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I like to have my oil changed every 5,000 miles. The dealership gives me a hard time every time I have asked for the extra change.
Probably because with modern synthetic oils and proper filtering it's totally pointless to change oil more frequently than what the manufacturer says?? The service adviser is probably trying to do you a favor and save you some time and a little money.
I've always been told it's good to unscrew the oil cap on your engine before you drain, to break any potential vacuums and allow is to drain faster/better.
I've always been told it's good to unscrew the oil cap on your engine before you drain, to break any potential vacuums and allow is to drain faster/better.!
I doubt that's the reason - there isn't any significant "vacuum" between the oil cap and the oil sump. The reason I remove the oil cap first is so that it serves as a reminder to put new oil in before closing the hood.
What’s going on… Didn't notice a 3IS oil change DIY yet so thought I'd document mine..
So my old man and I own a little service shop and I decided to do my first oil change on my 2014 IS350 RWD ( non-fsport.. with f-sport front bumper and wheels )
I’m all about doing stuff myself obviously so here we go!
Here’s my equipment:
Oil Filter (Element - From local Toyota/Lexus Dealer)
Oil Filter “F" Cap Wrench (Online , Local Part Stores)
Oil Drain Container (I Used my old pro-grade one)
Funnel
10mm Socket (C’mon, you’re a car guy, right? :P)
14mm Socket (Remove Oil Plug)
6 x 1 Qt of Synthetic Oil - 0w20
Shop Towel(s)
Some kind of Shop Gloves
Note: Please be advised that I obviously lifted my car with a professional-grade lift. This will obviously not be the case with you. Please
be careful and maintain full precautions while lifting your car up with a jack, ramp or stands.
I got the oil filter from my local Toyota dealership. Oil from my preferred CarQuest.
(it's fully synthetic and I've trusted this particular store for XX years)
Feel free to get the oil & filter at the dealership (Lexus / Toyota)
Step 1: Lift the car up. Make sure you lift it in the right place…. Like so.. (Put those gloves on unless you do this on the reg!)
Notice the pieces of wood under my wheels.. Had to do it this way since I'm lowered on coilovers.
Step 2: Unscrew the screws that hold the plastic cover underneath your IS.
Step 3: Locate the screw for your oil pan. Grab your 14mm socket wrench and unscrew. Be aware of hot oil if you recently drove!
Here’s where you can notice how dark your oil is from all that driving.
Step 4: Once Oil drained from screw…. Wipe nicely and screw back on. Screw tight but make sure not to go wayyyyy too hard.
A big tip would be never to strip that screw… ever.
Step 5: Grab your “F” Cap wrench and locate the Oil Filter… It takes a bit to learn how to use it properly if you haven’t ever.
Slowly unscrew it with the wrench and let the oil pour into the drain container.
There will be A LOT of oil that comes out of this one. Feel free to throw the old filter in your drain container also.
Step 6: Once the oil is fully out, grab your brand new LEXUS / TOYOTA OEM oil filter and new rubber seal. Make sure you have a new rubber
seal too. You should never use the old one.
Step 7: Thoroughly clean out your old oil filter container and remove the oils oil filter along with your old rubber seal like so..
Step 8: Once cleaned and removed.. Grab your new oil filter and easily slide it onto your filter container.
Step 9: You can put the new oil filter seal back on now. Grab some oil onto your finger and rub it onto the rubber oil filter seal after too.
Step 10: Carefully screw the oil filter back into its original position with your hands, then fully tighten with your “F” Cap tool.
Step 11: Make sure all is tight…. Triple check that everything is looking good under your car. You will probably have to wipe excess engine oil that may be on the side of your engine block. Then you can grab your underbody plastic pieces and screw them back on with original screws.
Step 12: I am now lowering the car to get to the engine bay to put the new 0w20 Synthetic oil in. Let’s Go!
Step 13: Locate the Oil Cap… Unscrew and get a little funnel to start pouring!
Step 14: Pour about 6.5 quarts in… It’s a thirsty one!
Step 15: Screw the cap, while around the area, triple check everything.
Step 16: Start your IS for a second, then turn it off. Now check your engine oil levels with the dipstick!
Step 17: Time to reset your maintenance light.... Go into your car settings from the steering wheel and navigate to maintenance. Click reset!
Congrats… You’re all done.
Where did you get your "F" cap wrench and for how much (if you don't mind)? Great write-up, thank you!
For those of you who need some more info, i believe the part number for oil filter is 04152-YZZA3. Buy from a Toyota dealership if possible, my local lexus parts will not match price with the Toyota parts. For TGMO 0w-20 oil, toyota charges $7.26/qt, lexus charges $10. For filter, toyota charges $5.xx while lexus charges $10.
For those of you who need some more info, i believe the part number for oil filter is 04152-YZZA3. Buy from a Toyota dealership if possible, my local lexus parts will not match price with the Toyota parts. For TGMO 0w-20 oil, toyota charges $7.26/qt, lexus charges $10. For filter, toyota charges $5.xx while lexus charges $10.
I think you can definitely plug a plastic drain into the cap hole to keep a clean pour..
Originally Posted by evident
Good write up. Few questions:
Does anyone know if our cars will be able to go up rhino ramps on stock suspension?
When doing the oil filter, is this vehicle like the RX350's setup where you can plug a plastic drain plug into part of the filter cap to attach a hose to drain the filter without making a mess?
