My oil change fun

After 10k miles, things tend to tighten up a bit. I can't see why a little extra leverage from a cheater bar won't work

 

I say, never worth the trouble, Take to dealer, Quik Oil Change, wherever - That's just my 2 cents

 

The 2nd oil change by the deletr left me with a lose drain plug and oil on my driveway. I will be doing my own from now on. I note they did not ask me to do a f'ing survey!

 

brutal! i would want to watch the dealer remove the filter.

 

When I changed my oil and filter after expiration of the "Toyota Care", the torques were high but not impossible. That I could almost understand as they are in a hurry and over-torque rather than have a customer come back if the plug loosens and oil starts dripping everywhere.

What I can neither understand nor forgive is that at least 8 of the fasteners that should have been holding the under-cladding on underneath were missing or broken after 35,000 miles of the dealer servicing the car. I had to purchase 10 replacements for the normal size plastic pop rivets and fashion 2 replacements for the missing large-size pop rivets to hold that cladding on securely! That they never replaced the ones they broke and never informed me that I was missing fasteners is completely unacceptable, so from now on I'm doing my own changes.

Say, has anyone replaced that black plastic with something more impervious to damage, such as titanium or stainless steel? I recall a 60s era Citroen had a smooth under-body that certainly LOOKED like it would reduce turbulence and drag underneath the car. Teslas have those now, how about one for the Prius? The only difficulty I see is that if the underbelly covered the catalytic converter, the whole assembly would have insufficient air cooling and get way to hot, possibly melting nearby things.

FYI, the drain and fill plugs for the power-split device were VERY highly torqued. (I may have had to use a hammer on a breaker bar to finally get those plugs loose, methinks..)

 

I've done ALL my oil changes. The drain bolt and oil filter housing would have been torqued in Japan. I had no problems with either, the first time, nor with subsequent times (about 9 or 10 now?). Removal of either takes "moderate" effort. Some time back I got a quality, ratcheting 1/2" drive breaker bar, with a head that can swivel about 10 degrees fore or aft. With smaller bolt sizes I put on a 3/8" adapter. Makes it real easy. But it really sounds like idiots with air wrenches have been doing yours.

 

The dealer stripped my '09 drain plug on the last oil change. Was dripping on the drive the next morning. So they had to put in a whole new oil pan (yes, they paid for it). Sigh . . .

 

Maybe they're using battery powered impact wrenches, not paying attention to torque. All I know: it's dead-easy to get it right, with hand tools and a torque wrench.

Seems like a lot of dealership service depts are in the same league a minute lube. Maybe that's what happens when everyone demands their $24.99 oil change with free tire rotation.

 

As someone that has worked in a dealership atmosphere for 10+ years I can honestly say the guys that are changing oil are low hourly payed young guys with a air impact gun and that's why I will always change/ perform my own maintenance. I have seen hundreds (literally) of screw ups . When someone forgets to put oil in a car and blows a motor they simply get fired and hire the next high schooler at $8/hr. But yeah most of those cats put on drain plugs with a 1/2" air impact because it's fast and provides PLENTY of torque . The bad thing about that is they ruin oil pans easily. Most don't bother to change the settings on the gun from doing that last tire rotation so those oil drain plugs are getting hit between 80-100 lbs of torque . Because of the things I have witnessed I will always perform my own services.

 

Asking might make them aware that it is a concern and he might be sure to let the tech know to go easy on it but I would be willing to bet good money he will say of course they don't . Because of issues like that to people paying for oil changes and not even getting getting them , I will always do my own work.

 

I don't know if the "nut" that is welded into the back side of the pan to give the plug some purchase is aluminum or something tougher but would be easy to over-torque this with the wrong tool, particularly an impact driver set for a tire rotation as someone else suggested. I also wonder if they always change the crush washer (it is on each invoice) or if they just run that back on too.

I purchased a lifetime oil change contract with the car (basically after 50K they have been free!) so I am sort of stuck with having the dealer do it. The plus, if it is one, was that when they stripped it, they were the only ones ever to touch that plug.

At first they just stuck in an over-sized, self-tapping plug and gave me back the car - and I told them that was unacceptable. I bet after they replace a few oil pans, the profit motive would start to swing the other way . . . but most of the time, they probably deny responsibility.

 

Robert, again, not having "free" introductory maintenance in Canada, and having been DIY from the outset. I'm the only person who's removed the underpanel on ours. Our previous Civic Hybrid had a similar panel, similar fasteners, and I wised up with it.

I take the whole panel off with each oil change, maybe 10 now. As you know, that's around 10 plastic fasteners (2 a bit bigger than the rest), and maybe 6 small bolts. Everytime I take the plastic fasteners off I sluice them out with hot soapy water. They're all basically like new, I've yet to need to replace any.

Here's the parts numbers, btw. I gather you couldn't find the two larger ones, the ones that go into the "oil change" flap? They're item #5:

 

I knew I'd break some of those pins so I bought five extra of the small and three extra of the large and keep them ready. Used one of the large ones on the oil change last week. There is so much grit here they are always hard to get out without breaking them. Patience and a very small flat blade screwdriver did the trick this time. Working around the pin, turning it slightly back and forth, they finally each released. The large one had one of the four expanding "pins" missing. I also used Mendel's method of cleaning them and they sure went back in nicely.

I used the last of my "Toyota 0W20 synthetic" on this change, and yesterday dropped into a nearby dealer to check the price (Canadian Tire wants $50 for a 4.4 l container of Mobil 1). The dealer charges about $27 for a 5 l container, and it's actually Mobil 1 with a Toyota sticker on it. I bought two, and will buy two more next week when I'm in that area, for the FJ Cruiser (5W30). I just about fainted when the parts guy told me how little it cost.

Then I learned they only charge $40 for an oil change including filter! I'm tempted to quit DIY at that price!

You can change the oil filter without changing the oil. In fact, I always do the filter first. So if you couldn't get the filter "can" off you can go back and do it later. It will cost you about 1/2 a litre of oil. I use a 1/2" ratchet, and have never had any trouble getting it off. I tighten the can very little. It isn't going to come off on its own and torque has no effect on the seal as the "o" ring seals on the sides of the can. I also use Lubriplate grease on the "o" ring - thinking it is better than just oil. Don't want that thing binding and folding when I put the can back on.

Finally, my confessional. I use largish ramps, home made of 2X12 fir, about 3 1/2 feet long, with a piece of 2X4 screwed on the top and bottom of the top end of the ramp. They sit on blocks I made up of 2X material screwed together. Very substantial. I was lazy, and lined them up with the car about 3' away. Should have gotten out after pulling forward to the ramps and checked, but instead proceeded onto them. The passenger side wheel fell off the outside of the ramp, near the bottom, and it wasn't very exciting from inside the car. Backed off the ramps and got out to look. The 3 1/2 foot section of 2X12 was shot out about 3' and put a nice crease in the -top- of the plastic "bumper bar" on the nose of the car. How?? Still scratching my head on that one.

 

Sounds like there's not much more you can do if your fasteners are getting loaded up with grit in between each oil change. I use one of these a lot:



For your situation, it might just help you break them faster tho, lol. Hmm, maybe hit them with a blast from a can of compressed air just before attempting to remove?

Here I'm getting dealership's Toyota 0W20 for $5.91 per liter now. It just went up, was $5.65 since we got the car. Similar price, and yeah: the best deal in town. I posted a pic of the lastest bottle style a while back, and the consensus was it looked a lot like Mobil 1.