I have had my 2008 xB for three years. Had always had Jim Barkley Scion in Asheville change the oil. I remember not finding the oil filter when I first bought the car and having a lady service tech show me the flap. This week, I decided to change the oil myself and kept looking for the flap. It turns out there is no flap. The dealship had cut it off.

I realize it is easier to get to the oil filter now but I also wonder why Scion put the flap there in the first place. Having worked in manufacturing for 30 years, I know that if a part is on a car, there is a reason for it. The only thing that I have noticed is that the xB seems to accumulate quite a bit of "dirt particles" under the hood. Could it be that the flap kept some of small road particles from being "sucked" into the engine compartment? It may cause a longer term problem for owners which would be fixed out of warranty.

I have asked the customer service lady at the dealership to ask why it was removed and to order a replacement. Does anyone know why Scion designed the car with the flap?

 

Its not just scion, many toyota/lexus/scion have a flap or cover over it. One of its main purposes is to stop road debris from hitting the oil filter. On some vehicles its to help reduce turbulence under the vehicle by having a smooth bottom. But jack-off oil changers take a razor blade to it b/c it makes it easier to change the filter.

 

Yup, we sure do! It's a lot easier to change my oil now and I won't even miss the .000001 mpg I may have lost by removing it. LOL

 

I didnt mean jack-off if you do it yourself lol, i meant if you take your car somewhere and they do it without your knowledge.

 

When I changed oil, I did it all the time.

It usually made changing the filter easier and cleaner. If I got rid of that flap, used oil wouldn't get caught all over it and make my life harder than it already was.

Also kept jack-off customers from coming back claiming their car was leaking oil...

 

No offense taken. Before I learned first-hand what a useless PITA that flap is, I would have been ____ed to find that a mechanic had removed it without asking. Now I'd be grateful that he saved me the trouble. It really gets in the way when changing the filter.

Not that I don't think those undercarriage plastic panels have a useful purpose, they do. I just don't feel that removing that little flap over the oil filter does any harm.

 

My first oil change was a dealer "freebie". Unfortunately, that provided some monkey the opportunity to scratch up my driver side sill, so I've never taken it back -- except for the negotiated two day later sill repair (I was furious ). Took three tries by the traveling detailer, but the third with a wipe of full strength acetone did the trick (and boy, it stunk for an hour after leaving there )!

In any case, they didn't remove the flap and I plan to keep it to minimize road dirt on the engine. Obviously, a question of personal choice, but I find it OK to remove the passenger wheel and the inner panel rivets rather than removing or even bending the flap hinge. After the hassle of draining the transmission fluid from my 1G Eclipse, changing the xB2 oil is almost trivial !

 

that flap and the one on the new prius is a very bad design. think about it, how many times of bending plastic back and forth before it snaps off.

heck even metal bent back and forth enough times breaks

you have to bend the flap back to change the filter, so before you complain about idiot techs "breaking" the flaps complain to toyota for a stupid design.

 

I see plenty of cars 100k+ without the flaps broke, I have actually never seen one broke. Only time I see it missing is when its cut off.
Im not saying that it is useful, its a crap ton easier without it on there. But I work at Lexus, and sweet jesus if I cut some old codgers undertray and they found out they would poop a brick. Just personally if I ever had someone else change my xBs oil and they cut it off, I would be peed.

 

I cut that damn thing off the first oil change I did....call it weight reduction. LOL!

 

With the RF wheel off and a few snap rivets out, the xB2 filter can be changed without bending the flap. Not good for a shop I guess, but works for me.