rbx10

Hello my enthusiast friends:

I was doing my first oil change on the Lexus. I got everything in order and was mad excited. I even bought a creeper...so I was ready to go.
To my surprise, I notice the first 12 mm bolt was missing. Upon further investigation, I realize this bolt had been broken in. I bet you the dealer broke it and never told the owner.They probably figured that the owner would not know about it.
Anyway, when I tried to remove the second 12 mm bolt, my 3/8 drive would not budge it at all. I applied some WD40, and even tried to unscrew with a pair of pliers, and still got nothing. Even if my life had depend on it this bolt I would not be able to take out. Anyway the other 2 -12 mm bolts were rusted as heck, but they came out with no problem.

When I tried to remove the 10 mm bolts, they both broke off as I was ratcheting them out with my socket wrench. I couldn't believe it. However, those 2 were not rusted. Not sure why they broke. So I end up buying a oil filter wrench to try to get the filter from the top. I had trouble getting a grip so I had to get some help.

Btw, the plate cover for my oil pan is missing I bet you some lazy dealer guy forgot to put it back and the poor previous owner was not even aware of it (smh).

Now I need to figure out how am I going to remove the rusted 12 mm.

Is this a common thing for the bolts to be rusty underneath the Lexus, or am I just the lucky one ? I'm going to make a priority to change all the bolts under neath the truck. Starting with the skid plates.

Sorry for the long post fellas. But I need to vent a bit as I spend half of the day fighting with bolts and oil filter and was frustrated. My new K&N filter I installed will make life easier `
Thanks

clubsport

it depends on the technician, the shop, and the dealership... for my infiniti g35 coupe i took it to the infiniti dealership several times and i can tell ya that someone didn't care about my undertow cover cuz they the screws' bases went through the plastic covers and when they change out the headlamp bulbs they didn't bother putting plastic rivet clips back on... i went back and beotch at them and they gave me a whole new bag of clips and bolts and new cover... so yeah sometimes the dealership can screw things up for ya...

as far as my gx470 i have not had lexus do much with it yet... but the bolts under my truck are rusted tho...

Bob GX

What a horror story - there's almost nothing worse than seeing the results of poor, careless maintenance. I do as much routine maintenance on ny GX as I can - no one cares as much about my car as I do!

If you don't know the complete history on your car - it might not have been a Lexus dealer who screwed it up. Could have been any shop or even the previous owner.

Any 'good' mechanic should have the tools and know-how to remove the broken off bolt. Might be worth it to you for the long run to get things fixed, buy new bolts, etc, so you don't have a constant reminder of someone else's careless work.

cdew002

I am down to three working bolts on the skid plate as well - and one of those is close to stripped out. I have a lot of surface rust on that area and is likely the culprit (along with negligent mechanics).

As far as the stuck bolt, just use a cheater bar long enough (and gently enough - liberal application of WD40 or whatever "un-stick" sauce you want to use), and it will come off.

You can drill out the broken bolt and then break it off depending on how much is sticking out and how much room you have to hit it with something.

ALAN553

The bolts do rust, i have always coated them with some grease before putting them back. The dealer at one point obviously ruined one and redrilled a new hole with another bolt. The plastic cover over the drain plug was missing at one point but i can see they dont have much life to them and they dont serve much of a purpose other than "cosmetic"

tz693

It happened to me when I did my first DIY oil change on my GX. I got the skid plate's bolts so rust to be removed. I even broke one 12mm bolt. I had tried WD40 and Blaster PB without success. I finally end up used torch to heat them up in order to loose them. Just be very careful if you would like to do the same way.
I was wondering how the Lexus dealer did it (without removing the skid plate?) a couple month ago when I bought it from them.
Good luck.

MSGX470

Sorry to Hear that, sometimes the small things are the biggest PITA. No doubt, replace all those bolts, use stainless if you can get them, stainless is slightly softer than steel but the Skid Plate bolts are not "Load Bearing" so it won't matter and you will never have to worry about rust again. However any place where there is a substantial load use high strength steel, buy a couple extras and replace them often, also a little grease on them doesn't hurt.

sidwin

man that sucks... why does the skid plate have to be removed? can the oil filter be reached from above? i'll cut the skid plate if that will make the oil change easier. I did that on my 2nd gen sequoia. works great.

clubsport

the oil filter is easily reached from the top with a foot tall stool... just use the flexible jt and open ended ring style and it comes off easy... just like on my jeep...

oil change on this truck should be easy if ur near a driveway and don't mind oil from filter trickling down... no lift needed...

jafoo

I just did my first oil change and have a simular issue; i was missing one of the larger bolts but there is only a small hole. So from the factory they never drilled out the hole and welded a nut on it. I bought it with 75K on it and I cannot believe that Lexus never fixed this issue. They did every oil change on it up to 70K. I also have one of the larger bolts starting to strip.
As for freeing up the broken stud, soak it with PB Blaster every day for almost a week, drill out center of stud and use an easy out. If stubborn use a propane/map gas torch to heat, but be careful. When reinstalling these bolts use anti-sieze on them, I never have this happen afterwards.

rbx10

Yo Jafoo sorry to hear you went to the same problem. This is getting to be ridiculous with Lexus dealers man. I mean they are seeing these bolts rusted,shut, and broken in, and yet they're not even telling the owners. smh. People are paying top dollars to get their vehicles service there.

Thanks for the advice.
-rbx10

rbx10

Yo Clubsport
I could reach the oil filter with the oil filter wrench around it. I just don't have room to start turning the wrench. I have the antifreeze hose in the way and other components. I even removed the antifreeze hose. Now I'm using the K&N fitler so the architecture of that filter should allow me to just take out with a regular wrench. My GX is an 08 what is your model ?

Appreciate your response thanks.
rbx10

clubsport

rbx10, mine is 2004

i have heard other people saying the same issue you have with 03 05 as well, they're about the same spacing inside... use a flexible joint... the hardest part is gettin the wrench on filter bc once that's done a small twiste loosen it up and then you grab with your hand to remove filter... small twist with wrench then use hand...

gl

RickC5

FYI- After reading about all these rusted bolts, I decided to be pro-active and check my bolts before I got surprised during my first oil change (truck had new oil in it when we bought it a month ago).

I pulled one 10mm bolt and one 12 mm bolt and guess what? Yep, the threads on both bolts were coated with anti-sieze! Yay! I guess we get lucky once in awhile.

BTW- If you don't have any anti-sieze at home, just use a smear of a good quality grease. It will work fine, but may need to be refreshed at each oil change, so just take a minute or two and put a little grease on the threads of each bolt.

IanB2

I did my first oil change last night, twisted the heads off 2 of the skidplate bolts, and there was one broken off already from someone previous working down there, so now I can't put the skidplate back until I get those broken off bolts removed, run a tap through the holes, and get some new bolts and anti-seize. What a PITA.