Do any of you take your skid plate off..........

before you take your car in for an oil change? Seems like there is a good chance of getting some stripped fasteners otherwise. One less thing that can go wrong.

 

You could avoid it by not taking it in for an oil change

 

Just change oil yourself

 

They got deleted immediately on mine. That design is a nightmare. Id rather tear off an oil filter than fight that skid plate every oil change

 

This is the correct answer.

 

If you prefer to let the dealership do your oil change, then yes, removing the skid plate isn’t a bad idea.

Note, you only need to remove the forward plate (filter access) and the small cover plate on the rear skid plate that allows access to the engine oil drain plug.

 

It's rough when you can't even trust a Toyota dealer to do an oil change right let alone a transmission flush

 

I've never let a Toyota dealer do anything to my cars that wasn't free. I definitely wouldn't pay them to do anything

 

When 2 years of oil changes are included in the purchase price, it's tough to justify changing my own oil.

 

My favorite was when I bought a new tundra several years ago. On the way home the sensor came loose on the engine and it sprayed all the oil out all over the engine bay and I didn't notice the little light on the dash. I ended up driving a couple hundred miles with the oil level under the low mark. I called Toyota. They came and got it with a tow truck and called me a couple days later. Said it was good to go. Ask if you ran a board scope through it. He said no and that they tightened the sensor and topped it off and it was good to go. Wouldn't even change my oil and oil filter

 

Yeah I'd make them do it and do it right

 

I’d argue a free oil change is more dangerous. I can’t imagine them getting excited about a ticket they know they aren’t going to make money on (besides what Toyota reimburses them). I’ll bet it goes to the newest tech in the shop. Hopefully that’s just in my head, though.

 

I'm leasing mine so I don't care what they do to my 4R.

 

Maybe look at a RCI skid plate with the access plate

 

Also keep in mind that that's two years of oil changes on their 10,000 mi schedule. If you tow or go off-road you have to pay for every other oil change in that 2 years lol another thing that my sales guys always fail to mention. Imagine that

 

I did the stud and nut mod- it takes about 3 minutes to either remove or replace the (TRD) skid plate. I've had more alignments than oil changes in two years, and it has to come off for those as well. The shop monkeys are likely to strip the bolts otherwise.

 

What is a stud and nut mod?

 

you do whatever you think is best. I bought mine with 6 miles and never let the dealership do an oil change.

if you’re going to go through there trouble of taking the skid off, why not just get a fumoto valve and take the extra 10 minutes to change the oil?

just my thoughts

 

If I’m already under the 4runner with tools, and I spent the last 5 min getting the front plate off…. Im gonna go ahead and take the few extra min to drain and refill.

Leave the old oil-filter in to save more time, but make sure to document that you changed it. You’ll never know.

This will save the drive, and hour or two of waiting at the dealer.

 

I do my own oil changes. I recently installed aftermarket skid plates (4xInnovations) that have access covers to the filter and drain plug. Most skid plates will have these access covers. It is much easier to remove two 4x4" covers than a 2'x3' skid plate.
Plus the meth-heads will have to work a lot harder to get at the catalytic converter.

 

Free or not, no toyota lube tech who's on the low end of the payroll will be touching my truck for oil changes. I'll save the $100 (cost of 2 DIY oil changes) for some peace of mind.

Had a buddy go through this ordeal w/ the dealer on two separate occasions. Once was when they lost all his hardware for this TRD skid plate, second was when they stripped his oil pan thread and tried blaming it on the age of the vehicle (14 tundra). SA said any vehicle w/ this amount of mile and age will eventually have his issue. Dealer offered to pay half. Buddy argued and got them to cover the entire thing, new pan, new oil and new bolt.

 

Been doing my oil since day 1..put anti seize on all hardware on front skid every time and you shouldn’t have any issues. Over 100k no problems. Be sure to grease all your zerks on driveline while your under there!!

 

Well, personally, I'm not taking the skid off, either.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I was just wondering what others do. I've never used any of the free dealer oil changes ever. I always do my own oil changes.

 

I don’t offroad, so the plates on my 4Runner and wife’s GX460 have the “Skidplate delete” option.

 

This is what I did. The RCI has little access doors for the drain plug and oil filter so you don't have to pull it off to change the oil.

 

Be sure to grease all your zerks on driveline while your under there!![/QUOTE]

Where are the zerk grease fitting located?

 

The only problem that I see with using the access door (on the RCI) is, if any residual oil gets splattered on top of the skid plate, then you may have oil drippage which can stain your concrete driveway. I just drop down the whole plate, do oil change, grease driveshaft zerks, then anti-seeze the aftermarket stainless steel bolts that I purchased to replace the soft OEM skid-plate bolts. Easy Peasy !

 

I have an aluminum RCI skid plate but took it off and put the OEM ones back on. Don't care for the small access holes.