Plastic Oil FILTER CAP --- Torque wet or dry?

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'13 Camry with the black oil filter cap which houses the filter element.

Do you think that factory engineers selected 36ft-lbs knowing it'd likely be oily or should I spray the heck out of the threads on the cap and aluminum oil pump housing with brake cleaner to make them a "dry" torque?

Also, where is 36ft-lbs on the scale of "loose (under kill) to too tight (overkill) in your opinion for an oil filter cap with large coarse plastic threads?
 
Those Caps have an 'O' ring seal, they do not rely on tightness to be oil tight.

That said, when we bought our Matix, the last oil change was done at a Jiffy Lube and the cap required over 150 foot lbs to get off.
 
In my experience, on plastic oil filter caps they can be torqued to spec when oily without worrying, but--- I've never changed a cartridge filter on a Toyota. On the Fords, Mazdas, and GMs I've worked on it hasn't been a problem.

On the other hand, if you torque a motorcycle filter bolt to spec with oily threads, you can easily strip the threads.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
Those Caps have an 'O' ring seal, they do not rely on tightness to be oil tight.

That said, when we bought our Matix, the last oil change was done at a Jiffy Lube and the cap required over 150 foot lbs to get off.


150ftlbs !?! Hang em high!

Oh and in my first post I forgot to mention that the oring does (very importantly) get a fingertip coating of oil so it doesn't bind. So that insinuates that the engineers would probably be ok with slightly oily threads on the black plastic housing cap perhaps wiped with a rag.
 
Usually those plastic caps are torqued to 18 ft-lbs and the drain plug is about 28-30 ft lbs.

36 does not sound right at all for that cap.
 
Usually an O-ring is lubricated for this type of assembly. My Mazda thermo plastic cap was to be torqued to 23-28 lb/ft, so I picked 25 as my go to value. Ed
 
Lube the O-ring and tighten until it's snugged down. That will ensure it's not too tight the next time it gets changed.
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
'13 Camry with the black oil filter cap which houses the filter element.

... should I spray the heck out of the threads on the cap and aluminum oil pump housing with brake cleaner to make them a "dry" torque?

What!!!??? Why!!!??? No NO NO
 
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Both my Toyotas are 25N-m or 18Ft-lbs. They also have a little feeler thingy that I guess is supposed to help keep it from unscrewing.
With the o-ring design I would be surprised to ever see a properly installed one come loose. They take a bit of effort to unscrew as it is.


Here's my Rav4...
53434d1439674079-2015-rav4-le-oil-change-pics-20150815_175751019_ios.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Oh and in my first post I forgot to mention that the oring does (very importantly) get a fingertip coating of oil so it doesn't bind. So that insinuates that the engineers would probably be ok with slightly oily threads on the black plastic housing cap perhaps wiped with a rag.


The problem with a lot of engineers is that some of them never turned a wrench in their life. In their mind it may be perfectly acceptable to remove all oil traces from the threads before re-installing the housing.

Using common sense, I would at least wipe the threads with a rag, like you suggested, because 36ft-lb sounds a lot for a plastic housing.
 
I just tighten the Camry's cap like I do a jug of pop..dry and firm...am more likely to lose fiz via osmosis than lose oil from the cap.
 
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Originally Posted By: thrace
Toyota service bulletin for 2010 Camry and others says

Ensure a torque wrench is used for oil filter cap installation.
Torque: 25+/-5 N*m (255+/- 51 kgf*cm, 18+/- 3.7ft*lbf)

http://www.toyotapart.com/OIL_FILTER_CAP_ASSEMBLY_PRECAUTIONS_T-SB-0104-09.pdf


Language in the TSB makes it seem like they're concerned with overtightening that could damage the cap or the superspecialtool.

Instructions on the filter element box tell you to oil the o-ring, so I can't imagine they would also require dry threads.
That cap is pretty difficult to turn once it snugs up. I torqued mine on the Vibe 1.8 the first time and was surprised how little effort it took for the wrench to click.
 
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