I fixed the @#&% oil door!

There has been much discussion here (esp. in the regular Prius forums) about fixing/improving the access door that covers the oil pan and filter.  Apparently the door on the v and current Prius is better than the ones on the older Prius, but IMO it's still a cheap, temporary solution.  The plastic push-pin fasteners (plastic body rivets? pin-drive anchors?) that hold the door closed are meant to be installed once, not repeatedly removed and installed.  They'll sort of work a few times, but they're just not meant to be reused repeatedly. I don't like them.
And the hinge is just a strip of bent plastic - again, it'll work for a while, but it's a pain (it tends to spring closed, and it smacked me in the head the first time I opened it).  Since I hope to own my v for a long time, and plan to do all my own oil changes, i decided both the hinges and fasteners need to be improved or replaced.
I saw a good solution for the hinges in the regular Prius forum.  These are stainless steel hinges with releasable pins, so the door opens easily, stays open, and can be completely removed if you want.  I got my hinges at grainger (item # 4WDV7, $7.43 each), but they are available from various hardware sources online - the mfr model number is HG-OTA100. Sugatsune -Butt Hinges|Stainless Steel Quick Release Hinge
However, I have not seen a good solution for the fasteners that hold the door closed. I did a bunch of searching, and finally settled on a Stainless Snap Slide Latch from McMaster-Carr: McMaster-Carr
Check out my video introduction:

If you're interested, here are a bunch more details, and pictures of my installation procedure.
I started by completely removing the two front-most plastic panels under the engine compartment. One in the very front, and the one containing the oil door. This involved removing a bunch of screws with 10mm heads, and a bunch of the annoying plastic push-pin fasteners.





Oil door panel, removed:




Then I dug in on the oil door itself. Started by marking the location of the hinges, and cutting away the plastic hinge where the metal hinge would be located. (Hinge details are noted above).





I left the plastic hinge intact BETWEEN the metal hinges, so I could be sure the door was lined up correctly when I put on the new hinges. Then I used the holes in the hinges to mark out locations to drill, and drilled 9/64" holes for 6-32 bolts.





Continued installing the hinges, with the remainder of the plastic hinge still intact. I had a mix of brass and stainless 6-32 bolts, so it looks a little mismatched, but how many people will see this? And it will be easy to replace the few pieces of non-stainless hardware as I can obtain it.





Once the hinges were completely installed, and the door still opened smoothly (so I knew it was aligned properly and nothing would bind), it was time to cut the existing plastic hinge:



Voila! A door that swings open easily!



These hinges have knurled knobs which, when pinched together, release the hinge completely. This makes oil change access even easier. I oriented the hinges so the mechanism is INSIDE the plastic panel, to reduce dust/grime buildup. Since the mechanism is inside, it's important to orient the knurled knobs so they are on the door side, so you can easily reach them when the door is open.





Whew - already a huge improvement over the stock oil door. But next up was the fasteners to hold the door closed. This is a big step, and I started from scratch, since I hadn't seen any other permanent, durable fixes. Basically, I browsed through all the stainless steel clips, catches, hasps, snaps, etc. that I could find from both Grainger and McMaster-Carr. The fasteners I used are called "Snap Slide Latches", part # 1872A72 from McMaster, $5.83/ea. They have a sliding clip (mounted on the door panel) that attaches to a post (mounted on the car body). See the video linked above for a demonstration. They clip very securely; I'm not worried about them popping out accidentally. Additionally, I installed them such that the sliding direction varies, so driving over a snowbank or something can't release all the clips. If someone were worried about them opening on their own, it would be easy to run a length of wire through an opposing pair of clips that could hold them both closed. Installing these took a while longer than the hinges, but I think it was definitely worth it. I used stainless 8-32 bolts to secure the post to the car body, and stainless 6-32 bolts to secure the clip to the door.







Attaching these posts to the car body required some creativity, and if you do this, I suspect yours will come out slightly differently. For example, at one point I didn't have an 8-32 bolt long enough to go all the way through the frame member where I wanted the post. So I made a sort of hidden nut to slide inside the frame: I put an 8-32 threaded insert into a small piece of white oak, then slid that into the frame. This let me securely fasten the post with the bolt I had. Kludge? Definitely - but it worked. :nod: White oak is fairly rot-resistant, but if it does start loosening up over time, I'll be able to feel it when I change the oil, at which point I can either replace that section with a longer bolt, or put in a new DIY "hidden nut".







(Takeaway lesson for future installers - be sure you have a good selection of both 6-32 and 8-32 stainless bolts, with nuts and washers. I had a pretty good selection on hand; good enough to get it together, and I'll replace some of the hardware with stainless equivalents or appropriate length bolts in the near future.)

At this point, everything was together, cheap-@$$ fixes and all. Just a final test fit...



...and I have a FUNCTIONAL oil door with durable, releasable hinges, and fasteners that are intended to be used more than once!

Good riddance!


I was also working on installing some LED DRLs when I did this project, so it was handy to have the plastic underbody panels off for a while. Once I was done with both projects, I put all the panels back in place (with assistance from helper-dog Leo).



Let me know if you have any questions about the installation. I really hope this can at least provide inspiration for oil door fixes by other Prius owners!
Andy

 

Oh, I'll probably lose a full 0.04 mpg - the protrusion of the clips undoubtedly interferes with the aerodynamics under the car. But that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make...

 

Thanks very much!
I completely agree re. the hinges & latches. The hinges are ideal, and I haven't had any problems with them since installing. Highly recommended.

The clips are adequate, but not quite perfect. They occasionally get sort of stuck in place after sitting for 10,000 miles, and sometimes a hammer or pliers are helpful to loosen them. They're also just a little bit thinner or lighter-duty than I'd prefer, as they can twist just a little while being fastened. OTOH, they haven't accidentally released yet, so they still get a passing grade.
I like the idea of a 1/4 turn fastener of some sort, as long as it's all stainless, and as long as it doesn't stick down too far below the plastic. I don't really like the idea of a magnet, if that's the only thing holding the door closed... I just feel like any magnet of a size that would be easy to release by hand could also be accidentally released by bumps/vibration/road debris. This wouldn't be a disaster if you had decent hinges installed; worst-case your oil door would drag for a while. But I'd rather avoid that if possible.
Post back if you come up with any good alternative solutions!

 

Ha! Thanks. One of my thoughts in re-reading this a few years later is, "Wow, I had a lot of time before I had kids! " I suspect that if I were starting over now, I'd find a solution more like what you propose - some way to just hold the flap all the way back. MUCH less work for ALMOST the same benefit. Maybe a length of rope or wire that could be looped over the flap to hold it flat once it's folded all the way back? That said, every time I work on the car I appreciate the work I did to put in the good hinges. No regrets, but I understand the time-savings equation!

Yeah, the v is somewhat of a pain to raise, since it doesn't work with my regular ramps (bumper hits the ramps before the wheels do). I just use a high-lift floor jack (+ stands) each time I need to raise it. This works fine, with minimal hassle as long as the jack is easily accessible.
The only real pain I've found due to a lack of ramps came when I changed the AT fluid. It was a BIG pain to jack up all four wheels such that the whole thing was level (and still firmly supported).