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I too was all ready to buy an oil pump when I heard some MB owners swear by them... until one of my buddies pointed out all the crud that collects in your oil pan. With the oil hot and the drain plug removed, some of the crud has a chance to drain with each sucessive oil change.
While the pumps are convenient, I like the piece of mind of letting the oil drain from the pan.
P.S. Besides changing the oil/filter with Mobil 1 every 5k miles, I also throw a bottle of Chevron Techron fuel system cleaner in at the same time. Dealers try to charge big $$$ by offering fuel injector cleaning using Techron (yes, I realize that the dealers use a machine to pump it under pressure... but you only need that under severe cases, ie, you neglected to use good gas under prolonged periods).
FWIW,
TC
Do you think draining the dirty oil out the drain plug will remove all the oil? ... plus if you have "crud" on the bottom of your oil pan, then it's time for the auto-rx treatment. I have the MityVac oil extractor, and have been using it on my VW Passat & my wife RX300 for the past years. Makes changing oil a cinch ... but the proverbial question is whether the MityVac removes as much oil as the conventional draining from the plug, I did a simple test by removing the drain plug after I used the MityVac, and it was bone dry, not a drop from the drain hole. So props to the oil extractor MityVac, highly recommended.
Anywhoo, must agree with most folks that the oil filter is a PITA to get to. I usually put on my old long sleeve thick sweater to keep my arms from getting toasted, works well for me.
Regarding oil filter, the universal concensus in this forum and the VW/Audi crowd is to stay away from the radio active orange canistor from Fram. I've been using PureOne PL20252 for the past 50K+ miles. It's about 50% larger than the OE filter. Filter element is synthetic material, and by-pass valve PSI rating is about the same as OE filter.
After all the talk on difficulty in removing the oil filter on the Rx I was wondering if any McGiver-type individual has thought of an filter relocating kit for the Rx
The Greddy oil filter reloc. is popular among the VW & Audi crowds with the B5 & B5.5 platform. Especially those with the V6 engine, where the only way to access the oil filter is to lift the car, and remove the underlining plastic belly pan. Some of these folks installed this just so they can use the oil extractor (complete oil change without having to crawl underneath the engine bay).
Thanks to you who have written so much on oil change process. I have a few "mods" based on the IS 250 engine shroud design. They are listed below.
The oil pan drain plug is particularly flimsy and use much care to not strip the plug either removing or instally it.
The 2009 IS250 AWD , below the filter area (left front of engine block) has a split bottom shroud that is “hinged” and secured with one screw and one plastic “push-pin”. A short bungee cord to hold the shroud open is helpful.
This IS250 filter housing cap has a smaller drain plug in the center of the “cap” which will drain about 90% of the oil in the filter housing.
Then, using a filter cap wrench, remove the filter housing cap, trying to avoid the inevitable oil gush.
The Puralator replacement filter came with a plastic drain plug valve arrangement and matching o-ring which seemed a waste after following the above process. So I just replaced the full o-ring, the filter tightened things up, added the oil and was finished.
Ahh, she purrs like a kitten and thanks to you who did the hard work, I was done in 2 hours.
I could not get the filter out - after messing with it for an hour I finally went to home depot and bought a Husky Universal 3-Jaw Oil Filter Wrench:
(Tool Model # HU3JFW Home Depot Internet #204762449 Home Depot Store SKU #1000029976)
This was the configuration of available craftsman tools that finally did the trick accessing from the top after removing small bracket (10 mm bolt) that loosened the AC hose:
I could not get the filter out - after messing with it for an hour I finally went to home depot and bought a Husky Universal 3-Jaw Oil Filter Wrench:
(Tool Model # HU3JFW Home Depot Internet #204762449 Home Depot Store SKU #1000029976)
This was the configuration of available craftsman tools that finally did the trick accessing from the top after removing small bracket (10 mm bolt) that loosened the AC hose:
It get's easier over time. I found that I like the oil caps which slip over the oil filter the best. I now own just about every size oil filter cap, so it's a breeze. Just gotta make sure the exhaust manifold is cool.
08-27-04, 11:38 AM
OMG this was Easy - 2009 IS250 AWD
