DaveJ

Sadly, after having my GS300 AWD for about 1-1/2 weeks, I noticed it was leaking oil. It would drop about 4-6 drops after shutting the engine off and left overnight. The drops came from the area roughly just right of center (towards the driver's side) under the engine.

The dealer picked the car up on Monday, and I picked it up on Thursday. The problem was a leak in the oil filter housing (p/n 15670-31020). It's a cast aluminum part that houses the oil filter cartridge and it attaches to the oil pan. The housing was leaking at a seam. This engine uses an oil fiter cartridge, not a typical screw on oil filter. It took the dealer 3 days to receive the part from Lexus California. I was not a happy camper. No clear cut explanation as to why it wasn't delivered overnight on Tuesday like I was originally told.

The good news is that this oil filter housing has been redesigned. My original housing had no provision for draining the oil. So once you opened the housing from the bottom, whatever oil was in there will spill out everywhere. The new housing with the same part number has a drain bolt on the bottom to first drain the oil before removing the cover. The other good news is that the engine now has fresh new oil after about 500 miles. It saved me the expense of having an oil change done at 1000 miles.

The dealer said a TSB wasn't issued for the housing. But if you change your own oil, you may want to have the dealer check your housing and replace it with a newer one with the drain bolt. Hopefully my leaking housing was just a fluke and not a manufacturing defect across the board. Lexus is requiring the dealer to return my housing to Lexus for examination.

LS4fun

You were planning to change your oil at 1000 miles?

chuckb

I would with a brand new motor. You never know what shavings or contaminants are in a brand new motor, better safe than sorry.

TLW

yeah M its a very good idea to change the factory oil at 1000-1500 miles

and start the syn oil

DaveJ

Yes, I was planning on changing the oil at 1000 miles.

Traturn

I can try to give some explination for this.

generaly Lexus gets all parts overnight. In order for that to happen the part in question must be at a dealer's facing parts distribution center.

At this time there are none of those filter housing/brackets at any pdc's across the nation, so it had to come out of one of the big parts centers in californial or the mid-west.

So the advisor telling you they should have the part the next day was accruate for 98% of the time. unfortuanlty you hit the 2% excpetion and the part was not readily available.

Assuming they picked up the car after noon on monday and it got immediatly looked at, its quite likely that the part didnt actualy get ordered ti'll Tuesday. Most likely the part shipped out of a parts center Tuesday or Wednesday and it was repaired by thursday for you to pick up. Still just a 1-2 day turnaround by what you're saying, which is pretty darn good for a part thats not localy available !

glad it got fixed, havent heard about this at all.

DaveJ

Traturn, thanks for the explanation. Do you work for Lexus or a dealer?. Yes, I knew the part came out of Lexus distribution in California, but I didn't know that was different than there normal source of parts.

The car was picked up at 8am on Monday, and I was told by mid afternoon the source of the oil leak and the part was ordered that day.

I have no issue with my dealer. I had one of their loaner RX330s the whole time, and because the GS is a brand new model, I'm understanding of the lack of parts availability. However, my issue is that every day, including Monday, I was told the part would be in the next day. And in fact the very day I picked the car up, earlier that morning again they told me the part would not be in until the next day (Friday). That's when I became irratated. Then a few hours later, surprise! They called and said they have the part and the car would be ready in a few hours, which it was.

To be clear, the intent of my original post was not to complain about Lexus service. Rather, it was to inform club members of the matter so they could be watchful of a potential oil leak. And also to bring to iight the new housing design. I still remain a very happy customer and love my GS300!

trent

I'll keep an eye out for any leaks on my car also since I have less than 200 miles on my car, hopefully it was just an isolated defective part.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

I'm gald you got it all worked out, but I have a question about this oil cartrige thing. Does this mean it is a Lexus part only? Is the aftermarket moving to make these types of oil cartriges? I generally use OEM oil filters mostly anyway, but I just don't like the idea of being forced to buy OEM if I don't want to.

DaveJ

I don't know, but since this is a brand new engine I would imagine it will take some time for the aftermarket companies to have a suitable replacement. Although I suppose the filter could share a common design with another Toyota/Lexus filter, but probably doubtful.

It's a moot point for me as I'll have Lexus do the oil changes probably for the length of the warranty.

beemreatr

The aftermarket will catch on. My Aprilia takes these as well, and now K&n makes them.