Comments by "flagmichael" (@flagmichael) on "Fake Oil Filter Caused Engine Damage in This Toyota! BE CAREFUL!" video.

  1. BIG thumbs up on this one! Quite a few years ago (about the time I stopped buying cars other than Toyota) I had heard enough Bad Oil Filter horror stories to convince me to get my oil filters from the dealer. The kicker is that the filter for our gen 3 Prius (looks just like the filter shown in the video) is something like $8 at the dealer when I get the drain plug washer with it. I never imagined a horror story like this one, though.
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  2. Our Care Care Nut did a video that prominently featured fake iridium plugs: "Toyota Counterfeit parts EXPOSED!"
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  3. One of the attractions of the channel is that it is relevant to everybody who owns or is thinking of buying a Toyota of any sort. The higher the quality of the merchandise the more important it is to treat it right.
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  4.  @TheSuperBoyProject  The damage resulting from it was responsible for the rest of the cost.
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  5.  @hamsterama  I haver to make time to change my Prius spark plugs... you can bet I am getting them from the dealer! IIRC the CCN has done a video about counterfeit plugs.
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  6. My daughter does not always listen to me. Last month she texted me, very worried because her Honda CR-V was stumbling and stalling, CEL on. An internet search showed all sorts of scary possibilities, and she was concerned about the catalytic converter being plugged up. When I asked if she had been putting top tier gas in it she asked if Sam's Club was top tier. I recommended she get a bottle of Techron and follow the instructions for the amount of gas in her car. No problems after that.
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  7. He's also a straight shooter. If there are Toyota problems out there he has seen it, and he is very candid about it.
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  8. They are real Toyota-like parts.
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  9. ...or some random scammer impersonating the dealership. Unless somebody complains to the dealer about being scammed by their eBay namesake the dealer would never know. Then they can get eBay to kick the bum out, so the bum impersonates a different dealership. It's like killing ants with an icepick. We can call the dealer and ask if they have an eBay sales presence.
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  10. Wix has a great reputation, but I will probably still get my oil filters from the dealer. Guaranteed suitable for that vehicle, low price. The dealer sells me the OEM filter and the drain plug washer for less than the price of the Wix filter alone on Amazon.
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  11. Remember, a seller on eBay is not necessarily who they claim to be. Quite a few Toyota dealers sell parts through their website.
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  12. The terrible irony is that there is more money in counterfeiting high end items than in counterfeiting workaday items.
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  13. The same style filter for my 2014 Prius is a bit under $7 at the dealer, and I get the crush washer at the same time. None of the online uncertainties: when will it come ion? Is it OEM? Will it be undamaged?
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  14. A lot of counterfeit iridium plugs don't even use iridium on the tips.
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  15. In case you have a hybrid Toyota: the hybrid transaxle will knock under those conditions if the spark plugs are due for replacement. The Car Care Nut confirmed the popular explanation: the planetary gears rattle when the ICE power is uneven.
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  16. They are good filters but, at least for my 2014 Prius, about twice the price of OEM. The only K&N filters I have are for our central HVAC - work great but the cleaner is spectacularly expensive: $22 for a quart, while the nearly identical "liquid TSP substitute" sells at at Home Depot for $7.
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  17. Actually, aftermarket companies have survived some much larger scandals. There are always gamblers ready to roll the dice and dismiss the claims as rumors.
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  18. They could be. There are unverified reports of NAPA selling fake NGK spark plugs. They have a lot of suppliers, and some of those may be providing bogus credentials. Think of retailers as being a flea market with a central checkout. The auto dealers, in contrast, are very limited in their choice of goods to resell.
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  19. In the bigger picture, the car is 8 years old. In good condition it is worth about $21K now, so if it were sold or totaled in an accident or is stolen and not recovered at any point the value of the new engine is lost. It would make more sense to sell it for $13k as is and be shed of it.
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  20. Not knowingly, probably, but anybody can offer wholesale filters that fit whatever. if they come in with Toyota markings so much the better for sales.
