Automotive

Toyota Supra Mishimoto Oil Catch Can First Drain

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Some time ago I installed the Mishimoto oil catch can in my A90 Supra. With this unit, Mishimoto recommends checking the contents of the catch can every 1,000 miles after installation until a baseline is established. It’s time for me to do my first drain and I’m going to share with you my experiences to see if this thing is doing anything.

For the check, I had the Supra jacked up because I was actually already doing an oil. Mishimoto says that you don’t have to have the car jacked up but I’ve tried reaching under to get to the catch can’s drain plug and it’s awkward, to say the least. You very likely can do it but things definitely get more complicated if you lowered your car. If you’d like to learn how to properly jack the MKV Supras up, I’ve made a video on the topic here: https://youtu.be/YpMxdVHzJ9k

The Mishimoto oil catch can’s drain plus is directly behind the passenger side front wheel. This is why I said that it would be awkward to get to this thing without lifting the car. You’d have to reach around the tire and do the service at an awkward angle and almost blind. In my opinion, the drain plug situation should’ve been handled better considering it’s something that we have to deal with relatively often.

To drain the catch can, we just use some sort of tool with a 3/4” opening to loosen the drain plug. It’s pretty much the same idea as dumping the oil for an oil change. Lefty loosey, righty tighty. Pretty self-explanatory.

When I checked, I got absolutely nothing. Not a single drop of oil. Not even a trace when I stuck my finger into the opening.

At this point, I thought maybe the car was just producing so little blow-by that as I angled the car up on jack stands, the blow-by wasn’t able to drop down the drain tube which is connected to the center bottom of the oil catch can. So to verify this, I had to drop the car and check the can on flat ground.

Having to do this verified for me that this process sucks without lifting the car. Even at stock height, my Supra is low enough for me to not be able to fit any of my combination wrenches under the car and be able to turn the drain plug. I had to find a short crescent to get the drain plug off and even then it took me a while because my arm is just short enough for this process to really be a pain. Again, I’m at stock height but if your Supra is lowered or slammed, good luck doing this without lifting the car.

I eventually got the drain plug off, I had my catch cup under there to see how much oil was collected, and guess what? Not a single drop, AGAIN!

So, I don’t really know what to say. A thousand miles and not a drop of oil collected is kind of concerning. I realize that there are a few different things like temperature and how the car is driven that can contribute to the amount of blow-by but I would think that after a few months and driving through different atmospheric conditions, I would get something. I know that, for sure, when I was installing the catch can, when installing my intake, and just having to take the various pipes and hoses apart, there was a noticeable amount of oil in these various components. So for none of that to get in the catch can, is just weird to me.

As of right now, I really don’t know what to think about this Mishimoto oil catch can. I mean for around $300, things are a bit disappointing right now. Obviously, I’m not going to uninstall it because that entire process is kind of a pain and it’s already in there so why would I take it out? All I can really do is wait it out, drive the car more, and just see what happens. I’m probably going to stretch the check-in intervals out and not check every thousand miles because that’s clearly not needed. I’m likely just going to check at every oil change interval as I planned in the first place and that likely will be just fine considering what I’ve seen here.

For the Supra owners that watch my videos and have this catch can installed, how’s yours holding up? Are you seeing any oil being collected? Let me know in the comments because I’m really interested to know if my Supra is just the most efficient one or what.

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Toyota Supra ZL1 Addons Rock Guards Update

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In May of 2020, I made a video showcasing the ZL1 Addons Rock Guards for the Toyota Supra. Well, the other day I was doing some maintenance on the Supra and noticed that all of the hardware provided by ZL1 Addons to install the Rocks Guards showed signs of rust. This obviously isn’t good so I reached out and was told that there was a new set of hardware for the current product. To me, this means that the rusting issue probably isn’t an isolated incident in my case and is likely a known thing. In any case, if you purchased this item around the same time as I did, I would highly suggest that you go out and check the hardware that came with the Rock Guards as there may be some rust. If there is, contact ZL1 Addons to get a set of the new hardware. I got the replacement pretty quick and it was just a matter of changing things out.

Now, if you watched my original video on the Rock Guards, you’d know that I did the install without removing any of the wheels. There was enough space up front for conventional tools but the rear was a bit tight. I got the job done but the process wasn’t exactly streamlined as I didn’t have a tool small enough to fit in the rear space. I ended up just using a Phillips bit and a pair of locking pliers. This worked but it definitely added some time to the install. Since then, I picked up this MicroDriver toolset from Gearwrench and I’m telling you, this is the tool to get for this install if you don’t want to remove the wheels. The MicroDriver allows you to essentially get into any space where you can fit a 1/4” bit. This is great for this install and has actually helped on a few other projects. This toolset is a definite recommend for any DIYer.

