RX 350 Oil Change Procedure
08-23-09, 04:56 AM
#16
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2008 rx-350
Just did my first oil change on my Canadian made RX350 MY 2007. I don't have pictures, but description might help others.
Items needed:
1. 65mm end cap oil filter socket. Do not use combined 65/67mm socket as it is too deep. Purchased at NAPA for $9.00 USD.
2. 10mm socket for removing plastic oil filter cover (part of underbody plastic shroud)
3. 14mm socket to remove oilpan nut.
4. 3/8" drive ratchet wrench and extension to remove oil filter housing drain plug.
5. Toyota/Lexus oil filter insert. Contains a small and large rubber "O" ring and a plastic drain tube. Oil pan nut crush washer. $7.00 at the Lexus dealership.
6. 6.4 qts of oil.
7. Torque wrench (if so inclined)
I used solid ramps, but there appears to be enough clearance without.
1. Locate oil filter and oil pan nut. As you face the front bumper halfway between the center and left edge is a good reference point.
2. Slide under car. A plastic shroud covers the leading edge. Look up and you should see a plastic door with a hinge towards the front and two 10mm bolts towards the rear. This covers the oil filter housing. Remove the bolts and the cover should come off easily.
3. Use the 3/8" drive of your ratchet to remove the oil filter drain bolt. You may deed an extension. Once the bolt is removed, take the plastic drain tube and snap it into the opening. This requires a bit of force to overcome the spring loaded seal. Once in place, the oil from the housing will drain.
4. While letting this drain, remove the 14mm oil pan nut. You will find this located about a foot behind the oil filter. No plastic shroud covering it. The oil pan nut washer WILL stick to the oil pan. I needed to remove it with a sharp knife to shear it off. It does pop off in one piece.
5. Once the oil filter housing is drained, snap off the plastic tube. The rubber O ring that sealed the bolt will be removed by the tube. Don't worry, you have a new one.
6. Use the 65mm socket on your ratchet to remove the filter housing. Depending upon who muscled it on the time before, it may be easy or hard.
7. Upon removal of the filter housing, remove filter element and toss. Check inside of housing for debris (unlikely). Remove and replace large outer O ring. Remember to oil it. I roll it into place rather than stretch or drag to prevent any damage. Replace the small O ring at the base and thread the drain bolt back in place hand tight. Oil it as well.
8. Place new filter element into the housing. It is a snug fit. Thread the filter housing back into place by hand to prevent cross threading. It will not go on very far due to the rubber O ring. Use the 65mm filter socket on torque wrench to seat the housing and torque to 20 lb ft. (not very tight)
9. Use the 3/8 " extension on the torque wrench to tighten the filter housing drain bolt to 10 lb ft torque.
10. Place a new crush washer (from dealer) on pan nut and torque to 30 lb ft.
11. Use funnel to replace 6.4 qts oil and replace cover.
12. Start engine and check for leaks.
13. Replace oil filter housing cover with the two 10 mm bolts. These are plastic so be gentle. Just make them snug.
14. Pat self on back for a job well done.
Steve
Items needed:
1. 65mm end cap oil filter socket. Do not use combined 65/67mm socket as it is too deep. Purchased at NAPA for $9.00 USD.
2. 10mm socket for removing plastic oil filter cover (part of underbody plastic shroud)
3. 14mm socket to remove oilpan nut.
4. 3/8" drive ratchet wrench and extension to remove oil filter housing drain plug.
5. Toyota/Lexus oil filter insert. Contains a small and large rubber "O" ring and a plastic drain tube. Oil pan nut crush washer. $7.00 at the Lexus dealership.
6. 6.4 qts of oil.
7. Torque wrench (if so inclined)
I used solid ramps, but there appears to be enough clearance without.
1. Locate oil filter and oil pan nut. As you face the front bumper halfway between the center and left edge is a good reference point.
2. Slide under car. A plastic shroud covers the leading edge. Look up and you should see a plastic door with a hinge towards the front and two 10mm bolts towards the rear. This covers the oil filter housing. Remove the bolts and the cover should come off easily.
3. Use the 3/8" drive of your ratchet to remove the oil filter drain bolt. You may deed an extension. Once the bolt is removed, take the plastic drain tube and snap it into the opening. This requires a bit of force to overcome the spring loaded seal. Once in place, the oil from the housing will drain.
