I just bought a 2015 Rav4 in April and took it in for its first oil change yesterday. Apparently, whoever owned my car before me had either tried to change the oil themselves or went to a bad garage, because they had used what we think is a screwdriver to pry the housing out, seriously gauging the thread. Somehow when they put the housing back, they wedged something inside so it wouldn’t leak. The techs at my garage replaced the filter and then couldn’t get it to stop leaking. When they looked closely, they found a serious problem. They tried new housings with no luck and are not going to stick me with the same problem I had before, by jerry-rigging something together. What I need to know is: is this fixable? Or am I looking at a new engine block after owning this car for four months?
That is a sad story, was there a waurantee with the car? We got a 2017 and it came with 2 years free oil changes and tire rotations. Boy that screwed up i do not know the parts and materials involved, but would try for a return, as that is something you cannot live with.
Have them use BLACK RTV to hold this mess together so you can drive the car while you get this sorted out. Hopefully you bought a car this new from a dealer and can get something taken care of.
Black RTV can mask a lot of problems and keep this thing running but you don’t want to have to do this each time the oil is changed. RTV comes in many colors which all mean different things. You want black for this job.
Keep checking the oil as well in case the leak returns before this is sorted out.
Ask this repair service if they can fit a oil filter relocation kit. I do know at one time Fram had a kit that would put the filter up higher so you could change it from the top instead of underneath the vehicle. They might need to contact a hot rod shop. There are also kits to fit some vehicles so you can use a spin on filter.
toyotas use a filter housing. the housing has a screw on cap. the housing itself is bolted to side of block. the housing can loosen and leak from the o-ring seal at the housing base. not the cap. did the oil change monkey try and unscrew the housing? cant believe he would not have some experience with oil filter housings as many new cars have them.
I’m curious as to what the specific damage is that can’t be corrected with a new housing. All that I can imagine is the sealing surface of the block where the O-ring fits. If so why and how did some dummy get into that area a tool and do the damage? The most common problem with installing that filter is improperly locating the O-ring on the housing then when it leaks attempting to tighten the housing. The original housings are usually plastic and it is unlikely that over tightening it or cross threading it could damage the block. Like so many problems posted here a photograph would be a big help to determine the problem and offer suggestions to correct it.
It took a while to get photos, but this is what we’re dealing with 
Closer look 
I think you are going to have to sand down the scratches and fill in the pits with epoxy. Take a close look and see if the housing is cracked, that may have to be repaired.
The lower part of that engine is called the “stiffening crankcase assembly”, it appears to be sold with the engine block.
That can be replaced.
If that part was super hard to replace I might be inclined to dress up those damaged threads and call it a day. Grind away the lead in thread past the damaged section and then smooth out the second thread so the mating piece doesn’t get hung up on it. Plenty of remaining threads to do the job.
The person that did the initial damage should never be allowed to hold a tool again…
Mike’s right that the oil filter housing can be replaced, but he showed one for a 3.5L 6-cyl. This one is for the 2.5L 4-Cyl. Check around and see if you can find the parts only elsewhere.
This vehicle does not have the 2GR series V-6 engine, it has the 2AR-FE engine. The oil filter housing is part of the crankcase assembly.
You’re right…I thought it was the V6.
This may be expensive to replace, but I think it’s the best long term option.
I’m thinking a good machine shop should be able to sort this out.
Do you want to fix it right, or fix it good enough, Like I said previously I think a return or have them fix it would be best. Now if it was my old car and I had to do something the first thought is at the end of the day the important part is how tightly does the gasket seal. The small bends could be fudged back in line, the big threads do the best and make it a clean path for the filter to screw on tightly. Good Luck with that!
The main problem is the damage to the sealing area of the filter cap O-ring, those will need to be filled in, the treads aren’t really a big problem.
I’ve been following this thread and I can’t for the life of me imagine how that happened?? I mean once you unscrew the filter cap there’s no reason to put a tool anywhere near the inside of the filter housing.
The filter may have been stuck on tight, so they poked it through with a screwdriver to get leverage to unscrew it, and the screwdriver hit the sealing area instead.
If I had that problem I’d ask an auto machine shop’s opinion as mentioned above by @PvtPublic. That’s what I’d do as the first course. They may be able to fix that w/out much problem. If someone other than a machine shop attempts the fix and bodges the job, OP may find themselves in worse shape than they are now. Suggest to at least get an opinion from a good automobile machine shop.
I suspect the guy doing the oil change didn’t have access to the proper tool(s) and instead used a hammer and chisel to loosen the housing
or maybe a pipe wrench . . .
I’ve seen guys do really dumb things
Did you look at the exploded view . . . ?!
This vehicle doesn’t use a stamped steel spin-on filter