Plastic Oil Filter Housing

The Car Care Nut has done a very informative video on toyota oil filters and the plastic or metal housing. I was considering replacing the plastic housing, but after watching this I will just stick with the original plastic one. Video has great information for those who do their own oil and filter changes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_vl2AYe7Yg

 

Ha. I just got done watching this. I came over here to see if it was posted yet. Same here. I have a metal housing I was going to swap out but I think instead I'll get a spare plastic housing assy to keep on the shelf as a spare.

 

On my last oil change I asked my service manager what he thought about the plastic housing. He said that they never had any problems with them at all.

 

Good you posted that! Convinced me to stick with the OEM plastic housing!

 

Use the right wrench and the plastic housing will serve you well.

 

I've never had an issue either.

Its only when dumb asses touch it shit happens.

 

And that's when the plastic one will crack and give you issues. I will stick with my metal one even if the care nut guy doesn't like it.

 

I don't blame anyone for preferring an OEM metal housing to the plastic one -- but note what the guy says about the tube! He says using the short one is the same as activating the bypass valve, which means your oil never gets filtered at all. And he also says that swapping tubes is asking for a failure, because that spring loaded part is not designed to be disassembled and reassembled. If that mechanism is dislodged the entire housing assembly should be replaced.

 

That would be reason #42 that I change my own oil. If something happens to it, it's only my own fault.

For reference 80k miles on my daughters Camry with a plastic housing so about 16 oil changes and it looks perfect.

I'll stick to the plastic one. If it gets damaged, I'll replace it with another plastic one. The days of metal being better than plastics are long gone.

Matter of fact, now that I think about it some more, what happens when the metal one gets over torqued? Which threads give way? The filter housing or the part you screw it into? Would rather it be the filter housing. I'm sure Toyota engineers grabbed that one vs the metal one that was also in the parts bin for a reason.

 

Car care nut and scotty kilmer comment section is hilarious. They take everything these two say as gospel. That housing it not trash just because he removed the tube. It easily goes back in

 

He is good with some stuff but so dramatic with other stuff. I like his knowledge but I think on this one he was a bit much on the plastic versus metal. I know not apples to apples but what's next, that plastic bumpers are better than metal?

 

We have the metal housings all over on the Tundra side....no issues that I know of.

 

And its also why I do my own.

I've never broken it on any vehicle yet.

Not saying the metal one isn't worth it. No sense changing it if you do it yourself and competent.

 

When you’re a DIY mechanic there are all sorts of opportunities to do damage to your vehicle if you do something wrong.
If you’re installing the Toyota metal oil filter housing do it right. Be sure to properly swap the correct height center tube from your plastic one.

 

A wise man, referring to the difficulty level of a trail, once said: “The trail is pretty easy…I mean, you can f*ck things up…but it’s pretty easy.”

DIY mechanical-maintinance work is the same way

 

For good measure, use the original spring from the stock plastic housing too. It is possible they are different spring rates. I was focused on the tube swap and who knows which spring I ended up installing.

 

Agree that we should all assess our mechanical ability and risk tolerance before we decide if we should do the work or take it to a shop.

Personally, I trust myself way more than the new hire at the shop who is being measured on the quantity not the quality of their work.

As far as I am concerned, the dealer is only for warranty work, nothing else. The only other thing I don't do myself are tire installs and alignments (jeep excluded - too easy to align in my garage)

 

The plastic is tougher than people think. Years ago I dropped mine on to concrete from 3 to 4 feet, and it survived. Never knew any better about the center tube and spring being junk if it pops out, which it did. I set it back in and twisted it to lock the tabs and never looked back.

70k miles later it has no leaks. Did a Blackstone analysis about 20k miles after I dropped it, and the report came back good.
So who knows.....it might be filtering properly or it might not be, but 70k miles after reassembling the tube, it still runs great. Truck has 155k miles on it now.

I always use the factory drain process too. Never had the housing seize on the adapter either.
Found a new oem housing for $110 shipped, so I bought one to install for the next 150k miles. Figured if there is any fatigue on the bypass spring, 100 bucks is good insurance.

 

Plastic or metal?

 

@glwood54 Plastic-got it online from a dealer near me that has good prices and is still running the free shipping code.
https://parts.toyotaofmelbourne.com/

 

Well, I guess you proved that it wasn't junk over the past 70k miles. Good to know. This was with a drop and being dislodged from the force of a fall. Simply removing it doesn't harm anything and that was my original point. If these springs can't handle being removed they could never be trusted to last the life of a vehicle.

 

Same exact thing happened to me a couple days ago. Then I watched this video, and will replace it with OEM plastic. I put the center tube back in without a problem, but I think ill just replace it.