Urgent, Oil 1/4" above full mark leaving for 8000 mile trip tomorrow

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jonharis said:
The math in this thread is killing me.
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Jon, you made me laugh out loud. 04UZJ100, if I were you (notice I didn't say "If it were me") I'd make the Toyota dealer redo the oil change. You're going to be on the road for 672 hours, what's another two hours to drive to the dealer and back.

Jon, that's 4 x 7 x 24 = 672.
 
It's easy. I have two Toyotas that are going to need timing belts and water pumps soon. My 4runner and cruiser will be taken to Bennett Toyota in PA who I have nothing but praise for.

2 hours makes a difference when we're trying to leave by 9am for Indianapolis.

That's just under 720 minutes from now.
 
This is so crazy to me. In your original post you said "I went back and got the entire service for free"
You mean you didn't make them fix it right away? You already went back to complain, but didn't insist on a fix?
They didn't attempt to remedy the situation?
You thought it was better to drive an hour home and ask a group of people you never met?
I'm confused??? Is this for real?
 
paflytyer said:
This is so crazy to me. In your original post you said "I went back and got the entire service for free"
You mean you didn't make them fix it right away? You already went back to complain, but didn't insist on a fix?
They didn't attempt to remedy the situation?
You thought it was better to drive an hour home and ask a group of people you never met?
I'm confused??? Is this for real?
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Relax. Due to just being shut off the oil only showed 1mm above the full mark.
 
I wonder if 100 series owners are the most OCD out of all the other generation of Land Cruiser owners. I don't look in the other forums too often, but man this place has been getting silly.
 
Trunk Monkey said:
Can we at least stay consistent with SAE or metric? :flipoff2:
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Have no idea what the SAE equivalent of 1mm was and I'm trying to spice things up.

no-pistons said:
I wonder if 100 series owners are the most OCD out of all the other generation of Land Cruiser owners. I don't look in the other forums too often, but man this place has been getting silly.
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I'd rather be safe than sorry.
 
04UZJ100 said:
Relax. Due to just being shut off the oil only showed 1mm above the full mark.
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And they gave you a free service for that? Hmmm?
I grew up in NY, been all over New Jersey, Where could you possibly live that there are no Toyota or Lexus Dealerships in under an hours drive? :confused:

I'm the dummy for even offering advice. You should just take it to American Tire and have them drain 1mm or 2qts or 1/4" of precious M1 oil that you refuse to change or drain.

Last one from me..... what were you hoping to get as an answer? You shot every piece of advice down that you were given. If I would have said "Take that thing right down to American Tire and let them fix you up".... what would you have said? :flipoff2:
 
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Trunk Monkey said:
Let's get back to tech and leave personal jabs at home.
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Sorry Trunk, you're right.
Back to Tech. Here's another idea....

You could get a drain pan from Walmart. I use one like this http://www.amazon.com/Blitz-11838-Oil-Drain-Pan/dp/B000AMGYNA?tag=ihco-20 It's like $6 at Walmart

Crawl under your truck, there will be two 12mm bolts to remove the oil filter cover, take those off and remove the cover.

Place the drain pan below the oil filter. You can probably reach up and unscrew the filter by hand and let the oil drain into the drain pan. You may need a filter wrench. Walmart will have them for less than $10. They look like this http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-53500-Satndard-Swivel-Filter/dp/B0002SR4AO/?tag=ihco-20

Dip your finger in the oil and rub it around on the gasket on top of the oil filter. (There will be some oil sitting in the top grooves of the filter anyway) Hand tighten the filter back on. Replace the oil filter cover and tighten the two 12mm bolts. No need to worry about ft lbs of torque, just make them snug.

All Walmarts in NJ accept used oil for recycling. There will be a cage near the service area. You tell them you have used oil, they open the gate, you pour the oil in the big container. No charge, ever. Since it's Jersey they may even pour the oil in the big container for you. This whole process should take you less than 30-40 mins tops.

When you return from your trip, you'll be able to change your oil from now on. It will save you the $$ at American Tire tomorrow, the hour drive next time, the cost at the dealer and the best part is you'll start to get to know your truck a little better. You may actually start to enjoy working on your rig.

Hope this helps.
 
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^ This. Once you do something like it on your own instead of paying some astronomical fee at a dealer you will find that most of this stuff is not that hard. 5-6 years ago I barely was comfortable doing oil changes. Now I do just about every single bit of maintenance on my truck myself from heel bearing repackage, to differential removal/reinstall to brakes to oil changes. The thousands of dollars of tools in my garage (SAE and Metric) have all been "paid for" in the labor savings. Sure I have given up many a Friday night doing it but when I turn off the garage light after finishing a job (just did brake pads tonight) it is one of the most rewarding things knowing that I did it. I urge you to tackle this yourself. You will feel great about it in the end.

Example. It costs me ~$40-$42 do do an oil change myself. 7.2 qts M1 (I just buy the 5qt jugs at whirlymart), M1-209 filter an new drain gasket. A "similar" oil change with full syn at a quick lube would run me $70-$80. And I would have o deal with the wait, the crap story that I need an air filter or $50 wiper blades or whatever and the chance that my truck will not come back as advertised......or I can pour a cocktail, put on some Massive Attack and do it myself in 30 minutes.


BTW. 1/4" = 6.35mm. Use Han wrenches long enough and the approximate and exact equivalencies come naturally. :)
 
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Just got back from American Tire. They siphoned the excess out for free.

I'm a happy camper. First stop Columbus to pick up a friend then hauling up to Chicago.
 
04UZJ100 said:
...I'm an engineer with no tools....
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DON'T do that. You make the rest of us look bad!

:D

Seriously, it's about time you got the oil level corrected :flipoff2:

Have a safe trip, and post pics!
 
Your trip sounds worthy of it's own thread here. Trails - Events - Expeditions
If you decide to do one let us know. We all love living vicariously during office hours.
 
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