rukarims

how much does an oil change at the Lexus dealership cost? (2001 Lexus ES300)

steviej

iTrader: (1)

about $50 for dino based oil and about $75 for synthetic (if your dealer offers it) if all you want is an oil change. The 5, 10, 20, 25, 35, 40 etc services run about $100 because they rotate the tires and top off the fluids.

However, it can cost as little as $20-30 if you do it yourself. It is very easy to do once you've done it once or twice.

steviej

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

50 dollars--that's about what I paid up here in Seattle at Lexus of Seattle for regular petroleum oil (about $20 too much). FYI, I did change the oil myself (to full synthetic Mobil 1), and it was $23 for 6 quarts oil (used about 5.5 quarts), $6 oil filter (Toyota), and $1.50 for a new Toyota oil pan bolt gasket. Not too shabby of a price, considering the use of synthetic oil. It took me about 45 minutes start to finish. It would have been faster, but I had to jack up the front driver's side to give myself more access to the underbody, as my GS400 is a very low car.

LexLS

I recently called up my local Lexus dealer about this, they told me $39.95 plus tax, so yeah it's pretty much 50 bucks.

I decided to do it myself. Bought a case of Mobil 1 and now my engine is better than ever . I had my first oil change done at the dealership just after I bought my car. They did use the Toyota filter which is good, but the oil was ummm crap. Oh yeah, and the oil change took forever! Learn to do it yourself.

patooi

I hear a lot of people performing their own oil change and filter change. My questions are:

1. Is there a good resource / reference on how to do this?
2. I have a 99 RX300 with 29k kms on it. What oil and which viscosity do you recommend?
3. Where do you dump the old oil after the change?
4. I've always been advised that my car doesn't need a spark plug change until 100k or so. Is this true?

Thanks,
Patrick

parula

patooi, welcome, there is a LOT of info on CL on oil change, search some threads here and on RX300/330.

I had a '99 wished I had gone to synthetic though I traded her, probably keeping this one with synth. in 'er.

Most communities have oil tanks for used oil, or many service stations will take it; or are required to by state law as in NJ, which is where I take mine.

See you at 100k!

link13

Patrick, the oil viscosity recommendation is in the owner's manual. My GS owner's manual (note that this is not the repair manual) recommends one oil viscocity for warm climates and another for cold climates. I suspect your RX's manual is similar in that regard. It also tells you the oil fill capacity as well as the capacity for all other fluids. The owner's manual also includes recommended service intervals for coolant changes, spark plugs, etc. I believe this stuff is towards the back.

Leets

DON'T EVER LEAVE SPARKPLUGS IN FOR 100K MILES!!! Sorry for the caps, but I really can't stress this point enough. It's true that in high quality platinum or iridium plugs that they should be able to last 100K miles. However, it has also been learned that leaving sparkplugs in for this period of time can cause them (quite often, actually) to seize to the head. This, of course, is a very bad (and expensive) thing. Regardless of what manufacturers tell you, it is always a good idea to check your plugs every 30K miles. Even if they're still good, and you decide not to change them, fresh anti-seize will be to your benefit.

parula

Leets, great tip - tks, I'm noting that for my service file.

patooi

Thanks for all the tips. I just found out that 5W-50 is recommended for my engine as I live in a hilly / mountaineous area. Just had had my oil change with Mobil 1 5W-50. Might try 0W-50 instead the next time.

parula

patooi, why change from the recommended grade?

camtrek

What do you guys reccomend...

Castrol GTX or Mobil 1 for a GS300.

SC4Hundred

Mobile 1 easier to get from Costco

parula

SC4H, how much there?

patooi

Oops, I just found out from the Forum that only 5 quarts are used for an RX300 oil change. They put in 5.5 quarts in mine. Is that too much? What are the consequences?

Thanks.