Missing "Baffle Tube" in Oil Filter Housing?

UPDATE: after all the very clear advice I have acquired a brand new filter housing(OEM) right at the opening of the parts department this morning and it will be installed right after this update. I'm glad to have the peace of mind now doing my own oil and disappointed I didn't start sooner after finding this. All paranoia is now justified haha. I'll likely do my my next couple oil changes on the early side and send to Blackstone just for safety's sake as well.

original: Well, I just completed my first oil change on my 4Runner. Through my two years of ownership, I've just taken it to my trusted mechanic, but recently decided I would feel more confident and comfortable doing it myself - no thanks to the influence of you paranoid forum folks, jk. So, when I removed the housing which was definitely overtight, I found no center tube at all inside my metal housing? I checked my old filter for it, and checked to see if there's anyway it could be up at the attachment point (name for that?), but no luck. I don't suppose this is urgent since apparently, I have been driving without one for at least 5-7k (since my last change) or potentially about 50k in my time of ownership, let alone if the guy before me didn't ever notice?

Anyway, just looking for peace of mind and/or advice if I should urgently go get the center tube for the housing (part # for me?).

tl;dr - just did my own oil change for the first time & there's no center tube in my metal housing, just a filter. (not my pic)

 

It holds the filter in the correct spot and keeps it from collapsing. You definitely need it. Get a plastic housing from Toyota and leave it because the metal housing isn’t really an upgrade.

 

Is it odd to you that I had driven at minimum the last 5k miles without it (I'm guessing longer) and have had no issues thus far? That's what I find confusing about a seemingly necessary part, the fact that it hasn't caused issues yet. Also I didn't do the 'upgrade' to the metal, 4R came with it.

 

Time to send an oil sample to Blackstone.

Are they still your trusted mechanic?

 

I've contemplated doing that just for fun, but what would that indicate about this situation?

 

I mean, there are only so many sensors and warning lights. If you didn't drop oil pressure low enough or overheat the engine, I wouldn't expect any "issues" as far as the vehicle reports. Maybe there are sensors I am missing that would have caught this?

 

You could technically run the engine without a filter but that doesn’t mean it’s good for it.

 

That running without the center tube was a mistake.

People have posted on here wondering if their oil was filtered less due to a shorter center tube found in their filter housing...you didn't have one at all.

 

Didn't say that I intend to do so, just trying to understand this, thanks for your insight.

 

Yeah it certainly seems preferable to run with the center tube haha. I'm glad I now join the paranoia club about other folks working on my stuff. I'm not sure if I'll send off for this round because my drain pan likely caused a mixture with a different oil.

 

There is a direction of flow that the oil has to travel inside the housing in order for the oil to be filtered. A filter that’s not held in position inside the housing is basically just going to float around and just be saturated with oil, but not actually filter anything. So running it without a tube is basically like running no filter at all. It won’t kill the engine all at once, but it’s not good for it.

The metal filter housing is not a standard part that comes on the 4runner. That suggests the previous owner “upgraded” it to the metal version used on other toyota vehicles. The problem is, when you swap out to a metal filter, the tube from the 4runner plastic housing needs to be swapped into the metal filter (toyota metal filters from other models have a different length tube). It could be the previous owner didn’t adequqtely mount the tube, and it came off in the following oil change.

Potentially you’ve been running without engine filtering since taking ownership, if this is the first time you’ve noticed. Or it disappeared on any subsequent oil change.
Unfiltered oil wont kill an engine all at once, especially if you don't drive in dusty conditions. But it will probably lead to earlier wear…maybe showing up as increased oil consumption or reduced compression earlier than it would have otherwise shown up. If it’s not burning oil or running bad, I wouldn’t worry about it. Just buy a complete OE housing assembly and stay on top of your oil changes.

 

According to Carfax the previous owner serviced at the dealer likely for the free changes and then periodically at various shops that reported to carfax, but no other details for me to know so maybe he did the 'upgrade' himself - not sure. But yeah, I hear what you and others are saying, it's definitely a bit concerning but so far have yet to experience any burning oil or anything strange running. I'm hopeful this is just a weird hiccup and I'll do just what you said, tomorrow go get a complete OE assembly, do my next change on the early side (maybe very early), and probably send a good sample for analysis just for final peace of mind.

 

Brother, you HAVE TO have that inner spring/tube in that filter housing installed. CarCareNut on YT has one whole episode about the significance of that tube. That piece of filter housing that you have currently is a piece of trash now.

Get the oem one from Toyota.

 

tube keeps the filter from collapsing. the housing is what keeps the filter located in place. the base of the tube retains the spring for the bypass. no tube means no bypass so oil just flows freely through bypass and not pressurized through the filter.

