When checkingyour oil after the dealer changed it...

But the question is this. Are the oil lines in/out, leading to the filter, above or below the oil level in the pan. I've always drained the oil pan before removing the oil filter. And made sure the new filter was on before refilling. This is the sequence in the owner's manual. But, as long as the point at which you attach the filter is above the level of the oil pan you should be O.K. If not, it could get messy.

 

the oil pan is below the filter, so only what is in the filter will come out

 

Got it! Should be O.K. then. Thanks

 

There isn't that much oil in the filter, it just happens to be messy when you start to take it off. It is at an angle and after you have turned it some, the oil starts to leak down the side. Several 'lessen the mess' options have been suggested:

1. Loosen it a bit, but not to the point of leaking, put a ziplock bag over it and unscrew it (make sure the oil isn't too warm). The mess will end up mostly in the bag but you DO have a messy bag.
2. Loosen it a bit, then punch a hole in the bottom of the filter with a nail. Drain the oil into a standard oil drain pan, then take the filter off. This one is still somewhat messy. If you drained the oil from the pan into this drain pan, no extra vessel for disposal.

I wonder if there is a 'tap and drain' tool. Something that would work like when they puncture you to get blood: Tap it into the filter, attach a small hose, pull the 'plug' so you can drain it directly into a container. NO MESS!

 

I played around with putting a cut-off 1-liter coke bottle over it as I unscrewed it, as some have suggested, but it was so awkward that now I just unscrew it very slowly until it starts to dribble out, then go do something else for 5 minutes while the oil that's going to leak out does, then come back and carefully unscrew it the rest of the way.

 

NaptownPrius, did you wipe the dipstick dry before inserting it, and then pull it out for the read?

Three quarts even is plenty for an oil change. It prevents overfills, and if you buy the oil, avoids having a leftover partial bottle. Try it and see.

 

I like this approach! We just had the oil changed in the Avalon 5.0 quarts, @dealer, but took our own oil. Had picked up case on the way. One uopened quart left. Were does 3 quarts leave the oil on the dip stick? Still on wait list. Can't check t out.
Thanks again! I like it.

 

In seven out of seven oil changes in mine (I had not thought to try this on the first one, and by golly it was a bit overfilled) using three quarts leaves the oil level a little above the halfway point on the dipstick. In mine at least the level does not change noticeably during use.

 

Sounds perfect.
Thanks