to break down. 5K miles or 6 months is wasting a lot of oil, at least for all the oil analysis posts I've seen on PriusChat.

Anyone notice the elbow pipe right in front of the filter cap. Oh MAN, that is going to suck trying to get that filter out...

So, did you find the EBH hole too?

FireEngineer did, indeed, install an EBH in the cutaway Prius...
the DNA Distribution Tour has been extended!

Nice work, Wayne! That's really too bad about the location, as I rather enjoy being able to do a change without jacking up the car at all.

I believe that pipe is in place just for the display model, as a way to support the engine mockup. Hopefully it will not be present in the real car - because if it is, I agree that it would not be possible to remove the filter element without first removing the pipe.

Yes, however if you jack up the car then you can take the opportunity to inspect the front tires, suspension, driveshafts, etc. which would be difficult to do when the car is not raised up.

I don't know how you replace the engine oil filter in the current Prius without first raising up the car. I like seeing what I'm doing...

Wayne and I just did a quick search on our way home and found this.
2009 Corolla 1.8L 2ZR-FE - Oil Filter Location - Tundra Solutions Forum
It is the instructions for the oil and filter change.