2010 oil change diy disaster!!

That was a close call. Thanks for the warning
How far was your car towed, to rack up a $275 bill ?

 

Another reason why I don't like those cartridge-style oil filters

 

That sucks. Good thing there isn't any real damage.

I couldn't read your attachment, but it sounds like you placed your O-ring against the mounting flange. I believe the O-ring goes just at the end of the threads -- at least I hope that's right. There is a handy slot there to help remove the old O-ring.

 

Consider yourself lucky, we have a 2010 Corolla with 5300 miles on it sitting in our shop that requires a new engine because its locked up for the same reason. What most likely happened is that the o-ring tore slightly (trust me, it doesn't take much) when you were twisting it in. This is why lubing the **** out of the o-ring and twisting it in to the housing very, very slowly is important.

 

Checking the oil level at fuel ups would catch slowish leaks.

 

Sounds like a good reason to let a dealer bear the responsibility for all the oil & filter changes. If the engine ever is damaged, there is a paper trail to show that you were not responsible for the "O" ring being damaged or installed improperly. Always the potential down side to back-yard mechanics.

 

^^
I wonder if this is the reason my wife always lets me drive

;-)

 

Well a failure could be the fault of a poorly designed filter canister. The O-ring shouldn't come off or tear during installation. If the O-ring is correctly placed and there is a failure, then I think it's still Toyota's fault regardless of who installs the filter. The burden would be on Toyota to prove you screwed up.

Anyway, all the paperwork just shows it that the dealer did the work shown by the paperwork. It does not prove that you didn't perform another oil change after the last dealer oil change. Again, if you or your mechanic does the change according to directions, I think any failure would be covered by warranty.

 

one thing i just realized is that wages in the states are so high that it is imposible to service your car in the dealers shop or by a car makers aproved shop!here in greece it will cost the same to get an oil change at the dealer as it does in a lube shop!the problem is that its faster at the lube shop making a lube joint favorable by most! then the problem is that if something hapens to the engine while in warranty they wont cover it if you change oils and service the engine out of dealer! i remember that does not stand in the states !! they just ask for the first oil change if i stand corect!?


i just drive it about 250km a day.i dont mess with it! if nobody takes their cars to the dealers they will just end up crooks! that is arguable i know, they are considered to already be crooks but always start out in good faith!the law tends to be on our side!

 

I saved a couple of the old O rings that I removed when changing the oil filter. Last time I changed oil and filter I climbed under the car after I ran it for a minute or so and noticed a little oil on the bottom of the filter housing. It is possible that the oil was just left over from when I removed the filter but I don't think so, I clean that area pretty carefully.

I took the filter back out and installed one of the old O rings and checked it again the next day after driving it 20 or 30 miles. No more leaks. I found no sign of damage on the leaky O ring and it was in the correct slot. I put it on with a torque wrench, 215 inch pounds. This was my fourth oil change and I had no leaks the other three times.

This may be an area that we need to watch, it could happen just as easily if it were done by the lube guy at the dealer. The under engine cover makes it even worse because the oil may not drip down on the driveway where you would see it.

I suggest running the car a few minutes after you finish the oil change then climb under again and inspect all around the filter area for oil seepage.

 

I strongly concur with using a torque wrench to tighten both the filter (18 FT/LB) and drain plug (27 FT/LB) on the 2010 Prius.

The 2010 Prius cannister/cartridge filter with o-ring has a different feel than the old metal can filters so it is risky to rely on the old school hand tighten feel or number of turns method to tighten it. Also, it is intersting to note that the torque requirement for the metal can type filter on my 2007 Camry is 10 FT/LB, which is typical for such filters and less than the Prius. If one uses the hand tightening method on a Prius after having been used to doing so on metal can filters, it is likely that the Prius filter may not be sufficiently torqued.

We can still change our own oil on the Prius. I know I will be more careful than the junior tech at the dealer. However, I have come to realize that the Prius is much more sensitive to perfoming even routine maintenance/repair operations according to the book than other cars I have owned.

 

I just want to confirm. Does the 2010 Prius use a different style oil filter than the 2009 and previous? I change my own oil on my two 2008 models and the only O-ring I've ever noticed is attached directly to the filter. I always put a little oil on the ring to make sure it seals well. I just want to make sure I don't end up in the same situation.

 

Yes, the 2010 Prius filter is simply a filter element that goes inside a housing that you remove/replace. The O-ring for the housing is along the side where the threads are, as opposed to on the face/mating surface.

It's more environmentally friendly (less waste) but slightly more hassle to deal with.

 

I'm a current Civic Hybrid owner, but have been reading up on the Prius. I managed to download a pdf owners manual. I'm a little suprised to find no oil change instruction in there. Might help if they published an instruction. Is there one, short of springing for the full Service Manual?

 

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii.../67747-oil-change-2010-prius-do-yourself.html

 

YIKES is right! I've changed my oil and filter in my 2010 Prius 4 times already in the past year and a half. Now I'm concerned about whether or not the O ring stayed in the groove. You can bet I"ll be double checking the next oil change to make sure that its not leaking!!! (Also keep a little closer eye on dip stick levels for while.)

 

Fotomoto, thanks for that!

I see the pdf is produced by a DIY'r, not from Toyota. There's an odd disconnect here, that Toyota doesn't publish something.

Hmm: when I save the pdf I see it's the second one I've found: both are by DIY'rs though.

 

I agree that Toyota should put DIY oil change procedure in the owner's manual, unfortunately Toyota owner's manuals are not very good. They do have an oil change procedure in the maintenance manual but the DIY versions on this site are much better.

I think they should hire some PriusChat people to write, or at least edit, the owner's manual. I won't be holding my breath waiting for that to happen though.