First time changing the oil myself on my RX350's. I bought the special filter wrench, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to unscrew the smaller disc to neatly drain the oil filter before removing the whole unit. I'm into my 2nd change and both times when just using my ratchet (no filter wrench) inserted into the disc the whole housing unscrews.

Is there a trick to removing the small disc without turning the whole filter housing?

Not a huge deal but I have one more RX350 to change today and would love to know if there's a way.

 

Not sure why, but it's everyone's call. I simply place funnel to direct oil into catch can under the filter housing, while removing it by hand.
But as you wish... You need to prevent housing from turning while you have 3/8 wrench inserted and working on it. Strap wrench is about the only safe way to put any pressure onto plastic housing.

 

The housing is metal, aluminum I think. With the first change I did, after I got the filter housing off I took a big pipe wrench I have and was able to secure it in that, then was able to unscrew the smaller drain disc. It took quite a bit of force and I had everything on a bench, couldn't imagine managing doing that while it was on the car with limited space etc...

If this is what it takes for a DIY'er then no biggie for once or twice per year oil changes.

 

On my last change the small disc/plug broke free before the whole housing started to spin, which I found out was due to the housing having been tightened by King Kong! Wow, took everything for me to break it free and I had a bar over the ratchet handle. Even after using the plastic insert to cleanly drain there was a bit of oil left in the housing, not as much but more than I thought there would be. For what it's worth I think I'll just stick with unscrewing the whole housing from now on.

 

FYI the small disc should only be tightened to about 10 foot pounds. I found that some oil filter brands provided a drain accessory which screws into the hole and works much better and is way less messy than the ones you have to hold in place while oil drains all over your hand.

 

So unscrewing the entire oil filter housing is safer due to potential breakage of the smaller drain disk? Are these components really that fragile? Why are they designed that way?

I expect to be doing my first oil & filter change on my wife's 2015 RX350 (acquired in late October 2018) in about 2,000 miles. I have been doing my own oil & filter changes since the late 1970s and have never owned a vehicle with these paper cartridge-type oil filters before.

 

I wouldn't say the parts are fragile at all. Did you think I meant the disc broke? It broke free/loosened like it was supposed to. I did (3) RX350's this weekend and they were easy. I like the accessibility of the filter, it couldn't be any easier to get to. Night and day compared to our RX300

Definitely order the filter wrench. I went with the Motivx Tools MX2320 that everyone seemed to recommend and it feels well made.

 

Whenever I do an oil change on a family members / friends car who take their cars to shady mechanics to do there work I find myself needing my 1/2 snap on impact to pull the drain plug due to the extremely over tightened bolt. (slight sarcasm with the 1/2 in impact but definitely needs more than needed force)

A little trick Ive used for those extremely over tightened filters is to take a Philips head screw driver and puncture it through the side of the filter not going straight through the center to not damage the threads. And just use the screw driver to turn the filter out. It will make a mess but has worked. You should be able to get a filter off with very minimal force with a standard filter wrench from any auto parts store and a 3/8 ratchet.

Never did an oil change on a Lexus tho. I enjoy the free loaners to much at the dealer lmaooo. Reading about this delicate drain disk makes me curious to check it out

 

Look at this youtube link as they cover oil change procedure in detail
It is the same on the Venza and Highlander and ES350

This video also shows how to reset the maintenance light

 

Thanks for posting those videos. I now understand why that oil filter canister bottom drain disk can be such a pain to work with. As long as its internal O-ring holds up and does not leak, I expect to just remove the entire canister and not worry about the drain disk procedure. I plan to watch these videos again right before I do my first oil & filter change on my wife's vehicle.

 

Same videos I used.

 

on my second oil change on the rx350 the whole housing started to spin when attempting to loosen the filter drain. Likely the winter salt on the roads galled it up a bit. Just remove the entire canister to make life easier. Oil changes are almost never a clean job so just use a clean wide drain pan underneath. I just loosen the whole filter housing with the filter socket, cover the whole housing with a plastic sandwich bag and spin it the rest of the way off by hand. The oil filter socket can be found on ebay under $11 all day long.

 

Lexus/Toyota try to made things difficult for DIY car owner to change the oil/filter themselves. Using canister filter is much easy to remover and replace, the oil filtration in the engine works the same as other car manufacturer who use canister filter system.As Lexus knew most of the car owner don't want to dirty their hand and work under need the car..

 

I totally agree with you

Lexus could have designed the oil filter housing to sit "on top side of the engine" like most of the European car manufacturers. I've owned several MB's, including the MB AMG variants. Even on the AMG's the oil filter sits right on top of the engine bay and changing the oil filter is easy peasy. MB officially recommends the oil extraction method with a pump by sticking a catheter down the oil dip stick hole and suck the oil out. So don't even need to jack up the car and get underneath if you don't want to. Even with the "easier oil change methods", MB dealership still charges an arm and a leg for oil changes!!

The only Lexus with oil filter(s) on top side in the engine bay is the LFA (2 oil filters as I recall).

 

What's even more interesting is Toyota incorporates an oil filter top side on several models including the Tacoma, 4Runner, and discontinued FJ Cruiser. My guess is that this is to reduce the chances of the oil filter being 'bumped' or 'punctured' in off-road use examples?