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  21. Generally they are copper, brass, or bronze. Steel washers don't seal well in this application. and reused washers are not reliable... they could be distorted. I would get the parts from the dealer and make sure it was torqued to spec.
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  22.  @njsongwriter  The first giveaway was the sorry excuse for a hologram on the top of the counterfeit, as opposed to the impressive one on the Toyota box.
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  23. I think the theory is that debris from the disintegration of the filter caused a blockage in the VVTi actuator path. Good pressure but restricted flow.
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  24. They are probably unaware the parts are counterfeit. They buy spark plugs" or "oil filters" from vendors who submit bids. They are even more likely to buy counterfeits than we informed (by way of this channel) customers are. Counterfeit iridium plugs (many not iridium at all), with Toyota packaging, have been reported on store shelves of several major chains.
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  25.  @Tigerwarhawk  Be aware that convincing looking counterfeits are very common for Toyota branded parts. I doubt any retail outlet has genuine Toyota parts. See The CCN's video, "Toyota Counterfeit parts EXPOSED!"
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  26. Mostly we are waiting for them to be practical for us.
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  27. I had a 1985 Volvo 765T with an engine that was notorious for developing piston slap. Ours got really bad about 250K miles but it was worse at idle than under power. I don't recall if it was better when warm, but I would expect it to be.
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  28.  @joeshmoe8952  You should ask them if they have an eBay site. Anybody can call themselves Bell Lexus North Scottsdale on eBay. They have a website where they sell parts to the public in addition to the usual dealership website functions. I can't imagine why they would have an eBay presence.
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  29. Consider: if the filter did not come through Toyota's supply chain rather than just Denso's, it is not genuine Toyota. It may be the same part or it may not.
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  30. Most Toyota dealers will sell off the website; the eBay presence may be anybody masquerading as the dealer.
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  31. Our Car Care Nut has done some videos in which he has stressed and illustrated the importance of 5K mile oil changes. I'm sure 6K is okay enough. I was about to change the interval for our 2014 Prius from the 5K reminder interval to the 10K mile called for in the service schedule. I did a quick about face, and when I saw his videos showing the irreparable cylinder wall damage caused by 10K mile intervals I was glad I was watching.
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  32. The symptoms sound like dry slide pins.
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  33. A question that I would like to see an expert answer (CCN would be great!) - does air filter restriction affect mixture in modern fuel injected engines the way it did in carbureted engines? I wouldn't think so.
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  34.  @drticzon  eBay is the Wild West - the seller could be some fly-by-night guy who is using the name and the dealer doesn't know that scammer exists. I just go to the dealer a couple miles away and pay the $8 for a filter and drain plug washer. If I had a proper storage space I would buy a handful and a few jugs of Mobil 1 to keep in stock. Several Toyota dealers have internet sites where we can buy parts - much more likely to actually be the dealer rather than an imposter.
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  35. At 5:24 our CCN warns, "the only source of good Toyota oil filters is the dealership." The filters at various retail outlets may come from anywhere and be as bad as any from eBay. It is almost certain they are not OE, regardless of packaging. He covers the dark world of counterfeits in his video, "Toyota Counterfeit parts EXPOSED!" The counterfeiters go to great lengths to look like the real item, and selling them in the US is not illegal. Walmart has no responsibility to investigate authenticity. The same applies to eBay; vendors of trash can use names like those of real or imaginary Toyota dealerships, and still sell the worst sort of trash. You can often get genuine Toyota OEM parts at a modest discount (as CCN commented, 10-15%) at dealer websites on line.
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  36. In every case, phone the dealer to verify they have an eBay presence. Counterfeit eBay accounts are probably as common as counterfeit parts.
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  37. They probably just have packaging that looks like Toyota packaging. Amazon is having this problem. They are very reasonably priced at the dealer, and you can buy from most dealers at a small discount - 10% or 15% - online at their website.
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