kdepew

I'm about to change my xA's oil for the first time myself.

I looked through the manual, and there really weren't any directions. There were directions on how to check and add oil, but not change it.

I bought the following:
- Mobile 1 5W-30 Full Synthetic
- K&N HP1003 Filter

My quesitons:
- How many quarts of oil do I need? Is that in the manual somewhere. I assumed it woudl be 4 or less.
- Alot of people use OEM filters. K&N filters are supposedly high-end. Can I assume my K&N filter is at least as good as the OEM filter (even if more expensive than I need)? (I also got a free Mobil 1 Oil Filter with the purchase of the oil, but I don't know if those are good or not).
- Is there anything I'll need to do other than remove the oil filter and drain plug? I assume once I get under the car it will be obvious, but it would be nice to know if any covers or anything needs to be removed.
- Is it really important to replace the drain plug gasket? My local auto parts store didn't care the ones for the xA. I normally replace those gaskets when changing oil, but they don't usually look like they need to be replaced.

One other non oil-related question. I want to rotate my tires as well. The manual shows a jack location near the rear (that lifts both rear tires) and one near the front (which if I remember lifted both front tires). I used these when installing my wheels. When rotating tires, I just want to move front to back because the tires are directional. Is there are jack point (which won't hurt the car) which can be used to lift both tires on one side of the car?

Any answers are appreciated.

Thanks,

kdepew

Forgot to ask. Is there a torque specification on the drain plug?

And I found the oil capacity (3.7 quarts with filter).

SanchezHacker

I'll be changing my oil sometime soon too(once my free changes run out). If you haven't already seen this here is a guide for changing oil on an xB,
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=127305
I think its basically the same for the xA. They mentioned having to remove a plastic guard so thats something to look out for.

Afraid thats all I know about changing oil. Let us know how it goes.

kdepew

Thanks for the link. I changed the oil today. Nothing difficult. I didn't remove the plastic cover under teh car. There was just enough room to get to the filter without removing it. I think they designed so you would not have to remove the plastic cover.

I did find out that the oil filter is extremely small and the too I normally use to remove the filter didn't clamp down small enough to work. I had to go back to Walmart. I picked up one of those removal tools that fits on my wrench, and it worked perfectly.

I also found that K&N filters are probably a waste of money for this car. I looked at the Mobil 1 filter I got free with my oil (which was like $6 normally) and at the K&N, and I'm pretty sure they are EXACTLY the same except the manufacturer welds a little socket thing on the bottom of the K&N and paints the outside a different color. They look exactly the same. Same colors of all pieces (except the outside). Same exact look inside. Same "AA" stamp on the metal. My guess is that they are both OEM'ed from the same company. The K&N was $14, so it is a rip off. It is possible they have different filter material in them, but given everything else is exactly the same, I would guess that filter material is the same as well.

The K&N filter I buy for my 3000GT does look like a very high quality filter (nice weight, heavy duty metal, nice seal ring, etc.). However, for the xA, K&N is a waste of money.

Persocon

i just get the Fram PH3600 that's not recommended for us. I got it because it is almost triple the size and filtering element of the recommended one.
the seal is 1mm away from the edge on the engine, so it will still seal.

jct

get the wix oil filter 51394

and our cars use 3.9 quarts of oil so just put in 4 quarts of oil will not hurt our engines what so ever

just make sure to replace the gasket on the drain plug you can get those for around .89 cents from the dealer...

cobb

I have wanted to do the same thing. Ive seen single cylinder generators with a larger filter than our cars have and notice about 3 thousand miles the oil loks dirty. Does the larger filter make the oil clearer longer?

Persocon

not sure yet. I just put it on couple days ago. But yea that PH3600 is about 6 inches tall and 1/2 inch wider in diameter.
Though I don't know if there are any side effects.

cobb

Oh, ok. I owned two carsback when I was driving age, 2 vw rabbits, one gas one diesel. THe diesel had black oil after a few hundred miles from the sulfur those generated from burning fuel or released, etc. THe gas one the oil looked clear til about 3 thousand miles and had a big honking oil filter.

Ive been disabled the past 15 years and just recently got my license last year and been driving a few different cars and working 2 jobs. Likewise, the diesel mercedes made the oil black fairly quickly and used a big cartrage filter I changed every other month. THe engine would develop more noises when the oil needed changing and sounded the best just after a change. I used some special commercial diesel engine grade oil for it. The construction van just used a spin on. Likewise like my scion, after 3 thousand miles the oil looks like it needs changing and having a new car I want to make the first few thousand miles great, so despite the recomendations, I have changed it about 2500 when the oil starts to look dirty.

I am thinking a larger filter in diameter and length should give more element to collect dity and make the oil cleaner longer. Another screw ball idea I had that I thought about for the mercedes with the expensive oil it used was to just change the filter at the half way mark before a sechudle oil change.

The ide abehind this is that once hte filter is full it has a bypass valve and unfiltered oil goes into the engine as to why it starts to look dirty like on cue. Sure there is some fine crap that wont get filtered, but the larger stuff should be caught by a new filter.

Mugetsu

I don't know about using a filter thats NOT recommended for your car, especially if it fits big...but thats all you.

as for the OP, the K&N is a waste of $$ in my opinion too, thought i think they are able to withstand higher oil pressures.

I use AC DELCO brand on my TC after using the K&N once, 6$ can't be beat.
I do know FRAM makes a "longer lasting" filter that should work with 5K oil changes
so i may look into that, BUT i have never been a fan of fram since they use a "paper" element...AC DELCO at least uses a half synthetic half paper media.

i do mostly highway driving so 5K oil changes is what i do.

Persocon

we'll see in 3,000 miles how the oil looks, and also 5,000

CrimsonO2

Maybe this is a dumb question but I'll ask anyway.

How are you guys resetting the maintenance indicator light in the dash? I know that thing goes off every 5k for oil changes.

SanchezHacker

Read this: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=200143
Most of this info can be found in the owner's manual.

Persocon

it's in the Tech section under Maintenance light reset

cobb

I take mines to the dealer for the warranty service and they reset it. I also change my oil between the recommend oil changes. 2500 miles.

Grateful11

Here's a lot of info on oil filters, probably more than you want to know.

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

BMF

i need to change my oil asap