After about 11 months, there isn’t a significant amount of rust on the old hardware and it’s really only forming around the two ends with the screw head getting the worst of it. But I should mention that since installation, this car has only been driven in the rain a handful of times so this may be a less extreme example of the rust situation. Still, this isn’t anything that we’d want. If you are seeing any rust developing, definitely work to get the hardware changed out ASAP before it spreads to the body.

For me, it was only a matter of contacting ZL1 Addons to get a free set of new hardware. The one downside is that the new hardware is silver instead of black like the original set. The new hardware definitely sticks out a bit and that’s kind of a bummer but if the rusting issue goes away then I’d be happy. Of course, I can just paint over the heads with some touch up paint and call it a day.

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Valvomax Installed on the Toyota GR Supra MKV

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I recently made a video talking about the Valvomax oil drain valve and a viewer left a comment asking if the Valvomax would work on the MKV Toyota Supras.

Well, I actually planned on doing an oil change on my Supra and knew that I was going to attempt an install of the Valvomax. In this post, I want to share with you guys some of the things that I noticed during the process.

First things first, for those who have no idea what I’m talking about and have no idea what the Valvomax is, I highly advise you to watch the dedicated video that I made on the topic. That’ll get you up to speed for this post. For those who aren’t going to do that, a quick summary would be that the Valvomax is a valve that lets you control the stream of oil that comes out during an oil change. By the way, this is definitely something that I can recommend after doing an oil change on the Supra because she is a splatterer. The way the oil drains on this car is just a bit wild and a bit messy. Being able to control the stream is just a bonus.

Particular to the MKV Supra, you will need the Valvomax in size M12-1.50. I will have the exact item linked in the below for those who are interested.

As far as installing this part, there are a few minor challenges that we have to address in order to get the job done.

The first challenge is the amount of space that we have to work with. For those unfamiliar with the MKV Supras, the entire bottom is pretty much covered by plates and shrouds. Even the oil drain plug has a plastic cover over it. This cover makes it difficult to install the Valvomax because the Valvomax is significantly bigger than the stock oil drain plug nut. The Valvomax adds about an inch and even a bit more when we have the cap attached.

On my initial install, I thought that there would be no way that the Valvomax with cap would fit under the cover so I just took the cap off. This worked perfectly as the drain plug cover was able to be reinstalled, no problem. I can actually see that there was still a small gap between the two surfaces.

So, the next question is whether or not the cap would also fit under there. Well, the plain answer is yes. The Valvomax will fit with the cap installed under the drain plug cover. Things are a bit tight and you have to push the cover in a bit but everything does fit. I ultimately opted to keep the cap installed because it keeps dirt and debris from getting in the valve and possibly cause some issues.

Ok, now that we know that the Valvomax will fit, we’ll have to face the challenge of actually getting it installed. With my other vehicles, I just used a 24mm combination wrench to tighten the Valvomax down with no issues. Again, there really is no working space in this region of the Supra so the combo wrench was out of the question. If you want, you can take all the plates under here off, which can possibly make the install easier but I’m going to tell you flat out that that’s a waste of time. After some trial and error, I found that a 1” socket actually fits around the threads of the Valvomax and lets you get to the flat portions of the lug. There’s not too much space because there’s a raised lip around the drain opening but there was enough space for my socket to bite and properly tighten the Valvomax into place.

Now as far as torque specs, Toyota lists that the OEM drain plug should to be torqued to 18 ft-lbs but Valvomax has no specifications for their product. Their official website just says to snug it down so take that as you will.

To sum things up, yes the Valvomax can be installed on the A90 Supras relatively easily if you know what you’re doing. Hopefully, this post has given you all the information that you need to get the install done.

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ValvoMax Oil Drain Valve

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If you change your own oil, then I have an add-on that you’re going to love. This is the ValvoMax.

This post is going to be for those who are familiar with the oil change process. I’m not going to show you how to change a vehicle’s oil but will solely focus on the ValvoMax and how it can assist in the process.

To make it plain and simple, the ValvoMax is an oil drain valve. When changing the oil and after you’ve removed the oil drain plug to let the oil drain, instead of reinstalling the oil drain plug, you install the ValvoMax in its place.

So, what is the point of this?

Well, let’s take a look at the ValvoMax itself. This product consists of two main parts: the quick twist valve and the drain tube assembly. The quick twist valve is the part that takes the place of the oil drain plug and stays installed on the vehicle. The quick twist valve consists of the valve itself and a cap to protect the valve. The cap even has its own rubber seal and is held in place by the cap tether. When it comes time to do an oil change, we take the drain tube and screw it on to the quick twist valve. This opens the valve and oil begins to flow from the engine, through the drain tube, and into an oil collector.

Now if you’ve changed your own oil, then you’ve probably already figured out why something like this so great. If not, let me break with down for you. This product almost completely removes the possibility of making a mess. With this system, the oil drains in a much more controllable fashion. No more loosening the oil drain plug then quickly pulling it out as you try to dodge the stream of oncoming oil. No more worrying if you’ve positioned the oil catch pan in the right place. With the ValvoMax, the oil flows when you want it to and it can be controlled and repositioned.

