May have screwed up my oil change, please help.

Wondering if I screwed something up. Maybe someone here can help me.

I changed my oil today. I removed the old plastic oil filter housing assembly and replaced with the aluminum. Because the filter plug was stuck in the old plastic assembly, I did not put it back because I needed to go to a friend's house to use his vice to help me get it out. I started the engine without the oil filter plug, only the oil filter housing was in. It started to leak from where the plug should've gone so I stopped the truck, cleaned it up, stuck a towel in the hole and went to my friends. I was able to get the filter plug free and I re-installed it in the new aluminum housing, however, I still have a leak. Did I do damage to the housing or the plug area when I started it without the plug in? Why would it still leak after I installed the filter plug?

 

Did you put the O ring in place?

 

Which O ring? The larger one that goes around the filter housing or a different one? I only installed the larger one. It's not leaking from the housing, only from the filter plug.

 

Did you install the new smaller o-ring (that came with the filter) in the groove in the bottom of the filter housing? And lube that o-ring?

And are you certain that the large o-ring is installed in the correct spot on the filter cap? If you used a Toyota filter that diagram on the box will illustrate this.

 

The filter has a little bag with TWO O Rings, one large for the filter cover, and the small for the filter plug

 

That was it. I didn't install the smaller of the two 0-rings.

I went and checked the old housing and, sure enough, there was an o-ring still in there.

I couldn't find the brand new o-ring. I threw it away and can't seem to find it. I took the older o-ring and installed it. It's still looks in great shape.

I re-started the truck, let it run for a few minutes and no leaks!

Thanks all!

As a side not, I've never had to swap out that o-ring because the filter plug was in so tight, I've always done my oil changes by just removing the entire filter housing, leaking oil all over the place but then screwing it back in.

Crisis averted! Thanks again!~

 

hopefully you exchanged the gut (inside part) that holds the physical filter from the plastic housing with the short one in the aluminum housing ... Otherwise your filter may collapse!
The plastic gut is taller. Don't remember what it's called.

 

Make sure you torque both the housing and the plug properly and you won’t have that issue moving forward. 18 ft-lbs on the housing and 9 ft-lbs on the plug. Get the Motivx oil filter wrench and drain tube kit.

and like TTund16 said, hopefully you swapped the internal perforated tube between the housings.

 

You will be fine with the old o ring unless it was torn or otherwise damaged.