Question about the aluminum engine oil filter cap

So our Tundras come with a plastic oil filter housing cap. Toyota uses an aluminum version of this same cap on other vehicles as I understand it, and the part is identical to our plastic cap except for the material and the length of the filter mounting tube.

My question is, do we know why Toyota uses the aluminum cap on some things but uses a plastic one on the Tundras?

 

I don’t know why the metal one is used in some applications, but I always thought the idea behind the plastic housing was to create a weak point. Ideally, if you were to strip or cross thread, the plastic housing would be the damaged piece and easily replaced. If both sides of the coupling are the same material or strength, you could potentially damage the portion the housing screws in to.

My Jeep uses a plastic filter housing and that was the reasoning I found for that application.

 

The first vehicle I ever saw that used an element instead of a canister filter was a 2004 Saturn. Now that you mention it, that thing used a plastic cap on an aluminum housing too; accessible from the top though and the cap went on top. Still strikes me as a silly reason to use plastic, but I guess that's possible. Something like that should be pretty hard to strip or cross-thread unless you're really being careless.

And honestly I feel like the plastic cap on that Saturn was made of better plastic than the one on the Tundra sadly.

 

Dunno. I had 150k trouble free miles on my ‘08 with the plastic cap, then switched to the aluminum one and had another 150k trouble free miles with it.

I’m not in a hurry to swap out the plastic one on my ‘21, but might do it if I run out of other mods to do.

 

I had a plastic cap fracture on my '18. It was my fault. I was using a torque wrench I wasn't used to, never felt the click and went way too far. Then backed it off when I realized it, torqued it again. Looked fine. Started the engine and heard oil gushing everywhere. Had to race to a Toyota dealer about an hour away to get a new one. Thankfully I was able to get there within about 15 minutes of their closing time.

As a result of that experience, I bought the aluminum cap and will change it on the first oil change on my '21.

 

I decided to change it also. I already purchased it and the Valvomax quick twist valve. I have a couple more freebies and after that I will be doing all my oil changes.

 

They use plastic because when buying tens of thousands the cost savings is quite significant.

 

"A plastic filter cap is used for weight reduction." LOL

 

What document is this from? Can I get access to it?

 

I'm not sure if it's from a service manual or not. I found it on the Internet some years ago.

 

Yes, it's an excerpt from the Factory Service Manual.

 

Having held both, I can tell you there isn’t more than a couple ounces difference. You’d save more weight by going pee before getting in.

 

Wow...

 

They should make the front skid plate out of plastic! That would save some weight!