If you watch the video above, you’ll notice that the larger oil pan that I was using to hold my used oil was actually half full. Midway through the oil drain, the pan started to overflow. Because I had the Valvomax installed, I was able to stop the oil drain and position a new oil pan. Had this had happened without the Valvomax, this oil change would’ve been a complete disaster for my driveway.

This is a pretty great system but I would say that there are some potential drawbacks. First, it’s pretty much guaranteed that it’ll take longer to drain the oil with the ValvoMax than if it were to just flow normally. The manufacturer advertises that oil will drain in 10 minutes or less and I assume that just depends on the amount of oil that needs to be drained. In any case, because the ValvoMax channels the oil into a smaller stream, it’ll flow slower and take more time to drain. I personally don’t mind this but it just depends on your needs. For reference, it took about 5 minutes to drain the 4-ish quarts of oil from the Corolla in the video.

Another potential drawback is the size of the ValvoMax. With the cap on, this thing sticks about an inch from the oil pan. The drain tube assembly also takes a bit of space when installed on the quick twist valve. Depending on your vehicle’s setup, you may not be able to fit the quick twist valve or it with the drain tube. This is not likely to be a problem for many people but a select few.

Lastly, the price of the Valvomax is also a pretty big turn-off. At $35 to $40, the ValvoMax is pretty pricey. If it were half that, this would almost be a no-brainer. But at the end of the day, only you can determine if this product is worth it for yourself. For me, because I keep my vehicles for a long time and do my own maintenance, it’s worth it in the long run.

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One Bucket Car Wash

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If you dabble in auto detailing for any amount of time, you’ve no doubt heard of washing a car with the two bucket method. All this means is that you use two buckets of water to wash a car. One bucket holds the mixed soap water and the other holds plain rinse water. The idea is that after you’ve scrubbed the car with a sponge or whatever from the soap bucket, you first work it out in the rinse bucket before reintroducing it back into the soap bucket. This removes the contaminants that the sponge picked up from scrubbing the car and doesn’t introduce them into the soap bucket, which will reduce your chance of scrubbing the car with the previously removed contaminants.

The ideology behind this method is sound in principle but in practice, it’s the best of a worst-case scenario. In reality, there’s always some amount of contaminant that will transfer from the rinse bucket to the wash bucket. To eliminate this problem, you’re going to need a bunch of rinse buckets to further minimize the cross-contamination with every bucket. That’ll work better in reducing scratches, but it’s completely not practical. Many of us are used to using 5-gallon buckets for a car wash. Just imagine the amount of water used as you fill up bucket after bucket just to transfer fewer contaminants. It’s a complete waste. So, what can we do that’s better. How about taking away the rinse bucket altogether?

Now, this may seem completely counterproductive considering what I just laid out with the two or more bucket method but stick with me. What we can do, is reduce the number of buckets but increase the amount of wash media. We can have just one bucket but use multiple sponges, clothes, or whatever. The idea is that we only use the wash media once. After each use as the media picks up those contaminants, we put it aside and just move on to the next one. This way, we for sure are not cross-contaminating and bringing dirt and debris into our clean soap bucket.

So then the question becomes, how many sponges do I need? Well, that’s going to be dependent on the vehicle and the user. Larger vehicles are naturally going to need more sponges than smaller vehicles. You can’t expect to be able to wash an F450 with the same number of sponges as a Smart car. Well, you can but then that would be counterproductive and you’ll end up unnecessarily dragging a dirty sponge around the surface of your vehicle. With this method, the more the better. I understand that it can be expensive so buy a bunch of sponges but it is what it is. If you’re serious about reducing those car wash-induced scratches, you got to put your money where your mouth is, at least with this method.

That being said this is what I do with my Supra. I break the entire car up into 5 sponges. The roof, front windshield, and rear windshield get one. The hood and front bumper get another. Then each side of the car from door to fender gets one. Then the rear end gets the final sponge. Now 5 sponges may not seem like a lot for all this area, but remember, the sponges have two large flat areas and some usable side space. It’s all about managing what you have.

Aside from reducing possible scratches, there are other benefits to the one bucket method. An easy one to see is the reduction of wasted water. Right off the bat, we’re saving one bucket and potentially 5 gallons of water. This helps the environment and helps with the water bill. The next benefit would be that this saves us some time. Without needing to rinse the sponge after ever use, we can just clean one panel after another without wasting time in between. This leads to another benefit and that is the reduction of time spent playing in the water. If you wash cars during cold climates then I’m sure you can understand my want of spending as little time in the bucket with the cold water as possible. Detailing outdoors in the winter sucks enough already, no need in getting physical damage from long exposure to cold water.

Overall, I really think that the one bucket method is a better approach than the two bucket method. It’s a bit more costly upfront with the cost of all the sponges but in the long run, it’s a worthwhile endeavor.

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