yup the room is very small ..so i do it from top and rotate it inch by inch. sure it takes time..plus once the filter has been rotated enough all you need is by hand to finally remove it

 

74.5mm oil filter wrench cap paired with a flexible 3/8 ratchet handle works great, from the top or bottom.

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-8-eig...het-96369.html

 

I use Pure One filters from Purolator. These filters have a textured finish not unlike a fine emery cloth. This allows me to spin them on and off by hand with no tool. The filter pliers a few posts up would work fine if a slightly longer filter were used. But a slightly longer filter may require that or the strap type wrench due to clearance issue with the filter cap type.

 

I can confirm the information is INCORRECT, whether the engine was COLD or FROZEN or Parked Overnight, oil will spill when the oil filter is removed. It was a mess, i wished i could have been more cautious. Without working on the underside, there is no way you can clean the oil spill.

So, people, be very very careful when you work on your car at your discretion, use the forum information as reference at your own risks. Someone could try to say something to sound good and to prove their points, but that is not reality. Remember, oil will always in the filter, no matter how many years the car has been immobilized. A horizontal oil filter position will NEVER drain oil empty by itself.

 

The inards of a K&N2009 and Toyota 90915-YZZD3 filters...

TOYOTA 90915-YZZD3 FILTER:

 

For the second pic, what's the difference between the two K&N filters?

 

I think this is wrong. The oil pumps are positive displacement meaning they deliver the same volume independent of back-pressure.

 

One is made in the USA the other Mexico.

 

From what I have read, any of those brands will do a good job. Some prefer the K&N because it has a nut type fitting at the end of the filter which can make removal easier. Myself, I opted to buy a case of the Toyota 90915-YZZD3 filters at $4.00 each; this filter, like the K&N, is a bit longer and has more filter media but it does not have the nut type fitting on the end. Removal of the Toyota filter is still easy if you use an inexpensive end-cap oil filter wrench:

 

Just changed the oil, working from the top-side, contrary to concerns some had expressed, there is no problem accessing and loosening the longer Lexus oil filter, 90915-YZZD3, when using an end-cap oil filter wrench. The oil was changed HOT, but an old leather glove was utilized which completely prevented a hot manifold encounter.

The filter was loosened just enough to let a thin stream of oil come-out the bottom, made next to no mess and no oil touched the plastic fairing underneath. The filter was then fully screwed-off from the top, then rotated so the drain hole was facing-up and then lowered and set on the plastic fairing below (the screws for which had already been removed); it was then easily removed from the bottom.

What in most cars would be a 10-minute oil change was a 25-minute oil change. As this was only my second RX oil change, hopefully the time will get shorter with practice.