oil leak

ROLAND1955

ROLAND1955

New member
Hello all, I'm a little irritated right now... just pulled my wife's 2010 4 Runner out of the garage and noticed a fair amount of oil on the floor. Last week we reached 75K miles ( not bad for a 2010 model ) and I took it to a large national chain tire store where they also do things like tune ups, oil changes etc... I've had my oil changed there many times... so I took it in for an oil and filter change ( I supplied my own oil and filter ). Guy at the desk told me they were a little backed up so it might be 2 hours before it was done.. no problem.. 2 hours goes by, then 3 and finally just before 4 hours passed the guy at the desk came over and told me my oil filter assembly ( plastic cannister ) that the oil filter itself fits in, had a pretty bad crack in it. He told me his tech denied breaking it but He believed the tech did do it.. no problem, they were sending someone to a local auto parts store to get another oil filter sub assembly.. when it was done they told me I actually had a better part in there now as what was in there was plastic and the new one is metal.. also, because of the inconvenience, no charge at all... that was last week, and today I notice the oil on the garage floor. Not going back to the tire store for this, going to go to a friend of mine's body shop.. they have a lift and they can put it up and see what's what.. how the heck can a simple oil and filter change lead to this crap... this is just carelessness... and then to top it off, when my wife see's the oil on the floor she asks ( and I kid you not ) Is my car supposed to leak oil? oh my god.. I did not lose my temper but I looked at her and said really, you asked me if your car is supposed to lose oil? and then it was on.. btw, my tv dinner I fixed myself was pretty good. lol.
 
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To be fair, the oil change in these things is not the easiest in the world and the canister is a pain, so it's possible an o-ring was missed or the canister drain piece wasn't tight.
 
I have the metal parts-store canister replacement, and it came with two metal posts inside. I had to switch the short one for the long one.

In any case, the oil needs to be drained, and the filter assembly needs to be removed and inspected. The wrong perforated post inside wouldn’t make it leak though, that would be the oring on the bottom, or the oring on the side being installed in the wrong spot. The box the filter comes in is very clear about this.

Hopefully it’s nothing more than that.
 
The crush washer on the drainplug may not have been replaced, and of course as others have mentioned there are two o-rings that could be to blame. The leak will be pretty easy to spot if you're handy enough to drop the skid and have a looksie.
 
My money is on o-ring in wrong spot or crush washer not installed, or even new crush washer placed on old crush washer.

I do all of my own oil changes and those are the two things that would be not idiot proof.

Don't know about the tube in the canister swap, I do know it's a PITA to get out though.

Hope it's an easy fix for ya!
 
Could be just sloppy work - they got oil on the skid plates / frame and it’s working it’s way down and out now. Or the o ring. I’d keep a close eye on the oil level... last thing you want is a no oil condition.
 
Oil on the skid and frame was probably due to not knowing what the small white plastic thing is for.

We have a new Toyota, not a 4Runner and it's due for its first free oil change by a dealer. Free is not free, there are way too many posts like this.

I did my own when my wife was gone. Did not want to get flamed at home too.
 
It could also be the replacement housing from the parts store, one member had issue with the Dorman and had leaks from it, he suspected it was the flash in the cast and ended up going to factory unit.

It also could be the O-ring as stated above. Since you are looking at this over at your friend's, might as well double check the center perforated tube in the replacement to see if it's the correct length, I believe it came with 3 different length.

The perforated tube itself would not have anything to do with leaks, it simply provides structure to the element.
 
WNY PAT said:
Could be just sloppy work - they got oil on the skid plates / frame and it’s working it’s way down and out now. Or the o ring. I’d keep a close eye on the oil level... last thing you want is a no oil condition.
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ding ding ding...we have a winner. Well I took the 4 runner to my buddy's body shop today and he put it up on a lift.. said there was oil everywhere.. so he power washed the area and said he couldn't find any leaks.. but he did say there was about a quart of oil sitting up on the skid plates and he believed that oil was what I was seeing on the garage floor. He sprayed off as much as he could get to and told me to keep an eye on it... hopefully that's all there is to it but it's still aggravating that someone had that much oil spill out and didn't even attempt to clean it up.. appreciate the comments guys.. you all have a nice holiday weekend.
 
So they had your car for over 4 hours, cracked your oil filter housing, put an aftermarket part back on, made a huge mess, and put your car at risk of a low oil condition?

Sounds about right. :wtf:

DIY to avoid this, or at least go to the dealer. (plenty of stories re: their screw ups too) unfortunately
 
Glad you figured it out, but I got say a quart of oil on the skid plates would be damn near impossible unless they ran it with the cracked housing or improper oring or something. Even if they didn't use the little plastic thingy, filter only hold about half a quart.
 
Fcbuff said:
So they had your car for over 4 hours, cracked your oil filter housing, put an aftermarket part back on, made a huge mess, and put your car at risk of a low oil condition?

Sounds about right. :wtf:

DIY to avoid this, or at least go to the dealer. (plenty of stories re: their screw ups too) unfortunately
Click to expand...


Exactly
 
Jivewalker said:
Glad you figured it out, but I got say a quart of oil on the skid plates would be damn near impossible unless they ran it with the cracked housing or improper oring or something. Even if they didn't use the little plastic thingy, filter only hold about half a quart.
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When I left the tire shop I knew they had " lost " some oil I went in there with 2 five quart jugs of mobil 1 ep oil.. One of the jugs was brand new and full, the other was partially full. When I got in the truck to drive home I looked at the left over jug. I knew how many quarts it would take with a filter change, and by seeing what was left in the one jug, I knew they had used about 1 quart more than they should have. I suspect most of that is what was on the skid plate, the rest probably on the floor. I won't be going back there, probably will be going back to the dealership from now on.. Hate to say that but at least if something get's broken or is needed, they'll have the part on hand... a little off topic here but my 36 year old son takes his vehicles to one of these places where you get your oil changed in like 10 minutes or so.. I actually thought about going there but now I'm so glad I didn't. First of all when I drove up, it looked like all the employees were just kids.. yes I know it's just an oil change, master mechanic not required... but I'm pretty picky about who touches my vehicles so that was the first strike. Secondly, what if this had happened at one of these shops.. think they would have told me about it... guessing probably not.. I would have left and been driving the down the road and hopefully my oil light would come on before the engine seized up.. just not worth the risk.
 
Glad it wasn’t anything too serious. I agree, if you’re not going to change the oil yourself, I think the dealer is the best bet. They have a reputation to worry about and if you sell your truck or trade it in, it is always reassuring to see the oil changes documented at a dealer. Too bad it is such a PITA to change the oil in these. A lot of vehicles with the canister filter are accessible from the top... open the hood and there it is. Then you just have to pull the drain plug below, drain it all, pop the new filter in, new crush washer and reinstall the drain plug and you’re done. Oh well, at least it’s only every 7,500 - 10,000 miles or so.
 
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