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oil change at dealer

14K views 111 replies 30 participants last post by  Rickvmax 
#1 ·
Really disappointed in the local Toyota dealer, Toyota of Cool Springs in Franklin, TN. The oil was changed last March in my 2017 Highlander. Since then, the mileage has increased by 6,000 miles. I wanted to change the oil. I picked up 6 quarts of Mobil1 and a Toyota filter. I found that the dealer had really cranked down on the oil filter housing. The Toyota spec calls for torque of 25 N-m (19 ft-lb) for the filter and 13 N-m (10 ft-lb) for the small aluminum drain plug on the bottom of the housing.

The filter housing wouldn’t budge. I got out my beam torque wrench, and found that the filter housing was torqued in excess of 120 ft-lb. The small aluminum drain plug on the filter was in excess of 60 ft-lb. This isn’t the first time. Before the 2017 Highlander, I owned a 2010 Highlander. The same thing happened at the same dealer. I never took the vehicle back to that shop. There is one more oil change that is pre-paid on this 2017 Highlander that I might take advantage of at the 24-month mark.

In my opinion, there is no excuse for a dealer service shop to have such disregard for Toyota’s specs. The Toyota filter box has a warning in bold font "DO NOT OVER-TORQUE". Spec for lug nuts is 76 ft-lb, and they put 120 ft-lb on an oil filter. Crazy.

Anyone else noticed similar situation?
 
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#2 ·
Really disappointed in the local Toyota dealer, Toyota of Cool Springs in Franklin, TN. The oil was changed last March in my 2017 Highlander. Since then, the mileage has increased by 6,000 miles. I wanted to change the oil. I picked up 6 quarts of Mobil1 and a Toyota filter. I found that the dealer had really cranked down on the oil filter housing. The Toyota spec calls for torque of 25 N-m (19 ft-lb) for the filter and 13 N-m (10 ft-lb) for the small aluminum drain plug on the bottom of the housing.

The filter housing wouldn’t budge. I got out my beam torque wrench, and found that the filter housing was torqued in excess of 120 ft-lb. The small aluminum drain plug on the filter was in excess of 60 ft-lb. This isn’t the first time. Before the 2017 Highlander, I owned a 2010 Highlander. The same thing happened at the same dealer. I never took the vehicle back to that shop. There is one more oil change that is pre-paid on this 2017 Highlander that I might take advantage of at the 24-month mark.

In my opinion, there is no excuse for a dealer service shop to have such disregard for Toyota’s specs. The Toyota filter box has a warning in bold font "DO NOT OVER-TORQUE". Spec for lug nuts is 76 ft-lb, and they put 120 ft-lb on an oil filter. Crazy.

Anyone else noticed similar situation?
Common issue, 89% I doubt it's the dealer's fault.
 
#4 ·
Anyone else noticed similar situation?
Many years ago, it happened to me at an oil change shop (something like Jiffy Lube, but don't recall the name). Six months after they changed the oil, I tried to change it myself but I could not get the drain plug off and had to take it the car back to them for the oil change.

During the oil change, I told the guy under the car (in the pit) not to torque the drain plug so tight this time. When it was time to put the drain plug back on, I could see him over-torqueing it as hard as he could, so much that the car was shaking quite a bit.

Sure enough, next time it was due for an oil change I could not get the drain plug off again, so had to take it back to them for the next oil change. This time they had to chisel the drain plug off and put a new one on. Fortunately I had the receipt that showed they did the previous oil change.

The auto repair business has some bad dudes. Not everyone is bad, but some are.
 
#8 ·
Doubt they tightened it tighter than a wheel nut, but more likely overtightened it and caused the plastic thread to lock requiring excessive force to remove.Guess it proves how strong the housing actually is. They must be using the same wrench they use to remove the sump plug with a long handle when they should be using a standard length handle to avoid putting it on too tight. What did the old o rings look like were they damaged?
 
#13 ·
Anyone else noticed similar situation?
Years ago I bought a new '70 Malibu (I said it was years ago) and the oil filter put on in the factory was torqued down to the point it was metal-on-metal - the canister actually left 'rub' marks where it had contacted the block. Had to peel the can off the base then drill out the base plate to relieve the pressure enough to spin it off.

It's not just dealers and Jiffy Lube employees that do this kind of stuff.
 
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#14 ·
This is still an issue today on most vehicles with spin on filters, GM does not have a trademark on it. My first oil change on a new vehicle with a spin on filters is always done by the dealer, that way if they screw anything up getting the filter off it's their problem. By the time they got the filter off of my 05 f150 it looked like it had all ready been thru a trash compactor.

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#17 ·
FWIW..You got that right. All my previous rides (except one) had spin on filters. I always hand tightened & then just "slightly more after gasket touched base" (marked how much on filter) Later changing o/f, filter was ALOT tighter. Forgot principal involved causing it to get ALOT tighter, but it did.
 
#18 ·
Heat dissipation and other physics. Until I see someone use and hold for 30 seconds a 1200+ ft-lb 1/2" air impact gun to tighten a oil filter housing or canister, I am 89% sure the dealership or shop is not at fault. Coincidences do happen because ever since....
 
#20 ·
.......
Another problem is not changing out the filter element.
Sorry to side track from OP...

