When looking at the underside of the car, I do see there is an undercarriage shield that covers the transmission fluid pan area and most of the engine, but the area where the oil pan and filter is located is wide open and no cover/shield. When directly underneath the car, I can also see part of the serpentine belt. The 2nd gen NX's seem to come with this cover (picture below of the 2nd gen) and I have gone up to other random 1st gen NX vehicles and none of them seem to have a cover.

Just wanted to confirm that mine was not missing and that this is the norm for the 1st gen NX200t/NX300.

 

Bump. Anyone?

 

No cover for the 1st gen NX. Oil pan & drain bolt is just exposed down there

 

Thanks for confirming!

Just seems odd this area would be left open, and then the 2nd gen NX's come with a cover AND also uses the traditional spin-on oil filter. This being my first Lexus, it threw me off-guard.

 

Yeah, it's a bummer 1st gen didn't come with those items as it would make OCIs much easier and convenient.

That said -- Personally, I WOULD STILL want MINE over 2nd gen. I know mine did have some plastic cladding on the undercarriage, but we had the running boards installed before I looked underneath, so don't know exactly what they removed, and don't know if they removed all cladding or just some parts to do the install. I asked to keep the cladding, but the hubster balked and said what do you want with that, you can't use it again? I just wanted to know what they removed. Oh, well, guess I'll never know. I have yet to personally do my first OCI in about 3k miles (last OCI done at 29k as part of the 30k maintenance). Then I'll be able to really see what's going on underneath.

 

Mine and the other 1st gen NX's have an undercarriage shield that covers the other parts underneath (I went to a few other random 1st gen NX's and looked underneath), such as the transmission fluid pan, but the one area closer to the passenger side where the oil pan and filter is located is exposed. When laying directly underneath the engine and looking up, I can even see an area of the serpentine belt and this is what concerns me.

I have 2 of 3 oil samples collected so far to send to Blackstone Labs for oil analysis. The 1st vial being the oil it came with after purchase, 2nd vial is oil with 5K, and 3rd vial will be 3K. The GTR's sweet spot for oil changes seem to be at 2K and trying to find out for the NX. 10K OCI's of the manufacturer's recommendation is just way too long, esp. on a turbo-charged vehicle.

 

Now I really wish I would've taken a look to see if the serpentine you mentioned was still intact on mine. I would guess not, and the first OCIs done on the vehicle they removed it and just didn't put it back. It was probably there more for protection during transit to North America as our Gen was built solely in Japan.

Oh, I agree 10K OCIs on a turbo is too long. There's a guy on the forum that's been doing his OCIs every 3K miles. There was a short period where he was convinced by others to do every 5k mile OCIs, but decided to go back to the 3K miles as his car was getting up in miles. He's had same MY as mine 2020 since new and has always done his OCIs, but he's over 85k miles on the ODO now (mostly highway miles and conservative driving with the occasional push) and I just went over 31K miles. I figured I was going to do this next one at 5K miles up until 40K miles on the ODO. Then I was going to switch to 4K miles until 50K miles on car. Then was going to go every 3K miles after 50K miles until it dies as I plan to keep this for the long haul.

Whatever your sweet spot ends up being, I would venture to guess every 3-4K mile OCIs would be sufficient enough.

 

You would know if the serpentine belt is going bad, as you would hear a distinct loud squeal. And if the belt broke, your car wouldn't move. That belt is connected to a series of different pulleys that run the alternator, water pump, AC, power steering, etc. Serpentine belts generally last quite a while (up to 100K), but what concerns me is if it is exposed to outside elements without the aid of a shield. Next time I'm under the NX, I'll snap a picture for reference.

 

So, please forgive the ignorant noob in ME... I thought you meant that the "serpentine belt" was part of the possible undercarriage cladding that I obviously thought it was otherwise I wouldn't have said the rest of what I said

OMGosh -- I feel really stupid now. No need to show a pic of serpentine belt as I now KNOW it's part of the engine and NOT cladding...

Oops - totally my bad and sorry for my clearly WRONG assumptions

 

It's no worries at all. I'm still in the process of learning about the NX as this is my first Lexus.

The serpentine belt is synonymous with "drive belt" - people will call it different things, but referring to the same item. As far as the picture, I meant it more for showing the exposure and no shield to cover it, and not the actual belt itself.