Found something very disturbing..when I made my own Oil Filter change on my S80..I just purchased this car a couple of months ago..and I checked the fluids in it and everything looked good including the Oil..however, I discovered that whoever, was changing the Oil was NOT changing the OIL Filter..and I think I know why....

When changing the Oil Filter you have to take off the Splash pan cover under the engine..to get access to the Oil Filter..which takes a lot of extra time that I believe the average mechanic doesn't want to do..so, they change the Oil OK..but leave the Old Oil Filter on..and if your not there to see that it was really changed..your probably driving around with a completely curled up and clogged up Oil filter that probably hasn't been changed possibly ever since you owned the car..if your mechanic isn't taking the time to change it..but charging you for one each time.

Luckily I am able to change my Oil myself and glad I do and also glad I found this problem before it caused a BIG problem for the engine.

My Oil Filter was clogged up so bad that it was litteraly..all curled up tight with sludge and the oil was just passing on by without being filtered.

I certainly hope the next time you have your Oil changed that you take the time to WATCH your mechanic actually take off the Splash Pan and change the OIL FILTER..and NOT just say he did...Good Luck and Happy Motoring !!!

 

Thanks for the helpful info.

Even if they change the filter, the majority of mechanics I've seen didn't bother coating the O-ring with clean oil. This may not be an absolute necessity but I do this anyway.

Also, for Volvos I would stick to the OEM filters.


JPN

 

I always change the filters.
Always coat the o-rings as well.

 

My previous car was a 1988 Toyota Supra. It had 100k kms on the odometer, and a full Toyota service history.
Now, the 7MGTE engine in a 1988 Supra is a pretty tight fit, to access the oil filter, you have to come up from underneath, behind the crossmember, past the steering shaft (RHD), between the exhaust pipe and engine mount, then forward to teh oil filter, which sits partially over the crossmember. You can't get a regular strap filter spanner on there, and teh only way you can do it is with a long extension and one of those clamp type filter sockets, and even then it's tricky. And when you crak the seal, you get an oil shower, you can't just unscrew the filter and whiz it out, it has to be snaked out.
So anyway, imagine my surprise when I changed the filter on this car, to be greeted with a filter with amanufacturingdate of 1998, and appropriate years of built up crud on it......I changed the oil and filter late 2006......last "service", including oil and filter change, was at the Toyota dealership I bought the car from.
I won't mention that this was a Toyota Certified Used Vehicle, and that the steering rack bushes had gone, allowing over 30mm of lateral travel of the steering rack across the car, or my headgasket swap after a 3 hour drive home from picking the car up.......did you know replacing a headgasket on a 7MGTE is about 24 hours in labour?
Needless to say, I think Toyotas are overrated.

Regards, Andrew.

 

Your story reminds me of a '93 Ford F-350, which isa PITA to work on. I replaced the fuel filter in 2006, and the truck had the original fuel filter.

I've never worked on 7MGTE, but many Toyotas I've seen seemed to have well-laid out design and seemed technician-friendly but I guess I was wrong.


EDIT: I wonder if the problem was addressed & corrected for the last-production Supra.


JPN

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/E894A946689244FDB9CCC0498BACB6F6.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6892/9DCB772A6788468C835E4FC6AC27240B.jpg[/IMG]

 

On my 850's and my V70 I change my own oil and I never take the splash pan off to get to the filter. I just jack the car up and the filter is right there on the passenger side in the front not far behind the front bumper outside of the splash pan. I did have to take the splash pan off on my 85 Diesel, but that was some time ago.

 

This might give you an idea:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...a/Supra006.jpg
The oil filter was approximately under the compressor inlet, between crossmember and turbo.
I think this particular model Supra was not originally designed as a turbocharged car, then Toyota decided to whack a snail on the venerable 7M, and that's what you got. They were relatively low volume for Toyota as well.
There were plenty of "why?" headscratching moments under that hood. I can't fault teh car design, or the engine, but the two together were just a pain.

Regards, Andrew.

 

good info, thanks for letting everyone know. I will double check and see if this is done on my Volvo. Can you assume that if the dealer does the oil change the oil filter will be changed?

 

NOT necessarily.....you'd think so though !!!

 

Those Supra Twin Turbo's are really COLLECTOR cars now..check out on EBAYMOTORS.com