kuo34

My local scion dealership parted with the filters for $5 a pop and said they'd sell me a box of 10 for $4.75/filter. That's not a terrible price. I put in 4.4 quarts of oil and the dip stick shows I have way over in oil, but otherwise no problem.

TheQuietThings

Dropped the oil last night and put in some Mobil1 0w-20 and the car feels soooooo much smoother now.

I also couldn't believe the amount of dirt and metal shavings that were in the bottom of the drain pan LOL but i guess that should have been expected.

omega0513

The WIX just became available, I ordered and got one in today. I am a big fan of WIX, they make great products. The cabin air filter from them has some sort of anti-bacterial/microbe coating that really helps keep the interior from smelling like smoke (my bad habit) and the air filter i find just fits better than the factory one, it has a rubbery gasket as opposed to the molded paper one.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&i....1&disp=emb&zw[img][/img]

DeathMachine

Yeah man, the WIX filter just came out like 2 weeks ago. I work for O'Rielly Auto Parts and the only warehouse we have in the nation that has them is in Knoxville. Mine should be there when I get to work today so hopefully I can do my next oil change this weekend

ChelsDS

Is there a dummies guide to changing your oil somewhere? I'd rather not have someone overcharge me to change the oil (it'll happen since I don't know any better). Never tried to change it myself but up for the challenge.

A step by step would be nice, along with what I'd need exactly lol.

pickledchang

Chels,

if you are doing it by the book, youll need the oil filter, 5 quarts (check owners manual to be sure), and the gasket for the drain plug. i think the gasket comes with the oil filter if you buy the toyota one. you only need like 3.9 quarts if you arent changing the filter, and 4.1 or something if you are. check in the manual. to be honest, ive always used just an even 4 quarts and change the filter and it fills it about in the middle between MAX and FILL. if i have a spare quart laying around, ill bring it up to full.

as for the process, its as easy as:

1. jack front of car up
2. place pan under drain plug
3. remove drain plug, let oil drain
4. unscrew filter (will need a filter wrench)
5. put new filter in and new gasket on filter housing (comes with filter).
6. put new drain plug gasket and install drain plug
7. put new oil in
8. start car, let it idle for a bit, rev a few times, check for leaks.

i forget what size wrench it is you need for the filter, but you can get it at autozone. hopefully someone will chime in with the size since i cant remember.

also, the drain plug gasket is basically just a washer, and is usually stuck to the oil pan and doesnt come off with the drain plug the first time. i think a new one comes with the official oil filter you get from the dealership. its been awhile since ive looked, but nowhere but the dealership had the filters. they are only like 4 bucks a piece.

so all youll need pretty much is the filter, filter gasket, drain plug gasket, and 5 quarts of oil, the 5th you wont use all of, just to top it off.

it will save you a lot of money if you use synthetic oil. a lot of places charge like $60 for the synthetic oil change, but i use royal purple at like $7/qt and only spend about $40 total to change it myself. i think most synths like castrol synthetic are only $4-5, so youre only gonna spend like $35 instead of $60 if you do it yourself, even less if you use dino oil.

and you can take the old oil to places like autozone and recycle it for free.

hopefully that will help you get started. best thing to do is ask a buddy to show ya. once you do it the first time, its as easy as changing a wiper blade.

DeathMachine

Get a Dorman EZ Drain! Put that on and you never have to take it off! Just push in and turn to drain the oil...

THats what I use, makes things lots easier and faster.

pickledchang

never heard of it, sounds pretty sweet! i ALWAYS seem to drop either my wrench or the drain plug into the catch pan, lol. where did you get yours at? do you have to hold it open the whole time?

DeathMachine

I got mine at O'Reilly Auto Parts where I work... Its a M12 1.25 bolt...

They shouldn't be hard to find, most auto parts stores sell them. And you don't have to hold them open, they hold their selves open so you just let them drain! They made my oil changes a LOT easier.

omega0513

anyone here have any experience with a magnetic drain plug on the XD? I found a few on Ebay but I am still considering it. I don't see a down side to it, can anyone here think of a possible one? The one I found has the magnet fused/very securely attached to the drain plug thereby eliminating the risk of it coming loose and tearing my engine apart.


http://www.magneticdrainplug.com/Aut...lugs/AP03.html


http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_dmp...plug&_osacat=0

DeathMachine

Magnetic drain plugs work in theory, but if you don't have any metal shavings in your oil (which you shouldn't, they should be big enough for your filter to stop IF you have them) they won't work. They won't have anything to pull out of the oil.

gemini

Passenger's front side if you have only one jack

kuo34

After working on a lowered tC I find more than enough clearance under a stock xD to get the oil change done. I've yet to find a way to rotate tires that doesn't require a jack. I do find it odd that the front jack point is behind the engine compartment (that weird metal chunk that extends down under the subframe).

pwg_860

I use a fumoto



http://www.quickoildrainvalve.com/

tc-guy

it would be best if you used the toyota oil filter. it is the A6 size. the kit comes with a new cartridge filter and gasket for the filter housing. the housing sits sideways so there isn't a drain hole for it, therefore no drain hole gasket. oh and get a new oil pan drain plug gasket too.

to remove the filter housing drain plug u need a ratchet (preferably with a short extension) and to remove the filter housing use a 65 mm oil filter cap (with the ratchet). to remove the housing and drain plug with more ease hold the ratchet with one hand and with your other hand pound your fist down on the hand that is holding it.

where i work, toyota has us torque both oil pan drain plug and filter housing drain plug to 20 ft lbs (i accidentally torqued the oil pan drain plug once to 25 ft lbs because i didn't check the torque wrench from the person that used it before me) and it cracked the new gasket. the instructions on the box says to hand tighten the filter housing but i always tighten with a ratchet and oil cap till its snug.

fill with 4.2 quarts and you'll be golden.

Lex-M

I'm so glad I found this post.
I'm getting an xD this week end and I had no idea that the oil filter was this type.
"and knowing is half the battle"

kuo34

The box for the cartridge has decent instructions. I had a fumoto valve on my Element. Pretty neat little trick, and it makes oil changes a little less messy.

For the drain plug I do two fingers tight on the socket wrench and I believe the cartridge housing has some notches to align for proper seating. If you get the 65mm filter wrench oily it can get a little jammy on the housing. Just reverse direction and it'll pop loose. I'm not sure if I like the cartridge more than the canister, but it seems to be relatively clean. I like how the tC has the canister inverted already.

mcbrew

Anybody else out there stretching out oil change intervals? I'm used to 10,000 miles on my Golf and 15,000 miles on my Sprinter van. I've got a good class IV synthetic oil in there... at 7,500 miles (17,500 on the odometer), I'm going to send a sample in to Blackstone for evaluation. I'll post it here, of course. I'm only at 15,000 miles, so I have a couple hundred to go.

At the next oil change, I'm putting in Red Line manual trans fluid as well as their 0w20 oil.

mcbrew

Wow... talking about oil changes is a great way to start a fire (conversationally speaking) over in the VW forums. It seems like most people here don't really give it a second thought. Guess it's just a difference between the mechanically inclined VW enthusiast and the appearance-mod inclined Scion enthusiast. That's why I stay active over on the VW forums... there's a lot more interesting conversations going on.

I didn't mean for that last thought to sound snarky... sorry if it comes across that way.

CXTKRS1

Last I heard Toyota's oil filter are made by Fram, if so then I will wait for the Purolator.