350gold

I have 160k miles on my car and have always had my service (including oil/filter changes) done with my dealer. Car is running well but wondered if I could now save some money and go to a regularly oil change shop?

igzy

Entirely up to you I've been doing my own oil changes since the day I got my ES...

ToledoRX

I hear a lot of nightmare stories about some of the oil change shops and how they forget to change the oil filter, or are just plain careless (other posters probably share their experiences)

I just do my own oil change. It's $5 for an oil filter, $20 for 4-5 qts of synthetic premium. It takes about 20 minutes do it yourself and instructions can be found online or on Youtube.

Clutchless

A step in between the dealer and the quickee oil change places is an independent foreign car repair shop. Especially if you go to one that specializes in Toyota/Lexus as they have the same engines & transmissions & brakes. A good way to find such a place is via the web site of the Car Talk radio show guys where readers recommend their favorite repair shops https://www.cartalk.com/mechanics-files
They will provide work as good as or better than the dealer for less money and be less inclined to sell you unneeded repairs.

Dallasguy1

I buy my own oil/filter and let my mechanic friend put it on for me as I don't have time and patience to do it myself and since he does infront of me so I know what is going on with my car. Mobil1 full synthetic good for 5k.

chuyrobles

You could have been doing that from the beginning.

I do my own oil changes as well. However, for the work vehicle I drive, I have to take it to a certified shop. I like the ones where you drive over the bay and never have to get out of your car. In my area there are two such shops: Oil Changer and Valvoline. I've been using them for 15 some years and they have never failed me. They also do coolant flushes and ATF drain/refill.
https://www.vioc.com/
http://oilchangerinc.com/

brucelee1

iTrader: (2)

Do it yourself, it is quite easy. The money you save can be used to put a synthetic oil in there.

chuyrobles

The TS is not going to do it him/her self. Someone who has always had their oil change at the dealer is not a DIY'er. Or, maybe they can't because they live at an apartment complex where working on your car is forbidden.

ThumperPup

i go to the dealership because of the oil change maintance packages they sell and because if I have an issue sometimes lexus takes note in loytaly of those who go to dealers for there service
so far they have been helpful a few times with getting reparis done where I have had to pay less for the parts or they send the parts for fre and I just pay the labor once most recently they over this past spring lexus paid for my rear lateral links had to be repalced car had well over 160k on it and lexus paid for the reparis parts and labor because of how loyal I am. so the big thing is just about loyalty
i go sometimes when I'm on road trips to get oil changes where ever they have time when I'm not able to sit and wait around
the one thing I would suggest is go to a place with a waiting area and a window that looks into the service area so that you can actually see they are doing everything they are supposed to if your worried about them forgetting oil filters or stuff like that.

tolian21

I used to go to Lexus dealer to have oil changed. I finally got fed up with the dealer, and started changing oil myself. Every time I would schedule an appointment to change oil. When I would arrive on time, it would always take at least 1.5-2hours to change oil. I got tired of wasting my time. On top of that, synthetic oil change would always cost $90-100 and they would put some ****** pennzoil synthetic. On top of that, they would always try to milk money by suggesting services that are not needed, like changing power steering fluid when car had only 30K miles.
So I got myself Ramps and Jacks. First oil change took an hour because I was still learning how to do it, now I spend 10 min to let it drain. Come back in 40min after good drain, and finish up in another 10min.
When you do oil change yourself, the benefits that you can buy really good oil cheap. I bought 5w-30 Mobil1 Extended performance at Walmart for $25 @ 5qt when it was on sale. I also bought 6 toyota OEM filters online, for about $5 per filter.
Also, dealer over-tighten oil drain plug and filter housing cap, I had to buy new one. When I do my oil change I use torque wrench to tighten filter.
and drain plug per specifications. The so called "authorized dealer" over-tightened it, and charged me $100 for oil change using Pennzoil synthetic oil. M1 Extended performance is a better oil.

nevernu

Never having done my ES, I was curious about the torque specs on the drain plug and found this. The procedure was more sophisticated than I expected.

tolian21

30 lb-ft for drain plug and you need to use new washer each time.. Filter housing cap I forgot, but if you have OEM filters its specified on the package. Do not over tighten filter housing cap.

jagtoes

It's to bad Lexus and some other cars had gone to the insert type filters instead of the old spin on type. Also the location is a pain but it is what it is. I use the vacuum suction method to extract the oil but I also have a lift to get at the filter. All of my other cars have the filter mounted where I don't need to get under the car to replace them.

SUNUK

How often do you change your oil when using M1 Extended?

chuyrobles

I put 10/30 Extended in our ES350 and the 06 Camry. I change every 10K on the Lexus and 6-8K on the Camry. More often on the Camry cause the daughter drives more city miles than the Lexus.