 

and along with whippersnappers original comment “filter collapse’’ is the primary reason I have always bough well made filters and completed oil changes on a more frequent schedule than the oil life states that it’s good for. Not so much in Toyota’s case because the filter housing supports the filter. (I just use genuine Toyota filters - not the knockoffs from Amazon) but say for example Ford F150: I always used a Mobil1 filter over Fram and some of the cheaper brands because the screw on canister filters contain the support tube as part of the filter. IMO:definitely get a new housing.

 

And when swapping out the tube from the old housing you need to recrimp it at the base so it stays in place. I bet that it was never securely crimped in and probably got discarded at the last oil change because even a novice like me wouldn’t let you drive off w/o alerting you if I were doing your oil change. Just my hunch.

 

I do appreciate all the clear wisdom here, I'm disappointed that my "trusted mechanic" may have now lost that title after seeing this and the apparent severity of the response.

 

UPDATE: after all the very clear advice I have acquired a brand new filter housing(OEM - man, I know it's important and worth it but $160 hurts haha) right at the opening of the parts department this morning and it will be installed right after this update. I'm glad to have the peace of mind now doing my own oil and disappointed I didn't start sooner now after finding this. All paranoia is now justified haha. I'll likely do my next couple of oil changes on the early side and send them to Blackstone just for safety's sake as well.

Oh, and just a note purely for info sake and I find all of this interesting and confusing, my removed filter installed 5-7k miles ago had not collapsed and was well-seated no-wiggle, perfectly centered which is part of what added to my confusion here. That's not me saying it's good/normal/anything else, just a note for interest.

 

You're not alone. I took my Tacoma to a "trusted mechanic", and when I got home afterward, I found they left off the skid plate. Upon returning, they reinstalled it but I discovered they only used 3 bolts. 1 was missing. And, they were the wrong threads & they had impact wrenched them on. I had to fix it myself. Never again going there. So it's not just dealerships that cut corners or don't pay attention.

 

Well, many lessons for me to learn here haha. Praying this is all just fun pain-free learning, because I now see the prior owner (or someone for them) decided to use the Dorman. For now we're all set just gonna keep an eye out on anything funny feeling, and as usual look for any leaks or anything odd.

 

Did you get the plastic or metal oem housing?

 

Hey Gary, thanks for being helpful above^ and following up. They only had one plastic in stock for all housings which seems crazy to me, but I know the metal one requires the tube swap anyhow which I don't have. So, I went plastic, plus I know Car Care Nut actually sorta resists the metal "upgrade" idea so for at least the time being I'm all set with the plastic housing and will be doing all my own oil from here forward. Definitely not looking to start a debate thread about it though haha.

 

I have no plans to 'upgrade' to a metal housing.

 

I did the metal upgrade, which is basically a Camry, RAV4 filter housing with the shorter tube and a straight change out for those cars.

When I did the metal change out on my 2020 Off-Road, I changed the spring and the tube. The spring is at a different tension than the spring that's included in the $30 OEM aluminum housing for the 2AR-FE engine.

I decided, since I bought new this time, that I'll stick with the plastic one. My 2020 was not only used, it was a former rental and the plastic housing and been seriously overtorqued (it took an impact drill to back it off).

It is too bad that you had an emergency need, for somebody looking at this because they have a similar situation and can wait for shipping... Of course, I wouldn't encourage ordering one and then taking the unused one back to the dealership for a refund, oh, no...

These currently run about $115 with free shipping included:

 

Thread update here... in August I did the first oil change after this "no-oil-baffle-debacle" and then in November I was due for another oil change so I decided this was a fun first opportunity for an oil analysis from Blackstone. I did not suspect I would find any damage to my engine, however, I was curious and I figured it would give me a useful baseline if ever any issues arose in the future. This has made me feel very confident headed into 200k miles.

 

Nothing to worry about by that. I would feel great with those results. Data doesn't lie.

 

That's a very good checkup. I would be happy with those numbers at your mileage.

 

Agreed! As I said, I’m soon crossing 200k and I love this report haha

 

Glad you got good feedback from Blackstone. That being said the oil system in most engines only filters the oil that bypasses the oil pump. Oil is first supplied to the crank mains then rods as it travels up to the top pf the engine. Some people think all the oil gets filtered but not so in this style engine build. I would not have expected to see any bad results from your issue with the screen.

 

^^Thanks for posting! Just happened to me last week! I've been concerned about premature engine break down or wear as I'm at 208,000 km's and no idea how long it was running like that.
Took my new to me 2013 for its first oil change and they found a metal aftermarket oil filter housing and no filter tube. Brought it out to me in the waiting area and I was half thinking it was "pull the wool over the dumb female" deal. Well new plastic Toyota one cost me $320 CDN (I priced out online at $199)so it was an expensive first oil change!
Might do the Blackstone thing next oil change if similar service is available here.