Just did my first oil change on my new-to-me 2006 IS 250 @ 75k miles, and wanted to share my experience and personal lessons. I figured it would give other people some insight/heads up, perhaps share some tips for the next time around, or something to laugh at

1.) Lifting a car by the crossmember is scary. Used a metal plate from Home Depot to make the contact point of the floor jack bigger. But I'm worried one day that floor jack is going to shoot out.

2.) Used these square rubber furniture pads on my jackstands to rest the lift tabs on. Looks to hold up just fine.

3.) Safety glasses are very nice when working under the car. And don't sing while under there unless you like eating dirt.

4.) The oil pan screw can be very tight. Constant pressure doesn't help (even with a breaker bar), as it seems to even stress out the oil pan cover in a scary way. A nice swing of a bottlejack onto a wrench does the trick in 2 seconds. Maybe a physics major can chime in and say why this is so.

5.) Having a small oil container helps so you can hold it up and catch all the oil.

6.) Never drop a socket wrench in the oil container...

7.) Installed the nifty Fumoto oil valve. It looks like it sticks out too much. I'll probably see if I can adjust this the next time I change the oil.

8.) I got all excited about trying this filter drain tube thingie. When I go to unscrew it, the entire filter cap turned as well Does the filter drain screw turn in the same rotation as the filter cap? I assume so, but it seems to make more sense if it was opposite so this doesn't happen. If anything, this acted as a built in SST Even without draining the filter first, it was really easy and clean to let the filter drain straight down "the normal way".

9.) That filter drain bolt does not move. There is no good place to get leverage on that filter cap...

10.) I have an autozone toyota oil filter wrench that fits nicely, except it slips a little.

I've changed the oil of a number of cars. By far this has to be the cleanest I've ever done. All the other cars, even a Toyota Corolla, had oil that drips everywhere. Everything on this car is a straight shot down. Very very impressed!

Home Depot only had a 5' long tube for my oil filter drain idea. Looks like you only need a foot, so I have some extra if anyone wants any. Just PM me your address and I'll mail one to you no charge.

HTH, thanks for reading.
-w

Thanks for writing up your experience!

I installed a fumoto on mine as well. I had one on my tacoma before and it was great, saves a lot of time and mess. Attached a hose to it into your waste container, open and relax.

Great little write up. I have a fumoto valve to install when I change the oil later in the week. I've had the fumoto on my last 4 cars and it really does make things a little easier.

Is the Fumoto valve orientated the "right" way? I should have taken a picture of it, but right now the lever is on the bottom. Would like to have it up more. Thanks!

I'll have to take a look at mine when I change my oil next. I think I have it oriented up so its out of the way but I don't remeber 100%.

LMAO.

Getting ready to change the oil. Hope my experience is as smooth as yours.

could you post a pic of your filter drain ?

My last free oil change will be used up this week. Thanks for the great write up...

I'm a bit confused about the filter drain bolt... is that a bolt to remove that is on the filter? I drain the oil out of the filter first before removing the filter correct?

Any chance you can snap a picture of the filter drain bolt?

I've been doing oil changes on traditional oil can filters on my Corolla, Sentra, Civic, RSX for over 10 years. The filter drain is new to me.

I'm just glad I have the use of a pit to change my oil and other items I need to work on underneath. It makes everything soooo much easier..

Why have i never heard of the Fumoto Valve before?! haha would save me a few minutes for sure, and could probably do it even if the oil was hot. Will have to pick one up for the next oil change

Funny story

i just wish they made higher capacity oil eater boxes... damm 5qt box~ you really gotta watch it during the entire drain process...

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...howtopic=51010

This link might help. It shows the picture of the filter bolt. So the oil filters in these cars are a little different. Instead of a "normal" filter, you just change the filter element inside. Interesting idea.

Anyways, the filter bolt is an easy way to drain all the oil in the filter housing before removing the filter element. You unscrew the bolt, shove a tube in it, and let the oil drain mess free. Unscrew the filter cover, remove filter element, clean, insert new, put everything back together, done.

Hope that helps!