2016 Scion TC, 2AR-Fe, 2.5L, How much oil?

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Feb 6, 2020
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390
Location
Charlotte, NC
My daughter's boyfriend's vehicle. He came over today and I was teaching him how to change the oil. He had never done so before. He is 18 or 19 years old.
My question: How much oil does it hold? The owner's manual and everywhere he looked online said 4.6 Qt with filter change. I put in 4.5 Qt and after running it and letting it sit for a while, it was about 1/2 way between the two dots on the dipstick. I would think that shows at least a half a quart low.
~
He always had the oil changed at an NTB. It has been 5k since the last change, about 1 year. About 70k on vehicle.
The drain plug seemed to be about the correct tightness. The filter was a Napa Gold (to my surprise). The oil way over full. It was over on the dipstick and I'm guessing by how much was in my drain pan was at least a quart over full. It has a cartridge style oil filter. It was beyond tight. I fought with it with all the tools I could find, and even made a trip to work for more options. The housing finally cracked, and oil started leaking out. I tried an impact on the filter wrench, and it broke the hex part off the end of my wrench. (It was spot welded on). We made a trip to AAP and brought a Dorman (not my first choice, but limited options on a Saturday afternoon) metal filter housing and a new wrench where the hex is fully welded on. I put my impact on the new wrench and finally got the old filter housing off. I swapped the bypass spring out of the OEM housing into the new Doman unit, and we were finally able to get him done.
 
Has the 2.5L 2AR-FE? would not have guessed, but 30 seconds on google seems to indicate so (and you probably read it off the hood).

Anyhow. In the 2AR-FE that I had, I just dumped 5 quarts in every time (I always changed the oil filter). Right at full mark, maybe a hair over, but nothing I worried about.

Some people are stupid and should not be allowed near tools, let alone cars. That housing only needs to be just a hair more than finger tight. Replace the o-ring every time, and it'll be fine. 232kmiles and original housing, and that was after the dealership did the first 6 oil changes (I did... I dunno, 30 after that?).

Good luck. Mine was not an oil burner, although it did use a bit when I had 10W30 Pennzoil Platinum in it. Supertech 5W30 synth? it was fine on that, no usage.
 
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