Does everyone use the oil filter housing drain?

One more thing…for some reason, sometimes the housing is excessively difficult to loosen (even though I was the one to do the last oil change. When you run into this….take a deep breath, wind your watch, and tell that filter to wait a minute. Then calmly go to your toolbox or friendly hardware store for a socket that will fit on the end of the filter wrench…instead of using the square drive end of your ratchet/extension. That socket will deliver more force without damaging the square drive hole or otherwise wrecking your filter wrench.

Then return to the filter housing, nod, and make sure you seat that filter wrench all the way down onto the tabs. Make sure it’s all the way on!!!! Now, give it the what for in a firm, controlled, and professional manner, and it’ll eventually let go.

 

No big deal. Just use the doo-dad that comes with the toyota filter (which are usually cheapest anyway).

instead of screwing it in, you have to firmly and squarely push it on with the palm of your hand until it snaps in. The second it snaps in it will drain oil. It’s good to use paper towel as padding for your palm as you push, because sometimes it hurts lol, and because it helps contain the oil that will spill out the second you remove your hand.

Or you can say screw it and just remove the housing undrained and deal with some mess. Make sure you put down cardboard just in case!

 

I ordered the filter housing wrench from Amazon and added a $9.99 brass filter housing drain tool with tubing. It'll be easier to keep track of.

 

Win!!! Report back how you like that little drain tool!

 

Thanks for the tip. The wrench I ordered says the socket size is 1 1/16, I'm pretty sure I have that.

 

I have the brass drain tool with the hose and it's great. I've only changed my oil once on the 4runner with it but it was nice to not worry about any mess.

 

I had a tough time with the crush washer. It was stuck on so well that I thought it might actually be part of the oil pan. I didn't like using as much leverage as it took to get off, but it resisted gentler techniques such as lightly tapping around the circumference before really digging underneath an edge.

 

Yeah, my housing came seriously over-torqued. I had to pull the wrench so hard I was afraid it would break. I wouldn't be surprised if it took 60+ ft-lbs to come loose.

 

I gave it a tap with a plastic putty knife. Worked fine.

 

I like that RCI offers a version of the engine skid that accommodates KDSS.

With their Labor Day sale, I’m debating buying the skid even before I’ll have the 4Runnner.

 

I got their aluminum engine skid for KDSS a couple years ago, it's a nice skid. I never got the bumper filler plate, just made the plastic oem one work. It doesn't quite fit right, so I ordered the RCI filler plate today during the sale.

 

Got the brass drain tool & filter housing wrench today. That wrench is a seriously well made tool. Heavy steel construction, and chrome plated. The drain tool looks like it will work well also.

 

In all my years working for Toyota, I never used the filter housing drain. Of course, working in a shop, I had the advantage of a lift and large waste oil receptacle to catch the mess. I could see the value of the drain if doing the change in your driveway and not wanting to make a huge mess.

 

I'd be glad to pay for a shop to do my oil changes if I could find one to trust.

 

I'm pretty sure the wrenches with those slots are why 2 of our 4 Toyotas have broken tabs on the filter housing. I'm anxious to give the Motivx a try on the next oil change.

 

I would guess a wrench that grabs only the hex portion of the housing, like the motivex, would just slip instead. So yeah, on a super tight housing, it wouldn’t break the tabs, but the filter probably wouldn't come off either.

If the tabs break, I think that indicates it was so incredibly tight, something was going to break regardless. Because that means that the wrench both sliped/rounded the hex, and then broke the tabs.

Tabs breaking might also indicate that the filter wrench wasn't seated fully down onto the housing, which is actually pretty easy to do. In fact, I did it myself on the last oil change and I managed to mangle the tabs a bit. It totally felt like it was seated properly until it felt it squish under high torque (like the plastic was going to give. Only when I carefully looked, did I see it was the filter wasn’t seated all the way down. Unfortunately, since the hex portion and tabs slots had dug into the plastic a bit, I couldnt remove the wrench until I unscrewed it. It required a bit of percussion persuasion to get it back off. It came pretty close to breaking. Next time I make that mistake, I’m sure it will be the end of the housing.

 

I actually worked for Toyota for 10+ years. A wrench like the Motivx one is all I ever used on these housings. Broke the tool a couple times on housings that were either over tightened or put back without lubrication on the sealing o-ring. Never broke a housing. And I've had scenarios where I had to put a 1/2" breaker bar on there to get the thing loose! You'd be surprised how tough those things are - even the plastic ones. So long as the tool is properly seated on the housing, it's pretty unlikely it will break.

 

I'm coming up on my first attempt at a self-induced oil change, and plan to use the filter wrench I received, as discussed by @McSpazatron and me above...in your experience, having done this previously, would it be better to just use the 1/2" breaker bar anyway, gently, just for the added leverage to break the filter housing free initially?

 

In my experience, it's always best to start with the least aggressive approach first. In most cases, I could typically break the filter housing loose with just a long handled, 3/8" flex head ratchet. The need for greater leverage didn't arise all that often. No sense in jumping to the largest possible tool at the start. That can lead to broken parts where a bit more finesse might have prevented that. Just be certain to lubricate the o-ring on the housing before reinstalling it, and don't overtighten it. They only need to be tightened to a hair past the point they stop turning when reinstalled. Heat will do the rest.

 

Those housings are the worst feeling threaded objects in the world lol. It doesn’t break free like anything else you’d expect, as the o-ring provides tension all the way down the barrel. Once the o-ring clears the barrel, then it spins freely for a few turns the it drops out.

But yeah, I agree if it gives you any trouble, grab the breaker bar, make sure the wrench is seated all the way down, and give it slow steady pressure until it starts turning. Then do the rest with the ratchet.

 

One more thing, take your time…. Nothing screws up a job more than rushing or trying to use brute strength if something gets fussy.

 

You remembers this??

(378) Pep Boys — Fit - YouTube

It'll fit. Just keep hitting it!

 

Been a while since I’ve seen that one!

There’s a time and a place for brute strength, and sometimes it’s what’s necessary. But not as often as some people would think lol.

 

Torque values for the oil filter housing and filter drain plug are on this chart:

 

No. Another potential problem for naught

 

Used the MotivX on my last oil change, and it gripped much better than the slotted wrench I had been using. No slipping at all. I'm really glad I got it.

 

I realized I never reported back on the drain tool. It worked exactly as advertised. Threaded right into the filter housing, and drained into the container with absolutely no mess. Removal was just as easy. Seems infinitely better than the plastic doodad that comes with the new oil filter.

 

I did for the first couple of changes but no longer do. It's just like removing a conventional spin on filter.