Celica Oil Change

Greetings,

I went to change the oil on the wife's 2005 Celica GT
last weekend and discovered a large plastic cover on the
bottom of the car. Anybody familar with the process for removing
the cover?????

Thanks,
Roger

"Roger Hill" <planoroger@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:ttAce.1634$m85.282@newssvr30.news.prodigy.com:
[color=blue]
> Greetings,
>
> I went to change the oil on the wife's 2005 Celica GT
> last weekend and discovered a large plastic cover on the
> bottom of the car. Anybody familar with the process for removing
> the cover?????
>[/color]


It is held on by fasteners which ought to be plainly visible. Remove the
fasteners.

And it's not usual that covers need to be removed to change something as
basic as an oil filter. Are you sure you're looking in the right place?

Have you read the Owner's Manual?


--
TeGGeR®

Yeah, the bottom of the car has a big ass plastic cover under the engine and
the trans. My guess is the guys at Toyota are following in the footsteps of
the '69 Lotus John Player Special and deicided to plumb a venturi under the
chassis for a little ground effect downforce.
<crickets>
Anyone??

Sooooo.... Yeah, you need to remove the panel under the passenger side of
the car. Its held on by 2 10mm sheet metal screws and a few plastic clips.
To remove the plastic clips you need to pry out the inner circumference of
the top of the clip and it will pull out. You'll see what I'm talking about
when you get under there. Oh, and if you plan on changing the oil regularly,
go to the dealer and buy a handful of said clips, as some will surely break
during each service.

On 29-Apr-2005, "TeGGeR®" <tegger@tegger.c0m> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Are you sure you're looking in the right place?[/color]

Oh, he's looking in the right place, and he is dutifully trying to
circumvent yet another technique employed by manufacturers to discourage any
kind of DIY service. You infact can't see a damn thing under that car.
You know, the other day I was changing oil (against my better judgement) on
an 03 Mercedes C240, and there wasn't a damn dipstick in the damn dipstick
tube! The owners manual made no reference to changing or even CHECKING oil,
I was only referred to the dealer. Turns out that the dipstick is a special
service tool that lives in the service dept. of your local MB dealer. But,
luckily I know an insider who walked me through a convenient 24 step process
for using the on-board computer to check the oil level. Anyway, 2 hours
later, I had that oil change all wrapped up, piece of cake. There is nothing
like the blinding frustration of battling what used to be minor operations
made obtuse and problematic for the good of some dink's pocketbook.

"Qslim" <suckers@suckers.com> wrote in message
news:4272e83f$1_4@127.0.0.1...[color=blue]
> Yeah, the bottom of the car has a big ass plastic cover under the engine
> and
> the trans. My guess is the guys at Toyota are following in the footsteps
> of
> the '69 Lotus John Player Special and deicided to plumb a venturi under
> the
> chassis for a little ground effect downforce.
> <crickets>
> Anyone??
>
> Sooooo.... Yeah, you need to remove the panel under the passenger side of
> the car. Its held on by 2 10mm sheet metal screws and a few plastic clips.
> To remove the plastic clips you need to pry out the inner circumference of
> the top of the clip and it will pull out. You'll see what I'm talking
> about
> when you get under there. Oh, and if you plan on changing the oil
> regularly,
> go to the dealer and buy a handful of said clips, as some will surely
> break
> during each service.[/color]

My Lexus also has a plastic cover under the engine. Rather than buying
clips, invest in some plastic zip ties to hold the cover closed - they
should be cheaper than clips.
--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

Many thanks to Qslim and Ray!!!

Roger

"Ray O" <rokigawa@tristarassociatesDOT.com> wrote in message
news:a30a4$4272f15a$180fead6$5384@msgid.meganewsservers.com...[color=blue]
>
> "Qslim" <suckers@suckers.com> wrote in message
> news:4272e83f$1_4@127.0.0.1...[color=green]
> > Yeah, the bottom of the car has a big ass plastic cover under the engine
> > and
> > the trans. My guess is the guys at Toyota are following in the footsteps
> > of
> > the '69 Lotus John Player Special and deicided to plumb a venturi under
> > the
> > chassis for a little ground effect downforce.
> > <crickets>
> > Anyone??
> >
> > Sooooo.... Yeah, you need to remove the panel under the passenger side[/color][/color]
of[color=blue][color=green]
> > the car. Its held on by 2 10mm sheet metal screws and a few plastic[/color][/color]
clips.[color=blue][color=green]
> > To remove the plastic clips you need to pry out the inner circumference[/color][/color]
of[color=blue][color=green]
> > the top of the clip and it will pull out. You'll see what I'm talking
> > about
> > when you get under there. Oh, and if you plan on changing the oil
> > regularly,
> > go to the dealer and buy a handful of said clips, as some will surely
> > break
> > during each service.[/color]
>
> My Lexus also has a plastic cover under the engine. Rather than buying
> clips, invest in some plastic zip ties to hold the cover closed - they
> should be cheaper than clips.
> --
> Ray O
> correct the return address punctuation to reply
>
>[/color]

