My first self oil change - yup another oil post!

After work yesterday I decided to go ahead and change my oil since I do not have to work today. I am sitting here this morning drinking coffee and watching the local news so here are some thoughts on the process and experience. Maybe some of you can give me some tips and answer some questions also.

The front skid / cover was a PITA to remove the first time. It wasn't so bad once I figured out how to remove it and putting it back also took a while lining it up and getting the bolts back in. I am sure I could do it quicker next time.

I replaced the oil filter canister with a metal one and I feel good about that. I had to use a breaker bar to remove the original plastic canister. In fact I had to brace my feet on the drivers tire to break it free. I don't know what the last person was thinking but I guess it was on there @ 70 ft lbs. I put the new one on using the 18 ft. lbs recommended.

Draining the oil was pretty easy and made a lot less mess then my previous F-150. Now that I know ho far the oil shoots out I can probably hit the pan completely next time LOL.

I put in Mobile 1 5w-30 full synthetic. After I put in the new oil and ran the motor to warm it up and circulate the oil the motor then quieted down quite a bit from what it was. The ticking that was noticeable before just stopped or I can no longer hear it. Some other reported this using 5w-30 so that is why I went with it, that and I live in the AZ.

Questions.

Here is where you can all make fun of me and call me a boomer. I put in 8.25 quarts of new oil and it was difficult to see on the dipstick and there are no hatch marks on it, just dimples. The oil level was then about a 1/4 inch above the top mark. I drained about 1.25 qts of oil and checked it again and it was then just slightly above the lowest mark. I added a quart back and it was again just slightly above the top mark?

The pan must be odd shaped or the way the dipstick sits is odd or something else is going on? There seems to be only .25 - .50 qts difference between full and over. After searching and reading about this issue I left it where it was at. I found a lot of posts saying others had this issue and that many were overfilled from the dealer. There is also a lot of controversy on how much oil the 5.7 is supposed to actually take. Some say the book says 8.5 while others say 7.9 - 7.5 with filter change. Many people were also saying that the dipstick may not be accurate to the oil capacity IDK. I dont think being 1/2 -1 qt over will hurt anything.

It took me a couple hours but that included finding all my tools, transferring the use oil to old oil jugs and cleanup. I could probably do it all in 40 minutes next time. Ok, so you can now all critique me and give me crap.

 

My 18’ 5.7 says 8.5 with filter change in the manual. You’re fine.

 

I’d fill to what your owners manual says and make note of where that falls on the dipstick.

The factory skid is a PITA. I replaced mine with an RCI and love it.

 

8.5 is a starting reference point.

I've done a drain for hours once and I literally had to dip into the 9th quart to get the dipstick to read on the top dimple.

A completely empty system is 9.3 qts.

 

It’s going to be my first time changing the oil today too

 

Yeah the oil flies out of the drain plug. After blowing oil all over the inside of the wheel and front brake on the first oil change, I looked for a solution to the problem. For the second oil change I used a piece of cardboard as a deflection shield to get the oil in the drain pan instead of all over the place. Then installed this....

https://www.valvomax.com/products/m...inless-drain-tube-knob?variant=33149381771373


Also got an RCI skid with the access hole for the filter and use this for that messy issue...

$14 POWERWORKS Oil Filter Drain Tool Oil Filter Release Hose Tube Pipe Fit for Toyota, Lexus, Scion 2.0L - 5.7L Engines with Cartridge Style Oil Filter System

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088LX23ZC?ie=UTF8

An this for filling the motor back up...

Motivx Tools Engine Oil Funnel for Toyota, Lexus, and Scion Vehicles with Threaded Oil Filler Caps – Fits Most Camry, Corolla, RAV4, Tacoma, Highlander, Sienna, Tundra, RX350 and Many More

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016FVJUX0?ie=UTF8


All these items have really cleaned up the process.

 

SOB, now you tell me about these LOL. I knew about the regular drain type adapter with a valve but I didn't trust it.

 

Let us know how you come out in the process and fill amount.

 

Glad you got your cap off, I had to chisel mine off/out.

 

RCI skid and Fumoto. I’ve never had an easier change with this setup.

I went back to the plastic housing. Twice I’ve had the metal housing spin on me when taking the plug off. It creates a decent mess. I torque to 18 and 9. I think the plastic housing works just fine as long as you don’t have some idiot tighten that housing down like someone did to yours.

 

Chop chop, oil threads never gets old...

 

This. When I bought my truck used, the local Toyota dealer had done the maintenance. I too needed a breaker bar to get the damned filter housing off.

 

Will do, you scared me with the fill amount. I grabbed 9 quarts of 0W-20 Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy. Hopefully I don’t overfill.

 

I need a breaker bar for the skid plate lmao

 

I'll hit just over 1k miles after going to see the folks for Xmas tomorrow so 1st oil change just over 1k coming up
I did get the metal filter cap/replacement as well as the change valve i'll be installing to make all other oil changes that much
easier to do in the future including the hose attachment for the filter draining

 

I gave up, the one skid plate bolt is stripped.

 

My skid plate stripped one bolt too. Oh well its not strong enough to survive a major hit either way. I cut a hole in it to do my filter