Oil filter cartridge questions

[Satter]

Hello all. This is my first time posting in the 5th gen section. I’m usually posting in the third gen section. I have a few questions regarding oil filter cartridges.

Are they as reliable as regular screw on oil filters?

Have you, or known others who, have experienced cracks in the plastic housing?

Have you, or known someone who, experienced catastrophic engine failure due to loss of oil because of filter housing becoming loose and allowing oil to leak out?

Have you, or someone you know of, replaced the plastic housing with a metal one? Is there any improvement?

 

[MaddoxPics]

The inside of the oil filter gets replaced with a paper filter, as well as two of the O rings. So it's basically what you buy at the store, but you put it together when doing the oil change. It's very simple and easy to do.

Yes, if you over torque the oil filter, or use an impact, it's very easy to crack the plastic housing. However I go by the old way. Hand tight, and then about a quarter turn more (you might not be able to even do that much, when it's locked it stays). I have had zero issues with this.

One thing I did have issues with was the plastic locking in hard, which I assume is from hot oil and plastic. I swapped out to a metal housing to stop having to deal with this.

Never heard anyone having engine failure. Have heard a few Toyota dealerships forgetting to put in O rings and stuff and that caused massive leaks. Never it falling out though.

As said above I have the metal housing. Highly recommend it.

In the end this is no different than your typical FRAM filter you buy at Autozone. Just with these you don't toss out the housing, you replace the inner with a new paper filter.

* I've been doing my oil for a good 40,000 miles now.

 

[NW.OH.T4R]

I've only had the 4R for a year and less than 10k miles, so my experience with the plastic oil filter housing and internal filter is European cars, not Toyota. I had no problems with the oil filter housing on my Audi for almost 12 years and 125k miles, which is decent for an Audi but just breaking in a Toyota. At that point, the oil filter housing had warped slightly, causing a leak between the block and the assembly. It was well known that replacing the gasket would be a short term fix, so replacing the full assembly was the only true fix.
I've seen more inline oil filters collapse than the external screw on, so to me that would be the bigger concern.

 

[kenwilliams0803]

No issues, it's just a pain with the way it's designed is all...makes the other 3 cars (JK/ZJ/QX56) that we have look like a cake walk and they also take half the time to do.

140K though, still trouble free.

Then again, all oil changes were done by me, not some 18 year old at a dealer or a Jiffy Lube.

 

[2016 4Runner SR5]

Are they as reliable as regular screw on oil filters? (I WOULD SAY JUST AS RELIABLE AND YOU HAVE THE BENEFIT OF LOOKING AT THE MEDIA AND CHECKING FOR METAL AND OTHER SIGNS OF ENGINE FAILURE)

Have you, or known others who, have experienced cracks in the plastic housing? (IF YOU OVERTIGHTEN IT, YES. OVER TIME I ASSUME IT'LL FAIL EVEN UNDER NORMAL USE)

Have you, or known someone who, experienced catastrophic engine failure due to loss of oil because of filter housing becoming loose and allowing oil to leak out? (NO, AND THIS COULD HAPPEN WITH A REGULAR SPIN ON FILTER JUST AS EASILY IF NOT EASIER)

Have you, or someone you know of, replaced the plastic housing with a metal one? Is there any improvement? (YEP, ON MY 2016 4RUNNER, 2019 HIGHLANDER, AND MY FATHERS 2019 4RUNNER. CHEAP PEACE OF MIND)

 

[ryguytheman]

I have never heard of anyone having issues with the things you mentioned, though I have heard plenty of stories about dealerships or quick lube places screwing up royally.

Changing oil on a 5th gen is a bit more involved than normal, so I like to do it myself to avoid someone else messing something up. Once you've changed the oil on it yourself a couple of times, you will be an expert at the process. There are lots of things that could get messed up. Skid plate bolts, O rings, filter housing... easy enough to do and repeat once you've done it once, but plenty of room for error. Treat these things with an ounce of care, and you won't have a problem. My runner was bought used, and came with only 2 out of the 4 skid plate bolts, presumably due to the negligence of whoever had been changing the oil.

My runner did come with the upgraded metal filter housing (I'm guessing the original was probably damaged by whoever lost the skid bolts), so I can't really speak to any experience with the plastic one. Might be worth it for the peace of mind alone.

 

[Bossman]

Why do we have a cartridge oil filter?

Plastic Oil filter housing replacement

Changing to metal oil canister.

Oil filter housing upgrade question

Stupid dealer, plastic oil filter assembly

 

[Whippersnapper02]

They housing works just fine. People that have lower plastic cracking issues are probably over tightening them. I went with an aluminum housing just for sh*ts and giggles. I wheel so my thinking is a having the "stronger" housing.

 

[flyrv9]

Changing oil in the 4Runner, with the cartridge filter, is a bit more involved and takes a little more care to get right than a spin on filter. And, spin on filters have been used on all sorts of things for years with no ill effects. So why didn't Toyota just use a spin on filter? My guess is so that they can control the media in the filter element. It's much easier to buy OEM Toyota parts (filter element, O-rings, drain plug washer, etc. than to source all that stuff aftermarket.

There are kits out there to relocate the filter canister; or to convert to a screw on filter. I think there are threads here on both. If I drove enough to make it worth it; I might consider one of those options - not sure if either affects the warranty though. Even being over 70, I still do my own oil changes - so it's not that big a deal for me. I'd never go to a quick lube place though. I worked with a guy that was a manager at one. He had some horror stories about the damage a low paid oil tech can do! I'll go to a mechanic when I get too old to do it anymore!

 

[Satter]

How are Toyota OEM filters compared to other brands? According to Scotty Kilmer they’re not that great.

 

[Whippersnapper02]

How are Toyota OEM filters compared to other brands? According to Scotty Kilmer they’re not that great.

They work just fine.

 

[KSJ088]

Had this style on 2012 FJ never ab issue, just takes a little longer having to remove skid plate, drain & remove vs the 08 FJ & 2015 Tacoma that had spin on on top of the engine.

 

[patkelly4370]

The last 4 wheeled vehicle I owned that had a cartridge/canister oil filter was an all original 1956 Ford F100 with the 223 inline six.
All my motorcycles have had cartridges.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Ogre75]

I've never had a problem with mine, but still think it's a shit design in terms of preventative maintenance. Wish it would have been a horizontal spin on filter, even better if mounted up high where it could be changed under the hood.

 

[The Waco Kid]

Buy a quality filter wrench and you'll never have an issue as long as you don't over tighten.

Toyota, Lexus, Scion 64mm Oil Filter Wrench For 2.0L - 5.7L Engines - Motivx Tools

I plan on picking up one of these as well to drain oil into the pan more easily. Both my wife's new RX and the 4runner have cartridge housings, and this should keep things cleaner.

Oil Filter Drain Tool for Toyota, Lexus, Scion 2.0L - 5.7L Engines - Motivx Tools

 

[Sky]

Haven't seen mentioned the many dealerships that put the wrong too short element in- result is NO filtering at all. Oil flows ok just not through the element...