Toyota RAV4 2015 OF Cartridge Drain Plug Stuck

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I changed the oil on our 2015 Toyota RAV4 yesterday. Previously it was only changed at the dealer. The cartridge filter housing has a drain plug on the bottom which, when I attempted to remove it, unscrewed the whole filter housing. This creates a cascade of oil. I put the housing in a vice and attempted to remove the plug but the vice would not hold it at what seemed to be a reasonable pressure, without breaking the housing. The plug remained stuck. So I reinstalled with a new filter and oil. My question now is, how do I get the plug out? Or should I just leave it in place and deal with the oil spillage? Oh, and before you say it, I understand that this is what you get when you let the dealer mess with your car
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I would buy a replacement and move on. It appears RockAuto has one for about $16 or so. You can consider discussing reimbursement with the dealer if their oil change people were the only ones who touched your vehicle.
 
I bet the dealer torqued both the drain cap and the housing to the same torque spec and with the smaller o-ring having a face seal against the cap...it held on much more than the torque of the housing with a radial seal from the larger o-ring. So as the Jayhawks mentioned, you can buy replacement cartridge housings and cap all day long.

If it was my vehicle, this is what I would do. Drain oil. Torque the housing to the correct specified value. Then I would use an impact gun with the lowest setting and Allen hex bit socket and carefully rattle it out by just throttling the trigger in ~1 sec bursts. I would increase the setting until the cap loosens up. The impacting force should work and you may need to tighten the housing a bit more if the impact is turning the housing before the cap and repeat above.

Also be aware that the cap may be damaged from previous oil change so make sure you have a new assembly readily available unless you may have downtime with the vehicle.
 
The stealership must have over-torqued that cap. Wow must at least be 100 ft-lbf. I guess they don't know what snug feels like. Check Amazon, they sell entire new assemblies, some chinesium knock offs and some OEM Toyota. Change the oil yourself from now on. You pick the oil and the filter. Rock Auto has it by Dorman for $16.18 and says parts sourced in Japan.
 
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Originally Posted by Dan55
Leave it in and just remove the housing,that's what I do. Oem only on the housing.


And deal with the mess every oil change? No thanks. I'd spend the money on a new housing and reuse the plug next oil change. It's a dumb design with the plastic nipple that pushes in to drain the housing. The nipple that came with the NAPA Gold filter wouldn't snap in and made a mess so back to OEM filters next OC.
 
Plastic or alloy housing ? I don't bother with the drain plug, it's just an extra step. The horizontaly mounted ones don't have the drain. The plastic ones get on so tight the wings the tool sits on snap off, so we smash the housing to get it off...and we keep one in stock because of that.
 
I leave the filter cartage alone just take the whole thing off and then after one or two times you will learn to do it with out the mess . you will find it much quicker and less mess by the third time! Based on a 10k oil change you should have to do it once a year!
 
I see this quite often. Use a 3/8 impact and impact off the drain plug. No need to replace the housing.
 
I've noticed there is some "consistency" with some dealers service departments...
As a tow truck tech, I ran across a Toyota 4Runner on an accident call where not only was the lugs on the wheels overtorqued (switched off the flat tire so I could pick up the rear on this rare 2WD model), but the battery terminals required me to break out the breaker bar just to disconnect. The owner had all service done at a dealer, and I believed him...
 
Originally Posted by JayhawkRoy
I would buy a replacement and move on. It appears RockAuto has one for about $16 or so.

Originally Posted by AZjeff
I'd spend the money on a new housing and reuse the plug next oil change.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Why waste your time screwing around for a lousy $16 bucks? It makes no sense.
 
Originally Posted by Dan55
Leave it in and just remove the housing,that's what I do. Oem only on the housing.


Originally Posted by oilmutt
I leave the filter cartage alone just take the whole thing off and then after one or two times you will learn to do it with out the mess . you will find it much quicker and less mess by the third time! Based on a 10k oil change you should have to do it once a year!


That's what I do also. I don't think it makes that much of a mess. I've toyed with deliberately gluing the drain plug in place so that I don't need the socket to do the job, just a 3/8 drive.
 
Even though I've never had to remove a Toyota cartridge/housing, feel for your pain. I like to describe the Toyota engine bottom cartridge design as Rube Goldberg-ian. If the dealer responsible for this, like adding insult to injury imo

As far as solution, beyond those given already none to add. If you have an impact wrench, seems worth a shot. If not suppose you could buy one. If latter case, new housing might be less expensive. Or you could just remove housing each time. If mine, ocd would make me want that drain plug to work properly, as designed. Just me.

Good luck and
welcome2.gif
 
The idea behind the design was to avoid oil running out and down your arm like a normal vertical can filter when you unscrew the housing. It's not bad IF the metal plug isn't too tight, the cartridge housing isn't on too tight, and the plastic nipple plugs firmly into the hole to drain the housing. A short piece of clear tubing on the nipple helps too. I've done 5 OCs on this RAV and it's always OK what will it be this time... At least it's easy to get to.

Part of the issue is the housing material is glass filled nylon or similar and when you tighten it or the plug it sticks. There is an aluminum replacement.
 
I had the same problem. I put it in a vice and used a long breaker bar. If given the choice, I would not do it again and leave as is. It's not that messy IMO. I kept breaking off little pieces of the housing in the vice to the point I thought it would leak. Also popped out the anti drain back and had fun trying to figure out how that went back in.
 
Leave it be.
One less o-ring and leak point to deal with.
Probably tightened entire assembly using the 3/8 drive.
No more mess than a regular spin on filter.
Back it off a bit and let it drain slowly.
 
I've only changed the small o-ring in my canister once at 70k miles. It was very tight. If you ignore it, it is the same as a can filter. No worse of an oil spill problem.

Using a vice and a breaker bar invites cracking of the plastic. You better have a Plan B to replace the whole housing in case you crack it.
 
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