Why it might be important to clean out the oil pan and pickup with a head gasket replacement,

Just editorial: 2.5 cm equals an inch.

Typical DIY oil change will have just the front of vehicle raised, which actually helps some?

 

Oil dilution can be easily remedied by a double drain and fill. Solid materials in the oil pan are another matter. If it’s a real concern, inspection of the drained pan with a bore scope camera would be my first step.

Not a Prius, or even a Toyota, but I lost an engine due to a shop rag in the oil pan blocking the pickup tube. I drove it for at least 5000 miles before throwing a rod on the freeway in Anaheim, CA. Bits of gasket material or sealant probably aren’t an emergency.

 

Not sure of the orientation of the oil pan. But if the picture on the first post is showing the orientation of the pan being the bottom of the picture is the direction of the front of the car, then would it make even better if you can rise the driver side higher than the passenger side to give a tilt so that more can drain from the side?

 

Thanks. Yeah, the drain hole location and angle are definitely not at the lowest point, and the length of the threaded part is making it impossible to drain out the oil completely.

Just to be sure, is this the orientation of the pan with respect to the car? If so, raising the rear and passenger side higher would be most beneficial to drain more out by gravity. Although, as you pointed out, there seems to be a limit to how much can come out.

 

You need to rotate the arrow 90 deg counterclockwise (viewing from above).

Maybe they put the drain bolt thus for protection from road rash.

 

Thanks. Yeah, I knew it was the same oil pan on my PP. But, I have never done an oil change on my Prius yet. Used free Toyota Care and sold the car when that expired.

I will never do oil pan replacement DIY, but maybe I may try the oil change. So, the direction is as shown below? To maximize the draining, I should raise the Driver side and Front side higher. I will try to remember that.

 

OK. Are you saying that the pan is placed somewhat in diagonal in relation to the car? So, it is more like this? This would make the drain hole to be located the furthest rear.

 

I edited my prev post. Bottom line: drain bolt is at the rear.

 

OK, I hope I finally got it this time. IS THIS THE WAY the oil pan is oriented in relationship to the car?

 

Phew!

I deleted the images with the wrong orientation arrow so that other readers will not get confused... like I was. LOL

 

Again, considering the drain bolt orientation: if you've got the front raised, think it'll help with the drain.

FWIW, I really raise the front high, sometimes start it draining and just go in for a while, and when I put in the spec'd (4.2 liter), level ends up about 4~5 mm below the top mark on dipstick.

 

Baster with a flexible u-shaped tip?

 

I use the one-liter version of those to add oil to my Honda generator and snowblower engines. Zero mess or waste compared to pouring through a funnel.