I've had my car for 9 months and have a whopping 2650 miles on it, I decided I wanted to do my own oil change, What was Toyota thinking hiding the oil filter behind the splash shield? What a pain in the rear and inconvenient it is to do the oil change! I wonder how many dealers out there pass on taking apart the splash shield and just dump the oil and leave the filter without changing it.

I've been doing my own oil changes on all of my vehicles for a long time, I don't trust and simply don't care for anyone to do minor service on any of my vehicles, I feel better knowing it's done right too. Anyway, just wanted to rant a bit about accessing the filter.

 

Got a pic of the location from underneath? The tC one is cake to get to. Super simple...

 

Nope, no pictures.

 

Its really not that bad.....Its just a few plastic clips that hold it in place & then you pull it back to get access.

Now my old 99 Ford Ranger with the 3.0 v6 was a PAIN! The filter was located directly under the header & you could only access it through the top .

 

2650 in 9 months? thats not too bad.. i did 22000 in 9 months... and you shouldnt wait to 3000 miles to do the change you should do it at 6 months. oil sort of has a shelf life when you put it in the engine

i think that the splash guard is for aerodynamic purposes. the same way that prius has all those panels underneath the car.

 

I took 4 plastic clips off and three screws off to better and easily access the filter, I still think it should'a been designed for easier access, those plastic clips aren't going to last very many oil changes before having to be replaced. All in all, I love this car and am more satisfied doing my own oil changes.

 

FYI - The factory stock oil filter was screwed on SUPER tight on my XB. It took a lot of force to get it loose. They must have gorillas at the Scion factory putting them. LOL

 

man... VC, you must of never really done many oil changes!

The scions are beyond SIMPLE. The filter is right next the the pan. Just move the splash shield and remove the filter (remove two pins and bend it away, more then enough room. Wipe off any excess that might of spilled after).

Try and do a filter when it is sideways over steering components with no way to cram a tool up there... That is a pain!

Our cars are really simple though compared to most cars!

 

I notice a lot of dealerships screw on their filters with gorilla hands... I think they do it to ____ other shops off.

 

Haha, could be...

But honestly, it is probably liability reasons. If a filter should happen to unscrew itself, drain all the oil, cease the engine, its the dealers fault. So they know it doesn't need to be that tight, but probably do it just because.

Just a guess... Just don't want to risk having to pay out the $$$ incase of a what-if!

 

I did tires and oil for about 5 years. Toyota filters are ALWAYS an absolute b*tch to remove. This proved itself when I changed the oil in my xB2. I didn't drain the oil until I knew I could remove the filter.

I'm with Invertalon, too... If anyone's changed the oil on a mid '90's Regal or one of those GM cars with the FWD V6... You have to somehow manipulate your arm into an S shape and still grip the filter.

 

the easiest ive ever done was on my dad's FJ cruiser.. the oil filter was on top and i didnt even need to jack up the car to drain the oil. frankly thats the only thing i liked about the car....

 

NO KIDDING!!! 95 buick lesabre (the blue hair) what a pia! i didn't have a problem with my filter being hard to get off. LOL so many jokes fit there. a lot of times, the mating surface is cleaned where the O ring of the filter goes, and no one puts oil on it, so it fuses itself to the block. a trusty screwdriver driven thru the filter always works in that case. LOL

 

Its not bad at all in my opinion.

 

My truck is the easiest... Filter is underneath next to the pan... no jack no problem... 350's ftw...