O. M. G. !! That did actually happen to my book-warm brother in-law years ago; he was told by his local dealership mechanic that their engine oil filter is like the ATF filter (screen style) "never needs replacement", all it needs is to drain the oil out of the oil filter housing/cap... I disrespectfully asked my bro in-law "did you believe that?" LMAO!
 
#24 ·
The service tech at the dealer gets to do many of these oil filter changes in a day, they have hoists, proper tools, etc etc, so unless they just walked into the job without training (unlikely) then they should be able to do this stuff in their sleep, but people make mistakes sometimes, plus it is not their vehicle so no personal interest in taking extra care on any vehicle it is just another unit, but this is no different from the person on the assembly line, they all rely on experience and training and skills developed from that to mostly do at least an acceptable job. The owner doing the same job unless they have the acquired skills and experience, will be taking more care but that is necessary because they are not doing these jobs that often and possibly lack the skills. Which is better? Competent owner maintenance possibly, but if one is buying the car used they will probably be more swayed by it being dealer serviced as it has a record, doesn't make it better but it is what it is.
 
#39 ·
Really disappointed in the local Toyota dealer, Toyota of Cool Springs in Franklin, TN. The oil was changed last March in my 2017 Highlander. Since then, the mileage has increased by 6,000 miles. I wanted to change the oil. I picked up 6 quarts of Mobil1 and a Toyota filter. I found that the dealer had really cranked down on the oil filter housing. The Toyota spec calls for torque of 25 N-m (19 ft-lb) for the filter and 13 N-m (10 ft-lb) for the small aluminum drain plug on the bottom of the housing.

The filter housing wouldn’t budge. I got out my beam torque wrench, and found that the filter housing was torqued in excess of 120 ft-lb. The small aluminum drain plug on the filter was in excess of 60 ft-lb. This isn’t the first time. Before the 2017 Highlander, I owned a 2010 Highlander. The same thing happened at the same dealer. I never took the vehicle back to that shop. There is one more oil change that is pre-paid on this 2017 Highlander that I might take advantage of at the 24-month mark.

In my opinion, there is no excuse for a dealer service shop to have such disregard for Toyota’s specs. The Toyota filter box has a warning in bold font "DO NOT OVER-TORQUE". Spec for lug nuts is 76 ft-lb, and they put 120 ft-lb on an oil filter. Crazy.

Anyone else noticed similar situation?
 
#40 ·
Had the local Toyota shop do something similar to my new Tacoma, during a "free oil change and service". I change oil every 5,000 mi. the free services are at 10,000 intervals. When I found that Toyota had over tightened the filter housing, I called the service advisor and told them. When I took the truck in for the next service, I left a note for the mechanic that quoted the torque value for the housing and housing drain, in addition to reminding service advisor....problem solved.
 
#53 ·
Not sure if it's federal or just the state around here. But places that sell oil in NH and MA are required to take used motor if they sell motor oil. Only problem with that is - At wallmart they take the used oil at the Returns counter. One I bought a 5 quartjug of USED motor oil. I was furious. I took it back and was able to get a 5 quart jug of new oil. Since that day a few years ago I always open the cap before I leave the store to see if it's fresh or used. In the past 2 years I've found used oil at least twice.
 
#57 ·
Oil has been recycled for decades. In 1966 I worked for a small company that collected oil from service stations and mechanics shops. The waste oil was "recracked" to make fresh oil of different grades, canned (oil came in cans in those days) and resold.

I have never had waste oil refused for recycling at any place that sells oil, or any service station or garage that has a waste oil tank.
 
#69 ·
When I purchased my HL back in 2016, I did ask my dealer service department about that, their response was "No", they just remove the oil filter housing in its entirety to replace the filter and the O-rings (they said that's to save time and the housing gets oil on it anyway...).

Regardless, I always do my own oil, filter and other fluid changes myself from the day after the engine reached its break-in period.
 
#60 ·
I never take my stuff to a dealer for oil. Jiffy Lube or a local mechanic is the way to go for me. They always get it right cause they need the business. The Toyota dealership is just going to fluff it up cause they're going to be working on selling. That's my opinion. Thanks for your posts.. they're fun to read.
 
#64 ·
I started doing my services again after taking my car to various oil change and chain repair shops ljke Sears. Although I would always point out my car had ball joints and tie rod ends with grease fittings and requesting that they grease those, on inspection later I would always find they had not. I took my car to Sears and mechanic said balljoint needed replacing so I got that and an oil change and lube. When I got home several hundred miles later, I found grease fittings dry and new balljoint had grease fitting omitted (hole was in it for one) and it required about a dozen strokes on the grease gun to fill it. It was bone dry! I had to go out and buy the grease fitting as well. Now I do my own services my suspension components last much longer and my blood pressure is way down.
 
#67 ·
I do my own oil changes. Never had any problems removing plastic oil filter cap. On one occasion I did not have time to do an oil change and brought my 2012 Lexus ct200h to Toyota dealership. Next oil change I performed myself and the was not able to remove the oil filter plastic cap using oil filter socket and small wrench. Breaker bar and me hanging on it did not budge the filter cap. I had to use a heavy torque impact gun to remove it. Toyota apologized and at no charge provided a brand new oil filter cap. They said technicians are trained to not overtorque those plastic oil filter caps because caps may develop a crack causing oil leak and engine failure.
 
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