I know this has been posted about before but I didn’t see any mention of my specific issue and wasn’t sure if I should ressurect a old thread. I recently bought this Prius and got my oil changed about two months ago. I’m pretty sure the oil change access panel was attached fine previously as they would’ve probably mentioned it so they weren’t to blame. I went back today and asked them to fix it. I watched the guy work at it for 15 minutes and he couldn’t get it to stay so then he screwed it in and it made a loud sound that made me uneasy and I could feel the vibrations through the floor of the car. The guy who I talked to when I came in told me everything was good to go and I told him to my understanding it was clips that are supposed to hold it in place and he told me that was the cheap route. Pretty sure they had no idea what they were doing and got frustrated so they just did a quick and dirty fix without asking me if it was okay first. Now I’m worried that some metal part has been compromised and is now prone to rusting. Am I being paranoid? I had a friend who got fucked over by a dealer because the whole underside of the car he bought was rusted and came apart. Researching about this afterwards it seems to be a pretty common problem and I probably would’ve used zip ties to keep it together as suggested in the old post about this issue but too late now -_-
Can you raise the front yourself and have a look? I'd suspect the small flap at the oil pan has been used repeatedly for oil changes, and broken off. Up to you how to go, you could maybe DIY cobble a hinge? I used that flap the FIRST time I did an oil change, and the way it complained/resisted bending, I resolved from then on to always remove the whole panel. It's a poor design. Looking online the panels getting pretty pricey on amazon, $200~300. There might be some cheap aftermarket though. I'll attach a relevant pdf.
No I don’t think so. You have the right to ask to see the fix, either at the time or still. On my 2005 I ended up drilling larger holes and replacing with a bolt washers and nut. It’s a horrible design! Years ago, quality European cars had metal covers, not cardboard.
Well, it's probably too late to complain to them now after two months. But I understand your concern. I never let anyone else change my oil. But if you can't do it yourself, at least now you know one place to never take you car. They either don't know what they're doing or the don't give a rip. Or both.
In my case I didn’t understand how that plastic pin worked. It took some time to figure it out. Should any novice be reading this, remember to keep pin out when reinserting and then push in pin. A little oils a good idea too. don’t saturate
I prefer to just wash the pins with water before re-using them. They seem to get plenty of grit on their own without using oil to attract and hold the grit. Either way, they're always a pain to remove.
@Mendel Leisk posted some helpful info on those fathers in post #4 of this thread. Replacing the plastic rivets that hold the undercar engine shield on? | PriusChat
I agree, but have a different solution, better in my opinion. I made the access panel easily removable by cutting it off through the "hinge," then reattaching its front edge with straps and screws. Remove only two screws and the three push pins of the small panel, and it's off completely, out of the way.
4th gen is like that I think: you remove two or three screws (not finicky plastic fasteners) on a small subsection of the engine underpanel, and then the whole thing can be pulled off off some tabs, and completely removed. One advantage to removal of the whole panel though: it affords a better view of things, for checking the drive shaft boots, looking for leaks. Hey, it's my "rice bowl".
