Man I am so happy Toyota finally went to a cartridge style oil filter for many reasons...

- Helps the environment as the amount of trash after an oil change is minimum
- Filters are generally cheaper
- And the most important reason is that it makes it easy to examine the filter itself
to see how your engine is fairing between oil changes.

Now before noobs go freaking out at the content of my oil filter, be assured this is NORMAL for a brand spanking new motor and also why I do not agree with Toyota on the whole 5K miles to first oil change. I just did my first at 2500 miles & switched to synthetic. Oil visually was in fantastic condition at 2500, but the engine going through all the things a new engine goes through sheds a lot of small material usually which shows in the filter. Next change at 5K miles I expect this amount to be cut in half or even less. After than I expect almost no material to be present & will change every 3K miles as usual.

Right now we are into the 100's in AZ so I feel it is OK for me to bypass Toyotas 5-20 or 0w-20 oil recommendations. For me in the hot summertime I will be going with 5w30 & in Winter will go to 5w20 for the first 40-50K miles. After that I will switch to 5w30 in the winter and 10w30 in the Summer for my own personal reasons.

Anyways, again kudos to Toyota for going to a cartridge filter design

The first pic shows normal small metal particles & what appears to be paint from inside the engine from when certain inspections are performed while the motor is being built, they use a paint pen.

Next, some more common whatever metal.

Largest item I found while looking huge in this photo was maybe 1- 1.5mm long and was a piece of aluminum from whatever in the engine.

Again no biggie at all and no concern on a new motor. Just thought I would share these pics with you guys so you would know what to expect


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Nice on the visuals...
Kind of amazing to see the "crap" in the old oil filters or in your case, cartridge!

 

yeah 99.9% of the planet never see's stuff like that or does not know what to look for. I am picky so I cut open most of my filters between changes, this makes it easy haha.

 

Just to add, this is EXACTLY why you do NOT hammer your car before the first oil change & even the 2nd IMO. Imagine if a bunch of those little particles came loose and ran past the by-pass valve & through your crank bearings or cam journals a few times. Creates a LOT of wear that is not needed. Once the fist two changes are done, then most of the particles that will come loose have already done so. Then no biggie.

At the same time I do not recommend to only baby the new motor & granny shift @ 2Krpm, but I personally will never take a new motor past 3500rpm until the first change. Then 4500 on the 2nd change. Then... weeeeeee.

 

sweet

 

I also looked in-between the ribs on the filter, scared me to see what was in there but I figured it was normal. Thanks for providing good information!

 

Pull the ribs apart hard and the plastic retainer will snap so you can get a good look. I did this to every fold haha.

 

I did the same thing, broke the clear plastic retaining ring and laid the ribs flat so i could take a look. Scared me how much junk was in there. Too bad i didn't take pictures. It'd be interesting to compare.

 

Always a next time

 

does anyone know the size of adapter that will help unscrew the filter cover?

 

you need a 64mm oil filter wrench this is what i bought from sears worked great
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02820523000P

 

Awesome thread. Very informative stuff as always!

 

Great info! Thanks!

 

I'm all for the first and third reasons - good stuff! But price? Ouch! I stopped by my dealership today to stock up on some filters, expecting to pay ~$4 each (I thought I had seen that number here). That's about what I pay for traditional filters when they're on sale - so the cartridges aren't cheaper, but I'd have settled for the same price since they're OEM. Turns out they were ~$8.50 each! I should have just walked, but I got one... Now I see they're available at trdsparks for $45/10-pack, including shipping, and eBay for $47/10. Should've done my homework first! Hopefully I can save someone else the time/trouble.

Andy

 

Aftermarket filters will be available soon and much cheaper than the equal can filter.

Also for a good quality can filter such as a pure1, wix, k&n or mobile 1... you are going to pay a LOT more than $4.50 a filter

Now if you buy fram or the cheapy filters, then yeah they are about the same $4.50 as a toyota OEM canister filter. I paid $4.75 or so locally at my dealer for each oem filter. Bought 4 and put them in the glovebox

 

Your filter probably picked that crap up within the first 500 miles.

I doubt you'll see anything else...

 

Why are people using synthetic on a motor that is not supposed to use synthetic? There's a reason for "recommended" specifications. Especially when all mechanics say you do not use synthetic until at least 40,000 miles.

 

All mechanics? 40K? Where did you hear that?

Plenty of new cars roll off the line with synthetic.

 

im wondering how the heck someones thumb ended up in the filter....

first oil change this weeked, ill post pics if i find anything as exciting.

 

The cars that come with synthetic are made to take synthetic, usually sporty cars (that I've noticed) such as the Mitsubishi Evo. Normal cars do not come with synthetic and are not recommended synthetic at least until about 40,000 miles. Look in your manual or on your oil cap, it says use 5W 30. For mine in the manual it says in place you can use 10w 30 but should be replaced with 5W 30 at the next oil change, meaning you really shouldn't use any other grade.