[OldSalt]

Crawled under my truck this morning to do what I thought would be a routine, 20-minute oil change. First one for my Titan. Well, it was anything but routine. For starters, I discovered that the only way to gain access to the filter was to drop the front skid plate. No big deal; had to remove 4 screws and loosen two, and the skid plate was out of the way. I have a 4x2, by the way. So, I drained the oil and replaced the pan plug; no big deal. Then I went to remove the filter. Placed my trusty adjustable-jaw filter wrench on my breaker bar, and gave it a tug. The filter remained snug. So, I really yanked on the breaker bar, and my filter wrench lost it's grip and wouldn't break the filter loose. The danged filter was like welded on! Tried a huge pair of pliers. Nope. Finally had to run the filter through with a screw driver and beat on it with a rubber mallet to break the damned thing loose. Never in my life have I ever run across a filter stuck on good like this one. Put the new NAPA Gold filter on it-hand tight!!!-and filled her with Mobil 1. Now, the moral of this story isn't that I am b_tching about changing my own oil; I have done it for over 30 years now. I just want to let you know that when you go to change your oil for the first time, be prepared to fight the factory filter to get it off. I think some bonehead on the assembly line put the filter on without lubricating the gasket, and then torqued it to about 400 ft/lbs. As for dropping the skid plate, that was my choice. I could have done the contortionist bit by bending over the front of the truck and fighting for space with the fan blades, but I chose not to. Someone at Nissan did have a good idea; if you drop the skid plate, you'll find a small length of metal placed under the filter that acts as a drain trough when you break the filter loose. Saves making a mess and having oil all over the engine side of the skid plate. Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience with y'all, so that you will know what to expect.

 

[Caltitan]

My factory filter was tight but not as tight as yours. I was able to get it off with my filter wrench but it took enough gripping and turning to cause a sore shoulder and wrist. Not the easiest thing to do while squeezed in a small space on your back. I didn't want to use my ramps because I didn't think I'd be able to drain all the oil out. How much oil did you end up putting in it? I was able to load 6.5 qtz and it was at the full mark perfectly.

 

[Guest]

Crawled under my truck this morning to do what I thought would be a routine, 20-minute oil change. First one for my Titan. Well, it was anything but routine. For starters, I discovered that the only way to gain access to the filter was to drop the front skid plate. No big deal; had to remove 4 screws and loosen two, and the skid plate was out of the way. I have a 4x2, by the way. So, I drained the oil and replaced the pan plug; no big deal. Then I went to remove the filter. Placed my trusty adjustable-jaw filter wrench on my breaker bar, and gave it a tug. The filter remained snug. So, I really yanked on the breaker bar, and my filter wrench lost it's grip and wouldn't break the filter loose. The danged filter was like welded on! Tried a huge pair of pliers. Nope. Finally had to run the filter through with a screw driver and beat on it with a rubber mallet to break the damned thing loose. Never in my life have I ever run across a filter stuck on good like this one. Put the new NAPA Gold filter on it-hand tight!!!-and filled her with Mobil 1. Now, the moral of this story isn't that I am b_tching about changing my own oil; I have done it for over 30 years now. I just want to let you know that when you go to change your oil for the first time, be prepared to fight the factory filter to get it off. I think some bonehead on the assembly line put the filter on without lubricating the gasket, and then torqued it to about 400 ft/lbs. As for dropping the skid plate, that was my choice. I could have done the contortionist bit by bending over the front of the truck and fighting for space with the fan blades, but I chose not to. Someone at Nissan did have a good idea; if you drop the skid plate, you'll find a small length of metal placed under the filter that acts as a drain trough when you break the filter loose. Saves making a mess and having oil all over the engine side of the skid plate. Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience with y'all, so that you will know what to expect.

Are there filters available for our truck now? Last I checked it seemed no one had one except the oems....

 

[Caltitan]

Are there filters available for our truck now? Last I checked it seemed no one had one except the oems....

Since the OE filter also fits other older Nissan models I would say yes. The problem is that the parts store computers or application manuals are not up to date if they look up the Titan. Try looking up the part number for an after market filter on the manufacturer's web site prior to going to the parts store.

 

[firecracker]

Then I went to remove the filter. Placed my trusty adjustable-jaw filter wrench on my breaker bar, and gave it a tug. The filter remained snug. So, I really yanked on the breaker bar, and my filter wrench lost it's grip and wouldn't break the filter loose. The danged filter was like welded on!

LOL
Just did my second change...went to Mobil One, also, anyway I feel ya, mine was REALLY tight, too. Had my first change done at the dealer. Couldn't help but laugh at you.....My wife laughed at me when she came outside and saw me "fighting" with my filter, too. LOL

 

[OldSalt]

To answer the question, I too used 6.5 quarts of Mobil 1. Titan TX, here are some part numbers for you: K&N oil filter-HP-1010; Fram-XG7317*; Wix (or NAPA Gold: same filter)-51356 (NAPA's p/n is 1356). The asterisk for the Fram filter is because I'm not sure if it has the anti-drainback valve required by our trucks. The K&N and the Wix/NAPA filters all have them. CalTitan, I understand perfectly. Only it's my butt-bone that's sore. Not much meat back there on my old bones. No one mentioned dropping their skid plates; am I the only one that did that?

 

[DeesT]

The dealer did my first oil change, but I plan on doing the next and go with the mobil one synthetic. I remember on all the old chevy pickups I had(73-87 models), I would have to do the ole scewdriver trick every now and then. Sometimes even had to use a chisel and hammer 8O

 

[Caltitan]

...No one mentioned dropping their skid plates; am I the only one that did that?

I had to remove my skid plate too, but it only took a minute.

 

[skromfols]

Skid Plate

I also have a 4x2 and like the idea of having a skid plate to protect my underside. In sliding under the truck I couldn't help but notice just how much room there was compared to my old Ford Ranger. Do the 4x2'a have as much clearance as the 4x4's ?

 

[roughralph]

I thought I would let you all know that on my titan with the off road package the skid plate has a smaller plate that you loosen (4 screws) to acess the oil filter roughralph

 

[MR2GO]

ya, I was gonna mention that also. I don't have to remove the entire plate...just a small sqaure just under the filter...ty ty ty Nissan for that.

I'm glad to see I'm among Mobil 1 users also.

6.5q on the dot.