Just bought 2018 Rav4 XLE. Changed oil per several you tubes. All said not to over torque past 22ftlb.
Originally cap was VERY hard to get off with 18 inch bar on the special cap removal tool.
Anyway put seals on per YTs oiling them first and all seem fine.
Started and funny noise, cut off after about 5-10 sec, repeat same.
Got out and probably all oil I put in was on driveway????.
Does the cap need to be tightened like they said or a bunch more.
Or, do you simply need to replace cap every time?
Thank you,
Joseph Crenshaw
Hi Joseph. There are a few possibilities for the leak. As MMJ said, it could be the oil pan drain bolt. I am assuming that you removed this bolt to drain the oil from the pan. If you didn't, and only drained the filter, you would have way overfilled with oil and could have blown a seal. When you reinstalled the oil pan drain bolt, you should have removed the old crush washer, if one was there, then put on a new crush washer and torqued to 30 ft/lb., making sure it was not cross threaded.
The end cap on the oil filter housing requires a bit of force to remove but usually a long handled ratchet wrench is enough. Since you are under the car looking up, you might get confused and be turning it the wrong way, which could crack the cap or the housing. When reinstalling the cap, torque no more than 18 ft/lb.. My Avalon has a metal cap and I just spin it on by hand until the cap reaches the housing and cannot spin further, metal on metal. This is different than spin on oil filters where you are compressing a rubber gasket. I don't ever remove the drain in the cap, it is messier not to but it is one less thing to go wrong. Make sure you properly installed the o-rings in the cap.
With the end cap off, examine it and the housing for cracks. If all looks good, start from scratch and try refilling the oil. With the car on Jack stands, in park and parking brake on, have someone start the car while you look for leaks. Shut off immediately if oil is spewing out.
Good luck.
I don't know what you mean by special cap. Are you talking about the oil pan drain plug? Sounds like it was cross-threaded last time. Quick-lube shop? In that case it will need repair.
@imperator I believe the engine has a cartridge oil filter and he is talking about the cap that you have to remove to take out the old cartridge and then screw back on with the new cartridge. The cap has a drain plug with an o-ring and the cap itself has an o-ring to seal in the housing. Either something is cracked or one or both of the o-rings were installed incorrectly. I hand tighten the cap when doing this on my Avalon.