It's extremely easy, though unless you are built like Gumby you'll need a set of ramps. The drain bolt is towards the passenger side of the car and is very accessible without removing any covers. The oil filter is behind a small plastic door, which is held on with three bolts. The filter is a cannister filter, which means that you are just replacing the element. It sounded like it would be messy to change, but it actually turned out to be no worse than a spin-in filter.

 

Cannot find the receipt. Sorry. But I do know that it wasn't as inexpensive as the filters I buy for my MR2. It should be though. I do my own oil changes and have yet to do one on my IS. The last one was the free, 6 month/5000mile one at the dealership. I'll be using my new filter and doing my first DIY change later this month.

 

The parts department at my Lexus dealer charged me $4.95 (plus or minus a few cents ) for the oil filter. The guy threw in the drain bolt crush washer for free. (And handed me the parts in a fancy black and gold bag that looked more appropriate for Gucci gloves than for auto parts.)

 

Magnussen's in Fremont charged me $8.33 for the same piece. That's why I got it at Toyota. Besides, they know me at Toyota and give me 20% off list just walking in the door.

Yeah, the black bags are pretty cool...the wife loved it!

 

My filter and gasket ran $7 per, but I did get a couple of boxes of chocolate.

 

I just order my filter online and do it at home. It is almost as easy as my S2000, and about the same as all the others I've had.

Regarding Jiffy-Lube, that's common even for dealers. My ex-wife told me that the Dodge dealer she worked for did similar things, and I had an Acura dealer do it to me. My ex-wife said that the service guys told her that they would just clean off old oil filters when the dealership was offering oil change specials.

When I was tinkering around with my Acura as an ignorant teenager, I totally messed up my ignition timing. I didn't know jack about what I was doing, so I left the distributor turned ALL THE WAY advanced and took it to the dealer to have it corrected due to the engine knocking. After paying $90 to have it set, it was STILL set the same! That was when I decided to never PAY anyone to do service or repair that I could possibly do myself. Since then I've probably spent about the same amount of money on maintenance and repairs as I would at a dealer (due to tool purchases) with a TON of effort, but I know it's been done right (brakes, valve adjustments, wheel bearings, clutch replacements, etc.).

 

oil change wal-mart, jiffy lube : are you kidding me?
It's your car. your money.

I guess I feel more comfortable knowing what is going on under the hood of my car, when I drive it to DC and back home, +-545 miles. I just don't want to be sitting on the side of I-81 this time of the year. ( IS 350 was out only cause it was completely sunny, no snow or rain this past wednesday and Thursday)

TIP: Better pack you some of those Caribou coffee granola bars in the center console of the IS, and those hand warmers you can get in the sporting goods section of wally world while your getting you oil changed there.

 

You would first need to know if his 250 is a RWD or AWD model. The RWD takes the 04152-YZZA3. The AWD car takes the 04152-YZZA2. The Lexus MSRP for each is $5.41. Dealers, however, are free to charge whatever they want.

 

don't feel bad, my 01 Porsche Boxster its about $120 - and that' s not the dealer price! but it includes 9.5 quarts of Mobil 1 Synthetic.

 

WOW only 6 bux.
DAMN LONGO charged me $10.57 for an A3