I have seen several questions about changing the oil and oil filter on this forum and on others, so I thought I would do a write up as I did mine for the first time.  Take not e that are one or two things that I did this time that I would not recommend or do again.

First thing I did was pick up my oil and filter.  I used Penzoil 5w-20 and a Mobil-1 part no. M1-103.

I then jacked up the front of the car with a floor jack at the jack point under the front of the car.  Because I did not feel comfortable crawling around under the car with it resting solely on the jack I placed jack stands at the jack points on each side of the front of the car.  I used a block of wood on top of the jack stands because I was afraid the jack stand might damage the underside of the car.  This is one of the point I probably wouldn't do again.  I would use ramps if you have them or get some before you change your oil.  If you do this make sure you have some solid wood.  If there is any chance that wood or is rotten or is not a hard wood do not use it.  Here is a pic of how mine:



You can see how close the body is to touching the wood.  I watched to make sure as I lowered the car down to make sure it wasnt going to touch.  DO NOT LET THE CAR DOWN FAST!  I left the jack under the front just to give it some extra support.  I may try to make something to go over the jack stand so that I would feel more comfortable about the jack points resting on the jack stand but will probably get ramps instead before I change the oil again.

Next I removed three pins that are holding the shield in place below the oil filter.  This was simple.  All you have to do is pry out the center of the pin just a bit and then pull the pin assembly out. 



I then just pulled the shield down a bit.  It looks as though it was made to bend down but I was careful not to get to carried away with trying to bend it.





I then attempted to get the filter off with one of the metal filter wrenches that wrap around the filter.  It was a very tight fit and didn't really have the room to get in there and turn it.  The filter was on very tight!  So I went to the local O'reileys and picked up the filter wrench that attaches to a socket wrench.  I highly recommend getting one of these.  It only cost around $6 and is very worth it.

 

Did I say the filter was on very tight?  I had to put a paper towel inside this filter wrench to keep the wrench from spinning around the filter it was on there so tight.  I don't think I have ever seen a filter that was tightened that much.

continued.....

Thanks for the wite-up, TJ198! Next year when I reach my 4th oil change (because 1& 2 are on Scion and 3 is on the dealer) I'll be looking here again.

From where did you drain the oil?

BTW, do you know if the filter is tight?

i would stay with the Toyota OEM filter - they have a vacuum seal that keeps all of the oil from draining   into bottom of engine for good lubrication on cold starts 

did my first oil change today-

same japanese strongman  installed my filter also

i found out after i drained the pan-so i put in the new and drove to napa for a three prong oil filter thing that goes on a ratchet -worked like a charm-as it should have for 23 bucks

TJ198- Nice work. Don't forget that you need a new drain plug washer and to mention the drain plug socket size... I think it is a 14mm?

Geezer,  that's easily the best DIY I've ever read!!!!!   Thanks for the laugh.

Thank you, thank you.  I try to be informative and entertaining, but I'm never really sure if I pull it off.  It's not an original piece...I got it in an e-mail from a friend today.  It reminded me of a similar scenario I've been part of on many occasions (except for the jail part), and is why I no longer do my own oil changes.. 

  GOOD JOB! YOU DESERVE A BEER!