4. While letting this drain, remove the 14mm oil pan nut. You will find this located about a foot behind the oil filter. No plastic shroud covering it. The oil pan nut washer WILL stick to the oil pan. I needed to remove it with a sharp knife to shear it off. It does pop off in one piece.
5. Once the oil filter housing is drained, snap off the plastic tube. The rubber O ring that sealed the bolt will be removed by the tube. Don't worry, you have a new one.
6. Use the 65mm socket on your ratchet to remove the filter housing. Depending upon who muscled it on the time before, it may be easy or hard.
7. Upon removal of the filter housing, remove filter element and toss. Check inside of housing for debris (unlikely). Remove and replace large outer O ring. Remember to oil it. I roll it into place rather than stretch or drag to prevent any damage. Replace the small O ring at the base and thread the drain bolt back in place hand tight. Oil it as well.
8. Place new filter element into the housing. It is a snug fit. Thread the filter housing back into place by hand to prevent cross threading. It will not go on very far due to the rubber O ring. Use the 65mm filter socket on torque wrench to seat the housing and torque to 20 lb ft. (not very tight)
9. Use the 3/8 " extension on the torque wrench to tighten the filter housing drain bolt to 10 lb ft torque.
10. Place a new crush washer (from dealer) on pan nut and torque to 30 lb ft.
11. Use funnel to replace 6.4 qts oil and replace cover.
12. Start engine and check for leaks.
13. Replace oil filter housing cover with the two 10 mm bolts. These are plastic so be gentle. Just make them snug.
14. Pat self on back for a job well done.
Steve
08-24-09, 09:29 AM
#17
Yes, the same procedure because it is the same engine, good through 2009, too and possibly 2010 (?).
08-24-09, 03:17 PM
#18
Moderator
Here is the DIY oil change procedure with PICTURES. The GS350 and RX350 are done the same way. The old spin off type oil filter went away, starting with the 2007 model year.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...-pictures.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...-pictures.html
08-25-09, 09:46 AM
#19
Good link! I remember when the new 3.5 came out and nobody knew how to change their oil....
08-25-09, 11:51 AM
#21
The manual should be followed.
08-26-09, 02:45 PM
#22
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Ha! The oil change is now the same as on audis and possibly other makes, in a sense that the traditional metal oil filter is replaced with a filter canister and a soft filter, except, on audis the canister is plastic and prone to being cracked unless a proper socket is used to unscrew it and is much tougher to get to (German over-engineering, of course!) How much is that Toyota/Lexus wrench/socket that is used to unscrew the canister, by the way?
Last edited by bagsbie; 08-26-09 at 04:57 PM.
08-26-09, 08:05 PM
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08-27-09, 07:45 AM
#25
The element change is less cost (?) and/or environmentally friendly.
12-28-09, 01:37 PM
#26
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Thanks...
Hello - I just don't get a chance to come around often, but wanted to resurrect this thread and thank you 1Lieutenant for originally posting the steps for the RX350 oil change - it was helpful.
I did my first oil change this last weekend, unfortunately it did not go as smooth as I'd had hope. The "experts' at the dealership had overtightened the oil filter drain bolt, hence when I tried to remove the bolt the entire filter cover turned with it. Luckily, this didn't cause a big a mess as it could have. I then debated what to do since I could not muscle the drain bolt from the filter housing, and, eventually decided to keep the bolt on and continue with the filter/oil change.
The only downside at this point is that I was not able to replace the smaller O-ring for this change. I did however replace the larger O-ring. Before the next due oil change, I'll decide how to remove the oil filter drain bolt...I do plan on sharing this with the advisor/dealer since they were the last to perform an oil change before me this weekend.
Edit: Any suggestions to remove this would be appreciated. Else, I'll have to take it in to a shop or back to the dealer. It will be challenging to remove the bolt without removing the filter (given how tight it is on at the moment) and avoid a premature oil change.
Overall, I thought it was fairly straight forward...thanks again to those contirbuting to this topic.
I did my first oil change this last weekend, unfortunately it did not go as smooth as I'd had hope. The "experts' at the dealership had overtightened the oil filter drain bolt, hence when I tried to remove the bolt the entire filter cover turned with it. Luckily, this didn't cause a big a mess as it could have. I then debated what to do since I could not muscle the drain bolt from the filter housing, and, eventually decided to keep the bolt on and continue with the filter/oil change.
