'21 Tacoma 2nd oil change questions

lrb24

New Member
Greetings everyone! I have a 21 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4x4 sport. Let me preface this by saying this is the first Toyota I've owned with the rest being Hondas. I've heard that when changing the filter, it is better if the cap housing is made of metal. Could someone please link the correct part for the V-6 engine, since I cannot post a link?

In addition, what oil filter and oil brand is recommended for its next oil change?
Sorry I can't post directly to the links, I'm new here. Any links to ebay or similar would be great.

Thanks for your help in advance. I appreciate it!
 
The aluminum cap that I bought is a dorman part number 917-016 or 917-016cd. The only difference is the cd comes mounted in a card to hang for display and the other one comes in a box. I know Advance Auto and Auto Zone has them and you can also get them from Amazon. Some prefer stock OEM oil filters but I use either Purolator Boss or Amsoil oil filters. As far as oil, the factory oil is a version of mobil1, I use either Pennzoil or Amsoil, however pretty much any me brand oil with an SN or SP rating will do you just fine. I'm not convinced the 1 year 10k mile oil changes that Toyota recommends is the way to go, I change mine at 6 months, 5/6k miles.
 
The aluminum cap that I bought is a dorman part number 917-016 or 917-016cd. The only difference is the cd comes mounted in a card to hang for display and the other one comes in a box. I know Advance Auto and Auto Zone has them and you can also get them from Amazon. Some prefer stock OEM oil filters but I use either Purolator Boss or Amsoil oil filters. As far as oil, the factory oil is a version of mobil1, I use either Pennzoil or Amsoil, however pretty much any me brand oil with an SN or SP rating will do you just fine. I'm not convinced the 1 year 10k mile oil changes that Toyota recommends is the way to go, I change mine at 6 months, 5/6k miles.

Thanks, TacoTruck2019, I'm not convinced of a 10k oil change either. It seemed like my brakes were dragging for the last 3,000 miles before I had it changed at the dealership! They asked if I wanted the additive put in; I said yes because of how rough it felt. Any idea of what the additive actually is? It was only 17.95 lol.
 
My old 4.7 tundra was treated with the energy release additive when it was fairly new. That engine ran just as well at 300k miles as it did new. It was just a nice all around motor, but had a bad habit of drinking mass quantities of fuel. Only other additive was seafoam i added to the fuel system and clean the carbon from the valves, and piston tops.
 
I really have no idea what additive they put in, there is one that is named energy release but don't know if that's what they used. The problem with a lot of the friction reducing additives is they contain a lot of chlorine and too much chlorine can cause corrosion issues. Now I'm not saying that the additive don't or will not work, just be careful.
 
Hi Irb, My 2017 Taco is also the first Toyota I've owned and also came from mostly Hondas. Biggest difference I noticed right away is fuel mileage. I only get 17mpg on average. The off-road knobby tires probably don't help. Hopefully your '21 gets better?
 
I ordered an mx2320 motivx oil housing tool. After receiving the tool, looking at it, the tool was different than in the pics. I called motivx to question it if the correct one. They told me its redesigned because their older ones were cracking the plastic housing, and tearing off the housing ears causing them to leak. I was further informed the new design has precision manufactured flutes that fit the cup much tighter than their old one. Said it shouldn't cause any leaks, or rounded edges of housing flutes. At any rate they did want feed back on the new tool if any issues.
 
I ordered an mx2320 motivx oil housing tool. After receiving the tool, looking at it, the tool was different than in the pics. I called motivx to question it if the correct one. They told me its redesigned because their older ones were cracking the plastic housing, and tearing off the housing ears causing them to leak. I was further informed the new design has precision manufactured flutes that fit the cup much tighter than their old one. Said it shouldn't cause any leaks, or rounded edges of housing flutes. At any rate they did want feed back on the new tool if any issues.
I've had my motivx for a couple of years so I would assume it's the old design. I've never noticed any issues other than I have to be careful to get it lined up right so it fully engages the filter canister. It will grab the canister without being fully seated, probably enough that you could twist off the canister. That's probably where the damage is coming from. On mine there is only one position that it fully seats and engages the filter canister.
 
I've had my motivx for a couple of years so I would assume it's the old design. I've never noticed any issues other than I have to be careful to get it lined up right so it fully engages the filter canister. It will grab the canister without being fully seated, probably enough that you could twist off the canister. That's probably where the damage is coming from. On mine there is only one position that it fully seats and engages the filter canister.
I question them about the older design thinking it was better myself. They told me they supply toyota dealers these tools, and the old design was tearing up canisters to the point many leaked. So far since the new ones have been out they haven't received any complaints. I thought the canisters being a composite plastic this new tool would eventually round off the fluted edges. I was told the new tool fits much tighter being precision built....we will see.
As far the use of a metal canister for the filter i was recommended not to use one saying they have a nasty habit of the threads seizing making the canister a real pita to loosen.
 
I question them about the older design thinking it was better myself. They told me they supply toyota dealers these tools, and the old design was tearing up canisters to the point many leaked. So far since the new ones have been out they haven't received any complaints. I thought the canisters being a composite plastic this new tool would eventually round off the fluted edges. I was told the new tool fits much tighter being precision built....we will see.
As far the use of a metal canister for the filter i was recommended not to use one saying they have a nasty habit of the threads seizing making the canister a real pita to loosen.
This is just a personal view but I think any problems with the metal canisters are user caused. I think people think because it's a metal canister they can or should tighten it down tighter to avoid any possible leaking. They don't understand that the sealing surface is the o ring on the side, it's a side of the canister to side of housing seal. It only needs to be tight enough not to back off. I've got a new aluminum caster for mine which I'm gonna install next oil change, I'll keep my fiber one as a backup should I decide I don't like the aluminum one.
 
Well it was a real nice day here over 60 degrees, but still winter. I had 9,400 miles since my last oil change which was just short of a year ago. I was chomping at the bit to try my new motivx oil filter housing tool. Well let me say it worked great. This tool is much more snug over the filter housing flutes. Whoever cranked the housing back on the last oil change didn't use a torque wrench. I could loosen the lug nuts on a tire far easier. I had to use a 4 ft breaker bar to break it loose. That redesigned motivx tool performed better than i ever gave it credit for, and it didn't even score any of the flutes.
Now as far as the oil, it was like a dark amber maple syrup color. I cut open the paper cartridge to look for any small metal flakes...nothing just a dirty filter....none in the oil either. Imo, if all these v6 3.5 engines are the same as this, theres no worry that i can see doing 1 year, or 10k mile oil changes. The only thing i did notice is this v6 produces darker oil than my v8 tundra did, and that had far more miles on an oil change. Maybe the larger old school can type filters kept the oil cleaner looking idk.
 
I don't know but did the V8 tundra have any kind of direct injection. One of the issues with direct injection is fuel dilution in the oil. The Tacoma has a combo of port and direct injection so really don't know how that affects the oil in our v6's.
 
I don't know but did the V8 tundra have any kind of direct injection. One of the issues with direct injection is fuel dilution in the oil. The Tacoma has a combo of port and direct injection so really don't know how that affects the oil in our v6's.
I can tell you my 4.7 v8 didn't. As far as the 3.5 and fuel dilution with the oil....i saw nothing unusual with the oil change done in mine. That 4.7 was a great engine. i can only hope this 3.5 is the same.
 
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