bacalexus

Hi,

Today, after getting Toyota genuine oil filter (same # with ES350), and oil filter special tool from amazon.com, I changed my engine oil.

Previously, my 2008 ES350 had been always serviced by a Lexus dealer.

I had to use extension pipe to loosen the oil filter plug and the filter housing as well.

How come the dealer tightened it too tight.

The torque specs are very low: Filter housing: 25 +/- 5 N.m, and the filter drain: 12.5 +/- 2.5 N.m. Had they torqued them properly, it would have been so so easy to loosen.

Disappointing. My expectation, by paying CAD$94 +tax, is that they are doing the proper, professional job , following the spec.

Anyway, I reinstalled the filter housing, tightened to27 N.m and filter drain to 15 N.m.

The bottom line: Never trust the dealer 100% ha ha.

Thanks, bye.

A

dreyfus

Just another reason, besides saving money, for doing this yourself.

oldgrump

A dealer mech is just going to use "feel" on a job like the torquing of the filter housing cap/drain plug etc. They'll also give the sump drain plug just "a little extra" just to make sure that it ain't coming loose. I'll bet that they also don't bother to use the filter drain either.......which may explain why it was so damn tight.

RickC5

+1 on THAT!

AlexusAnja

I've never seen any shop tighten a wheel nut by a torque wrench either. They just pneumatic the nut right in full force which is why a lot of time the thread is crossed or you can't get it off for a flat tire.

jagtoes

Most dealers and upscale tire sellers use torque sockets. These are preset to the correct torque rating of each car and wheel. If you have been to some tire shops and ordered tires you will see them slip a colored socket into your tire order. This is for the tech so that he does not over tighten the lug nuts. As to cross thread you just can't fix stupid.

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

I've been changing my own oil for better than 50 years. Anyone who uses any kind of wrench to tighten an oil filter is IMHO, nuts. Every filter I have ever seen or used is Hamd Tighten Only. No torque settings are necessary. I'm old school, and rather than put a film of oil on the filter gasket, I use Vaseline. Over the yeares, I have only encountered only 2 Oil filters that were put on too tight.. Once on my Porsche 944 that had canaster filter. I punched a hole in it, it was messy, and I forced a screw driver through it. I managed to get it off. The second time was on a friend's ISF. I broke my filter wrench on that one He ended up going to a dealer to get it removed

Moral - Hand Tighten an oil filter when replacing

Lou

oldgrump

The cannister/cartridge type oil filter such as the ES350 filter is not like the "old" spin-on filters where most were tightened about 3/4 to 1 turn "by hand". With most spin-ons you were compressing a flat neoprene gasket/seal which also supplied the resistance to loosen/back off (and leak). The Lexus filter cap uses an "O" ring in a groove that seals ("point contact") in the bore of the filter housing. The cap is threaded into the filter housing until the flange makes contact (metal to metal) with the lip of the housing. It does require a snug-up, nip-up, or torquing.......whatever you want to call it (thus the torque spec.) to ensure that it won't loosen/back off. I've been around long enough to have owned a car (my first) with no oil filter, a car (my second) that had a center bolt type cannister oil filter (that I later converted to the "new" spin-on type which I thought was the best thing since sliced bread) and a bunch with spin-ons, and now I'm back with this cannister type on the ES350. At least it's not on an aircraft engine.......it would have to be lockwired!

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Do you let the cannister drain?
I just loosen the whole assembly and let it drain a bit.Never take the cannister drain plug off.
I hear most shops do the same thing rather than bother with the drain plug on the cannister.
I wish the ES had a spin on,though.

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

Yes, I let the Cannister drain. It makes the job a little cleaner IMO. The filter on my ISF is mounted horizontally so there is no drain on the cannister assy. I wish there was.

Lou

oldgrump

I've used the filter drain on both oil changes that I've done just to keep from getting oil down the arm when lying on the ground under the car. If I had the luxury of a hoist or pit I probably would not bother. Supposedly Lexus and others have gone to the cannister type filters for "environmental" reasons, but I wonder if there were other reasons. Cartridge type filters can more easily be checked for what's been caught in the filter, but with the two filter changes that I've accomplished (I did the first one myself before the dealer 5000 mi. check) I have not found anything as one would expect with a modern, plain bearing, simple piston engine (and with a quality engine build). One would think that the cannister type filters would be cheaper than spin-ons but the OEM Toyota filters are about a buck more than I was paying for the OEM Nissan spin-ons for my Maxima. Spin-ons have been known to leak due to not being tightened sufficiently and/or poor seal material that shrinks/hardens. The Lexus filter installation "should be" Murphy proof and it should never loosen/leak but it should still be checked for leaks on the first engine startup and again after the engine (and the oil) is up to operating temp. With the vertical orientation of the filter this allows one to fill the filter cap (with the filter in the cap) with oil before installing the cap.......fractionally decreases the time for the oil pressure to build up. My other car has a spin-on and I've never had any issues with spin-ons, and I also still prefer them.

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

As far as cost, I'm paying less than $5.00 bucks ea. for the Toyota filters for both my ES and ISF (the ISF filter is a lot longer, but same price). The Purlator spin-on that I use on my truck costs nearly twice as much.

Lou

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

I dont understand how can u overtight the drain bolts. Especially coming from the dealer. They must have used an electric gun or impact to tighten them.

kanu

Consider yourself lucky that they only overtorqued it. When I foolishly allowed my Lexus dealer to perform the first free oil change, they torqued the filter housing to 45 lb-ft using a pipe wrench. I had to spend 10 minutes filing down the raised metal before I could get the proper wrench to slide onto the filter.

As for oil filter prices, you can generally find cases of 10 genuine Toyota filters for the ES350 on eBay for around $40 delivered.

tolian21

Just ordered from Amazon TOY 640 wrench to remove filter, also got all the sockets and extensions. $100 oil changes are insane at the dealer, plus they use Quaker State synthetic oil, and my preference is Mobil1 which they dont have.