The only downside at this point is that I was not able to replace the smaller O-ring for this change. I did however replace the larger O-ring. Before the next due oil change, I'll decide how to remove the oil filter drain bolt...I do plan on sharing this with the advisor/dealer since they were the last to perform an oil change before me this weekend.
Edit: Any suggestions to remove this would be appreciated. Else, I'll have to take it in to a shop or back to the dealer. It will be challenging to remove the bolt without removing the filter (given how tight it is on at the moment) and avoid a premature oil change.
Overall, I thought it was fairly straight forward...thanks again to those contirbuting to this topic.
Last edited by DN328; 12-28-09 at 01:41 PM. Reason: addition of request...
12-28-09, 02:10 PM
#27
Hello - I just don't get a chance to come around often, but wanted to resurrect this thread and thank you 1Lieutenant for originally posting the steps for the RX350 oil change - it was helpful.
I did my first oil change this last weekend, unfortunately it did not go as smooth as I'd had hope. The "experts' at the dealership had overtightened the oil filter drain bolt, hence when I tried to remove the bolt the entire filter cover turned with it. Luckily, this didn't cause a big a mess as it could have. I then debated what to do since I could not muscle the drain bolt from the filter housing, and, eventually decided to keep the bolt on and continue with the filter/oil change.
The only downside at this point is that I was not able to replace the smaller O-ring for this change. I did however replace the larger O-ring. Before the next due oil change, I'll decide how to remove the oil filter drain bolt...I do plan on sharing this with the advisor/dealer since they were the last to perform an oil change before me this weekend.
Edit: Any suggestions to remove this would be appreciated. Else, I'll have to take it in to a shop or back to the dealer. It will be challenging to remove the bolt without removing the filter (given how tight it is on at the moment) and avoid a premature oil change.
Overall, I thought it was fairly straight forward...thanks again to those contirbuting to this topic.
I did my first oil change this last weekend, unfortunately it did not go as smooth as I'd had hope. The "experts' at the dealership had overtightened the oil filter drain bolt, hence when I tried to remove the bolt the entire filter cover turned with it. Luckily, this didn't cause a big a mess as it could have. I then debated what to do since I could not muscle the drain bolt from the filter housing, and, eventually decided to keep the bolt on and continue with the filter/oil change.
The only downside at this point is that I was not able to replace the smaller O-ring for this change. I did however replace the larger O-ring. Before the next due oil change, I'll decide how to remove the oil filter drain bolt...I do plan on sharing this with the advisor/dealer since they were the last to perform an oil change before me this weekend.
Edit: Any suggestions to remove this would be appreciated. Else, I'll have to take it in to a shop or back to the dealer. It will be challenging to remove the bolt without removing the filter (given how tight it is on at the moment) and avoid a premature oil change.
Overall, I thought it was fairly straight forward...thanks again to those contirbuting to this topic.
I don't bother fussing with the small drain on the oil filter cannister.It's just not worth the extra bit of hassle.I just go with the tool and remove the assembly.A bit messy but worth it to me.
No need to replace the small O ring if you don't remove the plug.Dealer service probably doesn't take the small plug off to drain the cannister.
12-28-09, 06:33 PM
#28
Would have been awesome if pics were taken and posted...wishing...so we can see how it can turn fugly...
12-29-09, 06:29 AM
#29
Great dyi write up.
I have never heard of an oil filter housing drain, that is fantastic. I look forward to that in the my next RX.
Once again as several posters have stated, the peace of mind doing it yourself and knowing it was done right is priceless? I hate when other people work on anything of mine because you don't know if they take pride in their work or not. I am always skeptical and sometimes have tell the service writer.."I am **** about me vehicles, so make sure a quality tech" works on my vehicle..
I have never heard of an oil filter housing drain, that is fantastic. I look forward to that in the my next RX.
Once again as several posters have stated, the peace of mind doing it yourself and knowing it was done right is priceless? I hate when other people work on anything of mine because you don't know if they take pride in their work or not. I am always skeptical and sometimes have tell the service writer.."I am **** about me vehicles, so make sure a quality tech" works on my vehicle..
12-29-09, 10:25 AM
#30
Lexus Champion
