Tundra / Sequoia Oil Change
I previously owned a 2007 Tundra but never had the nerve to do the filter change. I currently own a 2010 Sequoia. This afternoon I did the oil change thing. Here are my comments.
1. If you haven't tried it, you can do it (unless you are one of those people who worry about getting cancer because used motor oil touched your skin).
2. The hardest part was getting the skid plate back on. The cover hangs in the front on two (sideways) hooks. On the Sequoia, the skid plate front bumper (plastic) screws to the skid plate (the three "yellow" screws). These three screws don't hold the skid plate on ... they just secure the bottom of the bumper to the skid plate). I recommend that you take the (red) screw farthest to the rear (center) out last. When it comes out, the back of the skid plate will come down. The cover is really not all that heavy. You can hold it up with one hand ... but it would hurt if it whacked you in the head. Like I said, getting the two front hooks back up into their holes at the same time is not easy. It might help to make a mark on the skid plate and the frame prior to removal to help line things up when trying to get the hooks re-engaged.
3. The messiest part was draining the filter before removing the filter cap. I had a filter drain tool ... which I put a piece of tubing on ... which really did not help. I probably did not push hard enough on the drain tool (i.e., jam it into the hole with everything you've got ... it is probably supposed to snap into the hole). In my case the oil ran through the tool, around the tool, and down my arm. I switched hands right before the oil got to my waterproof, solar powered, self-setting Casio watch.
4. When I started removing the filter drain plug, the whole filter cap turned. Since I didn't know if that was good thing or bad thing, I managed to get a strap filter removal tool on the filter cap to prevent if from moving while removing the filter drain plug (not easy). After the experience in step 3 above, I'm not sure it would not have been better to just take the filter cap off and let all the oil fall into the oil drain pan.
5. Before I started, I was somewhat confused about where the O-rings were and went. It turned out that this was not really much of an issue. The drain plug O-ring fits into an obvious groove around the outside of the hole where the plug goes. I popped it out, checked it, cleaned the O-ring and the groove, popped the O-ring back in, and put the plug back in. The larger O-ring for the filter cover also fits into a groove. It will probably still be in the proper location after you get the cover off so you will know were it belongs. The groove is about 1/2" up the outside of the cover from what looks like a small flange. The O-ring (in its groove) slides into the smooth inner bore of the filter chamber as the cover is screwed into position. By the way, be aware that the filter cover is a touch plastic material. Cross threading the plug or cover is a real concern so be sure you have the threads lined up right. Re-use of the O-rings is probably just fine if you inspect them to ensure they are not damaged. I suspect that a used Toyota O-ring is better than a new FRAM O-ring.
6. The filter element slides onto a perforated tube on the filter cover. When I took out the original Toyota filter element, it was somewhat distorted. I replaced it with a new FRAM element from Walmart, but have ordered a package of ten Toyota elements from TrdParts4U.com ($4.80 each ... plus shipping).
7. It looks like my filter cover was probably originally installed using the 3/8" socket wrench via the filter drain plug ... which explains why the cover started to come off when I tried to remove the plug. Tightening the plug is required to prevent leaks (compresses the small O-ring). Tightening the filter cover is not required to prevent leaks (the large O-ring slides up inside a smooth cylinder), but tightening is required to keep the cover from unscrewing itself and coming off.
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