Oil Change question
 

Hello all,
I’m new here and a new Lexus owner.
i just bought an ‘07 ES350 from a friend of a friend. It has 180k and runs fantastic.

the light on the dash tells me oil change soon, will the light come on and stay on when it’s time to be changed? What kind of oil do I need to use?

one other thing off tangent it needs a key hole cap on the drivers side, are those easy to install?

thanks and looking forward to being a member here.

Rusty

Welcome to CL. You will learn a lot browsing through here and using the seach feature (the box at the top right of the main page) you will find that almost anything you want to ask has already been asked about these aging vehicles. FYI they are mechanical twins to the Toyota Camry.

See this to learn how to reset the oil maintenance reminder light. It turns on every 5000 miles.
It takes 5w-30 oil. It holds 6.5 quarts. I prefer synthetic oil.
Look at the engine fill cap as it will state what oil to use. FYI you need a special oil filter wrench to remove the canister that holds the oil filter.

Keep that oil and filter changed and use the Toyota filter.

Also, change all other fluids unless already done so.

Check when the last OC was done.

why use Toyota filter? Its not great and there are better filters.

Why do you say that?

Everyone has their opinion about oil brands and filters. Fresh oil at regular intervals and any new filter is better than not changing it regularly.
At least with this design we do not have to talk about anti-drain valve differences, it mostly boils down to the filter element construction and materials.

You made a statement to only use Toyota oil filter. Toyota oil filter will certainly do the job and works fine. I got nothing against it. However, it is not the only good filter and certainly not the "best". What do I consider better than OEM? Just to name a few: FRAM Endurance, Mobil1, Royal Purple, Amsoil. They provide better micron rating filtration and media (synthetic/blend, some are wire backed). They do cost more money than OEM. Do average person need it? Probably not. I change my oil every 10K miles, so I prefer something more durable for the longer drain. But thats just me.

Do you consider the fact that they have much greater restriction?

Some higher efficiency filters might have lower max flow rates vs OEM. As long as flow rate meets Toyota specifications, it makes zero difference that one filter has higher or lower max flow rate. Fram and many other after market filters meet and exceed OEM specifications.

oil change
 

Aloha Rusty, I have used Mobile One for as long as I can remember. The company that makes Mobile One makes Toyota oil. When I changed it in the summer, I used a Napa Gold filter. After 2K miles, (6 months) the oil was almost black. This time I bought a Toyota one.( less money) so we will see in a couple of thousand miles what it looks like. I don't drive much so I change at 6 months. When I was in a Cadillac club, they said that Fram used Teflon in their filters. Teflon can flake off and clog the journals. Do you have a shift flair when trans is cold?
Enjoy, I do Ed

That sounds like a tale based on some isolated incident. Perhaps related to cheap aftermarket oil filters