Fellas, i tried putting the car on jack stands today, i heard a loud crunch noise... yes that's my side rail bending sigh. Now i know the IS350 is way too heavy to be resting on 2 metal rail points. I then tried driving up ramps, not sure what brand but i had to remove the bottom scraper to get up there. Once up there, i didn't feel safe with the ramp slightly bulging, so i put the jack stands on the sides just in case. Turns out no F wrench means it's impossible to get the filter out. At that point I've lost all urge to change the oil. I decided to throw in the towel and went ahead and returned the filter and oil. Lexus had made it really difficult for owners to do something so simple. Looks like I'll be paying the $100 oil changes cause quite honestly, the hassle doesn't seem to be worth it anymore.
By the way, turns out the oil filter + gasket was about $7 at lexus dealership. At Toyota dealership, I had bought a dozen qts of 0-20 oil for $7.67ish each and was given 15% volume discount, and they didn't carry the A3 oil filer. Good luck to anyone else who tries to change oil without a professional lift.
seems like a much nicer set up than harbor freight or sears jack stands with generic U or V designs that mate to the car. too bad they are $260/pair ...
Another option is to make your own set of ramps out of wood, I had a friend that did this, his were reeeally long as his car was lowered and it worked out pretty nice. it looked similar to this (shameless google image find):
Might be a couple ideas for those checking out this thread and still want to tackle on their own. Sorry to hear the experience wasn't a good one for you Dark9t316, I wonder who else might run into the same thing..
Fellas, i tried putting the car on jack stands today, i heard a loud crunch noise... yes that's my side rail bending sigh. Now i know the IS350 is way too heavy to be resting on 2 metal rail points. I then tried driving up ramps, not sure what brand but i had to remove the bottom scraper to get up there. Once up there, i didn't feel safe with the ramp slightly bulging, so i put the jack stands on the sides just in case. Turns out no F wrench means it's impossible to get the filter out. At that point I've lost all urge to change the oil. I decided to throw in the towel and went ahead and returned the filter and oil. Lexus had made it really difficult for owners to do something so simple. Looks like I'll be paying the $100 oil changes cause quite honestly, the hassle doesn't seem to be worth it anymore.
By the way, turns out the oil filter + gasket was about $7 at lexus dealership. At Toyota dealership, I had bought a dozen qts of 0-20 oil for $7.67ish each and was given 15% volume discount, and they didn't carry the A3 oil filer. Good luck to anyone else who tries to change oil without a professional lift.
One option is to find a good indy shop and take the oil/filter to them and pay them to do it. You can get Mobil One 0w20 Extended Performance at Walmart (TGMO is supplied by Exxon Mobil) for around $6 a quart (5 qt jug). My shop charges $10 if I provide them the oil and filter. The key is it has to be a shop that you can really trust and you need to maintain good records and keep all receipts.
Fellas, i tried putting the car on jack stands today, i heard a loud crunch noise... yes that's my side rail bending sigh. Now i know the IS350 is way too heavy to be resting on 2 metal rail points. I then tried driving up ramps, not sure what brand but i had to remove the bottom scraper to get up there. Once up there, i didn't feel safe with the ramp slightly bulging, so i put the jack stands on the sides just in case. Turns out no F wrench means it's impossible to get the filter out. At that point I've lost all urge to change the oil. I decided to throw in the towel and went ahead and returned the filter and oil. Lexus had made it really difficult for owners to do something so simple. Looks like I'll be paying the $100 oil changes cause quite honestly, the hassle doesn't seem to be worth it anymore.
By the way, turns out the oil filter + gasket was about $7 at lexus dealership. At Toyota dealership, I had bought a dozen qts of 0-20 oil for $7.67ish each and was given 15% volume discount, and they didn't carry the A3 oil filer. Good luck to anyone else who tries to change oil without a professional lift.
not cool. can anyone else chime in with their experiences with ramps or jack stands? are there better jack stand resting points?
One option is to find a good indy shop and take the oil/filter to them and pay them to do it. You can get Mobil One 0w20 Extended Performance at Walmart (TGMO is supplied by Exxon Mobil) for around $6 a quart (5 qt jug). My shop charges $10 if I provide them the oil and filter. The key is it has to be a shop that you can really trust and you need to maintain good records and keep all receipts.
Good point, i do have a shop that i trust, in the heat of the moment i returned everything, should've held onto the oil and filter lol. Personally i hate going to the Lexus dealership, long wait times, appts 2 weeks out, customers have to pay for food (yea even toyota has better amenities), mediocre job, and who cares if there's a nice waterfall in the lobby.
Dang that sucks to hear about you're experience. How high had you jacked one side of the car when the side rail was crushed? Were you jacking beside the lift point, so you could put the jack under the lift point?
Eventually I'll give my first oil change a go on this car, but it does always make me nervous under really heavy cars and two piddly jack stands. I usually also leave the jack in place on one side once the car has been lowered onto the jacks.
I'm not a big fan of ramps, but the wooden ramps is a neat idea.
One day hopefully sooner rather than later I can have a big garage built where I can have a lift installed.
Dang that sucks to hear about you're experience. How high had you jacked one side of the car when the side rail was crushed? Were you jacking beside the lift point, so you could put the jack under the lift point?
Eventually I'll give my first oil change a go on this car, but it does always make me nervous under really heavy cars and two piddly jack stands. I usually also leave the jack in place on one side once the car has been lowered onto the jacks.
I'm not a big fan of ramps, but the wooden ramps is a neat idea.
One day hopefully sooner rather than later I can have a big garage built where I can have a lift installed.
you should never jack the car beside the lift point. there's a dedicated jack point in the center front of the vehicle as well as the rear. I hope he can chime in as to exactly what he did. I find it hard to believe that toyota would build a car that we cant place onto jack stands.
It doesn't seem like many people have done their own work on these cars yet. still waiting for an answer on whether anyone has driven this car up rhino ramps.
07-06-15, 11:35 AM
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