How to change the engine air filter? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

johnjan · 09-07-2011, 07:35 PM

How can I change the engine air filter for a 2008 TCH?

***Zembonez*** · 09-07-2011, 07:52 PM

Have an owner's manual? Typically pretty well described there.

ukrkoz · 09-07-2011, 08:09 PM

pop the cover off the filter box and replace it. sounds easy, aye?
well, popping was the easy part. getting damn Japanese bolts back in place was a nightmare. They used some strange bolts on box cover, took me forever to set them back. and I normally replace air filters blindfolded and with one hand.

fork for K&N air filter. thank me later.

ukrkoz · 09-07-2011, 08:18 PM

here's your filter box:

here's 2 bolts you need to loosen:

and o the opposite side of the box, there are 2 hinges:

you simply undo 2 bolts, and lift bolt cover side up. slide filter out, and slide new one back in.

johnjan · 09-10-2011, 07:17 PM

I bought an aftermarket filter and the replacement was easy with the exception of those stupid bolts as ukrkoz indicated above. I will need to do something about this, maybe use small C Clamps.

What a difficult design...!

ukrkoz · 09-10-2011, 09:47 PM

told ya...

should have listened to me all the way through and have K&N. jagged my mpg from previous owner 36 into 42.5.

johnjan · 09-19-2011, 06:33 PM

Aftermarket is from FRAM. My mpg was in the 40-42 range and today showed 43.5.
This seems mostly to do with the cooling of temperatures. It is Fall in Canada and in Ontario the temperatures are in the 8 to 22°C.
Once the temperatures drop below 5°C, I expect the mpg to drop.

ukrkoz · 09-19-2011, 08:44 PM

yeah, it really depends which mpg you looking at. mine has almost one year old, untouched, average on nav unit, which is at 38.2; then I have tank average, which is normally around 40.2; then I have instantenious, which can be whatever; and, if I want to, I can reset best mpg on nav unit, zero it all out, take off, roll, wait till it shows 99mpg under average, and reset data again. which will lock best mpg line on 99. Then, take a nice picture of it, and post here, with all bragging rights how well she does.

correct me if I'm wrong. You, Canooks, actually have mpg showing in KILOMETERS, right?

johnjan · 09-20-2011, 06:32 PM

I bought my car used from the US and I use it for commuting - a total of 120 miles everyday.

ukrkoz · 09-20-2011, 09:02 PM

oh, so you had to pay dealer big Ca $$ to rig light switch, aye, mate?

johnjan · 09-22-2011, 04:08 AM

Had to pay $80 to do the DRL

ukrkoz · 09-22-2011, 02:18 PM

good for you. read stories about dealerships charging over $300 to fix it.

Kurochan · 11-26-2011, 07:43 PM

Thank you for posting this. I changed mine today successfully (I hope) with the K&N air filter suggested by ukrkoz. I have no idea if the original filter was really dirty or not, but I changed it anyway. I have 30500km on the car, and I guess it's almost time to change it. One question, if the lid of the filter box is not aligned properly, will I still be able to screw the bolts back? I can't really see one of the hinges too well so I am not 100% sure if the lid of the filter box has been closed properly. But I was able to screw the bolts back tightly. Does it mean I am good?
Thank you again!

ukrkoz · 11-27-2011, 10:40 AM

kurochan, the way it's made, if you do not have it aligned PERFECT it will not seal. I spent about 30 minutes and A LOT of cussing putting those 2 screws back in right.
you should not take lid off completely to replace filter. cover opens enough to slide filter out/in.
remove air hose, makes life easier.
I'd re-check on it. your judgement.
when you done re-installing that filter, pull ECM fuse out maybe overnight. you have long term presets stored on it, and they are not for high air flow filter. you want all of those presets gone, so that ECM will learn how to drive with higher air flow.
also, giving you heads up. unless you live in Florida or HI. you picked on wrong time of the year to do this. winter is here or is coming fast, and mpg will keep dropping no matter what. TCH is not a cold country car. my mpg just dropped by 0.6 simply because average temps dropped below 50 day time and are in 30s am. this been said for one reason - do not expect instant miracle. I had mine changed in late March and INTO THE SUMMER, and that how she bests on mpg. not into the winter. makes sense?

Kurochan · 11-28-2011, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ukrkoz

kurochan, the way it's made, if you do not have it aligned PERFECT it will not seal. I spent about 30 minutes and A LOT of cussing putting those 2 screws back in right.
you should not take lid off completely to replace filter. cover opens enough to slide filter out/in.
remove air hose, makes life easier.
I'd re-check on it. your judgement.
when you done re-installing that filter, pull ECM fuse out maybe overnight. you have long term presets stored on it, and they are not for high air flow filter. you want all of those presets gone, so that ECM will learn how to drive with higher air flow.
also, giving you heads up. unless you live in Florida or HI. you picked on wrong time of the year to do this. winter is here or is coming fast, and mpg will keep dropping no matter what. TCH is not a cold country car. my mpg just dropped by 0.6 simply because average temps dropped below 50 day time and are in 30s am. this been said for one reason - do not expect instant miracle. I had mine changed in late March and INTO THE SUMMER, and that how she bests on mpg. not into the winter. makes sense?

Thank you for your reply, ukrkoz. I re-checked the filter box and it seemed sealed, I tried to feel the box with my hands to see if there's any gap, and it seems to be nice and tight. Let's hope that's the case. I put the bolts back with no problem (what tools did you use for that?), I was more scared to break anything when I was opening the box. I didn't open the whole thing, just as you said, enough to slide the filter in. It was my first filter change ever, so your post is definitely really helpful. Is it necessary to do the fuse at all? It seems a bit too advance for me.

You are right on me picking the wrong time to change the filter. I am not hoping for any miracles to happen, haha, but more likely to just keep the engine in good shape. The filter has been there for 30000km so I guess it was time to change anyway. Besides the fuel economy, what other change should be observed with the K&N filter? By the way, I live in Vancouver, so yes, it's getting cold here.....

I dont know how you guys can get such a good mileage with the car. Is there a special technique to achieve when you guys are driving. I did the calculation yesterday, and I have around 6.9L/100km. which is around 34mpg. I drive very carefully already, trying not to slam on the gas/brake etc, but still....anyway, I am guessing because we have a lot of slopes in
Vancouver?

Thank you so much!!