Oil filter

I saw a post on TikTok and the guy claimed that pulling the filter without draining was no more messy then draining it. Not sure about that. Saw another one where the guy put the plastic nipple on a plastic coke bottle. Not sure today's bottles are stout enough for that but gave me an idea. I have some Tru Fuel cans laying around I am going to try it with one of those.

 

My experience has been it's less messy when you drain it first. Still a bit messy but you get far less overflow when you remove the housing - I like to drain my oil as hot as possible so when it ends up running down your arm can be a bit unpleasant. With the drain plug you also know where it's going to go. My 2 cents.

 

A hose on the drain plug before you use it let's you direct it wherever you'd like. Definitely less mass than unscrewing it full.

 

That is how I have been doing it. I use the one you screw in.

 

I swapped for a jowett performance housing with a valve, but the change for the swap I used the little drain that comes with the filer and some clear rubber hose. IIRC it's 3/8" inside diameter for the hose. Very little mess. Now, with the jowett housing and a fumoto valve for my drain plug, I can change my oil in a suit and tie if I want to.

 

This is the way

I do my tundra and son’s 4runner and daughters highlander

using “custom” clear hose from Home Depot

 

I'm pretty lazy. I never remove the plug, just unscrew the housing.

If you have ever done an oil change on a 1st gen Tacoma 4 cylinder, the Tundra is much easier and cleaner even if you don't pull the drain plug.

 

Definition of "lazy man has the most work to do" lol. The plug and drain makes it so there's nearly no mess.

Not a critique, by the way. Hats off doing it yourself!

 

Motivx Tools Oil Filter Drain Tool Compatible with Toyota, Lexus and Scion Vehicles with Cartridge Style Oil Filter Systems

$25 Motivx Tools Oil Filter Drain Tool Compatible with Toyota, Lexus and Scion Vehicles with Cartridge Style Oil Filter Systems

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087QQW3S8

 

I have one of those brass drain tools but my filter housing leaks when I unscrew the cap there is always a bit of oil in there

 

That is what I use but can be messy when screwing it in.

 

This right here ^^^^. FTW.

 

Works on my Tacoma as well.

 

On my '12 4runner I found it just as easy to pull the whole housing off, not to bother with the drain plug first. Same mess either way , one less step. Ha! Wash it out with a spray of brakleen and you're good to go.

 

Pro tip:

Starting fluid works better than brake clean and it's a dollar cheaper...and it smells better, too.

 

Or carb cleaner

 

You must not be doing it right. You screw the part into the filter housing first, then screw in the other part in which will release the oil, all goes down the tube into the pan.

 

That oil filter housing is sweet, out of stock currently, I hope they get make some more.

 

Yeah ether smells good because it was used as anesthesia until the 1960's and is also super flammable as is carb spray. Carb spray is also good for melting plastics and taking paint off. Where as the RED Clorinated Brakleen has no fire hazard. FYI it also doubles as a cleaning fluid. It's the same stuff Tetrachloroethylene they used at dry cleaners. So when I worked as an A master tech at Yota way back when, one of the C techs or mechanics as we were called back then, HA! Anyway he was doing a PDI and topping off the gear oil in a brand new SUPRA. Well it was new back then in 1987. He had the door open and hung the oil gun over the sill so he could put the fill plug back in. Unfortunately he hit the handle on the sill and proceeded to pump about a 1/4 quart of 75/85w gear oil into the rear footwell. So to help the poor chap keep his job I used 2 cans of brakleen which thoroughly cleaned the oil out of the new carpet. Crisis averted. So keep that in mind if you have a greasy stain on something.

 

Out of stock all the time. I think he waits until enough people reach out to do a batch. Hit him up via email. Worth every penny if you do your own maintenance.

 

Just unscrew it and let it drain into a pan. Clean it all up and reinstall. Can’t be bothered to drain it tbh.

 

That's my theory quick and dirty. When you worked flat rate at the stealership you learn to skip a few steps cause time is money, (out of your pocket that is.) They used to bill out a drain plug gasket and a can of brakleen with every oil change. Gasket went in trash cause the old one was always stuck to the oil pan, 2 squirts of brakleen ( you kept the rest to take home for your own jobs) and a dab of silicone seal on the drainplug threads and no drips no mess.

 

Yep. And screw doing it right for the customer. Is it any wonder why dealership oil "techs" are despised?

 

My drain plug gasket is the original one since new lol, I have new ones to put on but after 10 oil changes it's still stuck and I'm not going to spend any time trying to get it off and possibly scratch the pan.

 

HA HA HA, Don't despise the tech despise the stealership which charges 125 per hour while paying the mechanics 15 flat rate. So if you want to pay your bills at the end of the week, which most were in debt to the Snap-Off tool man every Friday, you learn to take a few short cuts while actually not affecting the quality of your work (for fear of the dreaded come back). So an oil change paid the Mechanic .3 tenths of an hour! Get your stop watch ready and GO! So lets see you have to go to service counter, get the RO and keys, go out to parking lot retrieve the car, bring it into shop which usually entailed beeping horn and waiting for someone to hit the shop door open button, set car up on lift, remove splash shield, roll the drain bucket across shop to your bay, pull drain plug, go to service counter wait cause the new parts guy has to look up every part number and get you the parts or wait while the 2 mechanics in front of you get their parts, then walk back to your bay, finish oil change, do a complete check list of other fluids/necessary repairs in an attempt to after sell the customer more work, walk back to service counter hand in RO. Did you stop the clock yet? Ooops forgot before you even went to get the car you had to grab a paper floor mat by parts dept. to drop over mat in car. Now you can stop the clock. So scraping the drain plug off might not seem like a big deal unless you did it maybe 40- 50 times a week. Did you make any money doing a .3 oil change? NOPE!

 

I’ve found loosening the filter housing with the wrench, then putting the plastic drain piece in, then unscrewing the housing the rest of the way by hand with the drain tube still inserted allows basically all the oil to drain through the drain tube rather than around the filter housing and all over your hand.