Ray O wrote:
[color=blue]
> "Qslim" <suckers@suckers.com> wrote in message
> news:4272e83f$1_4@127.0.0.1...
>[color=green]
>>Yeah, the bottom of the car has a big ass plastic cover under the engine
>>and
>>the trans. My guess is the guys at Toyota are following in the footsteps
>>of
>>the '69 Lotus John Player Special and deicided to plumb a venturi under
>>the
>>chassis for a little ground effect downforce.
>><crickets>
>>Anyone??
>>
>>Sooooo.... Yeah, you need to remove the panel under the passenger side of
>>the car. Its held on by 2 10mm sheet metal screws and a few plastic clips.
>>To remove the plastic clips you need to pry out the inner circumference of
>>the top of the clip and it will pull out. You'll see what I'm talking
>>about
>>when you get under there. Oh, and if you plan on changing the oil
>>regularly,
>>go to the dealer and buy a handful of said clips, as some will surely
>>break
>>during each service.
>>[/color]
>
> My Lexus also has a plastic cover under the engine. Rather than buying
> clips, invest in some plastic zip ties to hold the cover closed - they
> should be cheaper than clips.
>[/color]

How do the zip ties hold up?
Volvo used plastic "belly pans" for decades. It was not only to
discourage owner maintenance, it kept water from splashing up into the
engine compartment. If the power steering belt (no teeth) got wet, you
would lose power steering until the belt dried out enough. There was
the problem with the plastic pan itself breaking at the bolt holes.

Eventually someone will make a metal replacement for the plastic pan -
they did for the Volvos. Saabs were driven in rallies, so you could buy
a real skid plate. It was 1/4" thick and covered the entire bottom of
the engine compartment. The Saab engineers were thinking because there
was a hole right under the oil drain bolt, so you did not need to drop
the skid plate to change the oil. You can get skid plates on the Toyota
trucks.

"Roger Hill" <planoroger@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:xbLce.2186$gd5.1871@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
> Many thanks to Qslim and Ray!!!
>
> Roger[/color]

You're welcome!
--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

"ma_twain" <ma_twain@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:42739869.5020704@yahoo.com...[color=blue]
> Ray O wrote:
>[color=green]
>> "Qslim" <suckers@suckers.com> wrote in message
>> news:4272e83f$1_4@127.0.0.1...
>>[color=darkred]
>>>Yeah, the bottom of the car has a big ass plastic cover under the engine
>>>and
>>>the trans. My guess is the guys at Toyota are following in the footsteps
>>>of
>>>the '69 Lotus John Player Special and deicided to plumb a venturi under
>>>the
>>>chassis for a little ground effect downforce.
>>><crickets>
>>>Anyone??
>>>
>>>Sooooo.... Yeah, you need to remove the panel under the passenger side of
>>>the car. Its held on by 2 10mm sheet metal screws and a few plastic
>>>clips.
>>>To remove the plastic clips you need to pry out the inner circumference
>>>of
>>>the top of the clip and it will pull out. You'll see what I'm talking
>>>about
>>>when you get under there. Oh, and if you plan on changing the oil
>>>regularly,
>>>go to the dealer and buy a handful of said clips, as some will surely
>>>break
>>>during each service.
>>>[/color]
>>
>> My Lexus also has a plastic cover under the engine. Rather than buying
>> clips, invest in some plastic zip ties to hold the cover closed - they
>> should be cheaper than clips.
>>[/color]
>
> How do the zip ties hold up?
> Volvo used plastic "belly pans" for decades. It was not only to
> discourage owner maintenance, it kept water from splashing up into the
> engine compartment. If the power steering belt (no teeth) got wet, you
> would lose power steering until the belt dried out enough. There was the
> problem with the plastic pan itself breaking at the bolt holes.
>
> Eventually someone will make a metal replacement for the plastic pan -
> they did for the Volvos. Saabs were driven in rallies, so you could buy a
> real skid plate. It was 1/4" thick and covered the entire bottom of the
> engine compartment. The Saab engineers were thinking because there was a
> hole right under the oil drain bolt, so you did not need to drop the skid
> plate to change the oil. You can get skid plates on the Toyota trucks.
>[/color]
The zip ties hold up pretty well. The plastic shield under the engine
compartment of my Lexus cracked from constantly prying and bending it. I
drilled holes on both sides of the crack and used zip ties to make a hinge.
It has only been about 6 months or so but so far is has held up through the
winter in Chicago without any problem.
--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

On 30 Apr 2005 01:25:21 GMT, "TeGGeR®" <tegger@tegger.c0m> wrote:
[color=blue]
>"Roger Hill" <planoroger@yahoo.com> wrote in
>news:ttAce.1634$m85.282@newssvr30.news.prodigy.com:
>[color=green]
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I went to change the oil on the wife's 2005 Celica GT
>> last weekend and discovered a large plastic cover on the
>> bottom of the car. Anybody familar with the process for removing
>> the cover?????
>>[/color]
>
>
>It is held on by fasteners which ought to be plainly visible. Remove the
>fasteners.
>
>And it's not usual that covers need to be removed to change something as
>basic as an oil filter. Are you sure you're looking in the right place?
>
>Have you read the Owner's Manual?
>
>[/color]


I don't know about the 2005 Celica, but my 1997 model also has a
similar large plastic panel fitted under the engine. This keeps the
lower area clean from road dirt, etc.

But I don't have to remove this large panel for an oil change. There
is a smaller panel inset within the large one to allow good access to
the oil filter.

I suggest you take another look underneath.......

David