First Oil Change....Yikes!

After over a year of ownership and 6,000 miles of a 2015 SR5, it was time to do an oil change. The background is I purchased it from Carmax. It was in the Philadelphia area originally and I had it transported to my local dealer. They did the previous oil change in PA.
Well, I've been doing my wife's Lexus oil changes the past few years, so figured I was trained.
I got to changing the filter (metal) and discovered quite a mess inside. The internals were in three pieces and no sign of a spring. That's when I discovered the sorted history of the plastic/ metal housing debate here. I ordered a plastic housing, p/n 15650-38020, which I hope is correct. It was a crap shoot determining that part number online. I'm hoping all will be better after all this drama. It went back together as expected, I'll just do the next change based on color of the oil. Most likely 3k miles to be proactive.
Since the filter housing was converted to metal via a Made in China housing, I'm guessing the previous owner did that and was probably a member of our community.
An aside to all this is my lack of trust in the Carmax service department. Oil change was done with the filter without a spring and the internals not in place, so filter was squashed. At least the filter was up against the inlet, so some filtration.
It's always an adventure buying a used car, but it's nice to have a forum to learn from.

 

Unless you are solely using your vehicle off road, for excessive hill climbing or heavy towing, 3k oil changes are an overkill.
5k to 10 k and you will be fine. And OEM plastic housings are perfect. I have not had mine crack or leak in almost 200k. Hand tight only.

 

Looks like he puts 6000 a year. I personally would do 3k oil changes with so little driving. Would only be 2 times a year. Otherwise i agree, 6-7k is fine.

 

I second Ripper. I would personally do the oil changed every 6 months, regardless of mileage

 

good thing you discovered that mess and got it straightened out

 

Yeah, 3K is just an estimate about recovering from dubious filtration the last 6K. Oil looked pretty dark during the change, so I'll spend a little extra if I think there's a need to based on visual carbon content and try to do a reset on oil quality and then back to regular intervals. Plus, I have no idea what brand of oil Carmax used for the last change.
Just guessing it wasn't the most expensive choice.
I'm not big on dealer decals on my vehicles, but out of humor I removed the X off Carmax, so I bought mine from Carma

 

10k any brand of synthetic the engine will go 700k miles

 

How did this turn into an oil change interval thread on the 2nd post? This should have been a full-on metal vs plastic filter housing discussion by now!

 

I'm lucky to put 3k miles on mine in a year. There's no way I'll change mine at 6 months / 1500 miles. I do it once a year.

 

Can’t anybody spare an insult for the idiot that threw loose parts in a metal filter housing, threw out a spring, then threw a filter on top of the whole mess, then called it a day?

Ok, I’ll do it. @BacqueDraught what a bunch of baffons. Both the previous owner, and the Carmax dolts that didn’t catch this problem. Good call on replacing the pot metal china housing with a nicely engineered OE plastic housing (probably still from china, but still).

 

With only 6000 miles in a year, once a year is all that is needed. The oil will not break down down in 12 months.
6 months would be throwing money I believe.

 

Once a year is fine for low mileage unless it's mostly short trips, that's my schedule since mine is used under that number of miles but usually each time I drive longer than 20 minutes.

 

Damn, thats crazy low milage. Hope insurance compensates you well.

I think in this particular persons case he's dealing with unknown prior maintenance so 2 oil changes a year will give him better insight to how his engine is doing after the filter catastrophe.

This is awesome! So if i do 10k oil changes you will personally guarantee my 4R engine will go 700k. Where do i sign up!

 

Guaranteed

 

There's no excuse for such a pitiful attempt at an oil change. Not too surprising, though, considering Carmax is in business to move as many vehicles as possible in the shortest time they can. Your misfortune is a lesson for future Carmax customers.

 

Exactly why I posted. While the buying experience at Carmax was fine, the technicians they employ are suspect. This oil change by them and the license plate mounting by them were very disappointing. The front plate needed a mount, they couldn't even center it correctly. I spent a good 15 minutes watching them trying to mount the plates for lack of the correct screws.

Caveat Emptor
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys
On the plus side, I purchased a genuine Toyota plastic filter cap on ebay for $40

 

I thought the metal filter housing was a Lexus part, I figured I’d get at least 5 more horse power from it.

 

I had to replace the metal housing with factory plastic. It was in pieces and filter was to short. Going with a Baxter spin on adapter eventually. I change my oil every 10k with synthetic. 4runners come with engine oil cooler from factory and with 6.6 qts, synthetic lasts without cooling and twice as long with. I would change it once a year need it or not. Changing antifreeze and transmission religiously is probably most important. I change everything to synthetic, brakes, steering, drive train. After you do that you can change everything every 100k, transmission and coolant every 60-75k and forget it. Just buy gas.

 

You'd be surprised how much fuel can collect in the oil with those driving habits

 

How amazing is that? Knowing that I put about 3k miles a year on my 4R, you've ascertained exactly how I put those miles on, and know all about my "driving habits". I'm impressed.

 

Who shit in your cornflakes this morning? Prove me wrong with an oil analysis. I coulda swore I wasn't on Reddit, strange

 

You. This evening, actually.

 

It will be once a year for me after the next oil change. I probably won't do 10k this year. I'm getting a new skid plate to simplify.
Not much more than a Baxter spin oil filter on adapter.

 

All right boys, back to me. It's all back together now with OEM plastic housing and serenity of knowing I restored order in that department.
Reinstalling the skid plate introduced another issue that the Carmax grease monkeys gifted me with. The bolts they used to to mount were M8X30mm and seemed a little long. What are the actual bolts length? The front 2 nuts in the mount points didn't have much meat in the threads, so the bolts barely secure. It's good enough for now, but I'm definitely going to fix that. No evidence of any anti seize used on any of them to preserve them.
I'm thinking I'll just need to replace the mounting plate that has the front two mounting nuts unless there's advice of something better?

 

Sorry to have derailed your thread. If you have the stock skid and aren't in a big rush to get this measurement, I can check those bolts out when I get home this afternoon.I replaced my oem skid with a Talons version, which used new bolts, and I tossed the stock bolts into the parts box.

Edit: found this online:


And this:



Others say the length is 25mm. Regardless, the ones you have are definitely too long.

 

There's a coated M8x1.25, w/diff drop, exhaust bolt with a 13mm head that that's tighter on weak or stripped threads or tap to next size SAE, use antiseize and no impacts. If the hinge hooks are in place, I only use back 4 bolts anyway and let front swing down for factory skid.

 

Yeah, it was mounted with just the 4 bolts and swung down by the front hooks. Carmax did replace the skid plate with a new one. Kind of inconsistent that they put oil filter in and left out the spring and replaced the skid and rear shocks.

 

Lol changing oil every 3k miles

Are yall still living in the 50s?

 

There are many reasons to change your oil every 3-5k. One for me is, when I am changing my oil it means I am not doing some other random chore I don't enjoy doing. Working on the car is my happy place.

 

Oil doesn't degrade just sitting in the engine...