Hi all, not talking about the lexus book maintenance it's a 2023 RX350 it's actually my sisters car but of course I'm tasked with maintaining it. I come from owning an LX and GX since the beginning of time and I kinda go overboard on the maintenance just because these cars are made to last forever so why not treat them like they will? My sister is at 15k miles so no more free dealer maintenance and quite frankly I'm not the biggest fan of the lexus maintenance guides anyway, you start talking about 10k oil and sealed transmission.....yea that's a no go for me.

Here is the template I use for my GX:


Oil & Filter / Lube (5k)

Rotate Tires (7k)

Air Filter (15k)

Cabin Filter (15k)

Grease Driveshafts (15k)

Coolant (30k)

Front/Rear Diff fluid (30k)

Transfer Case Fluid (30k)

Brake Fluid (30k)

Trans Fluid Drain and fill (40k)

Power Steer Fluid (50k)

Sparks (60k)



Everything else is as needed of course, brakes, tires, alignments etc etc....




I'm not too familiar with the RX, can you anyone help me with modifying this list to tailor to it?


Thank you very sincerely for any help!

 

Four RX's two ES's and one NX. I never ask for a scheduled maintenance. Every 10,000 miles oil change, every 5,000 miles tire rotation, every 30,000 miles brake fluid changed. These are done either at Lexus or Toyota dealer. I change the cabin and engine air filters once a year. Keep our vehicles usually to 100,000 or so. Never had one issue and saved many thousands on maintenance. There are YouTube videos of two guys with Tacoma's with over 1.5 million miles and do the same thing.

 

This is an on-going discussion on every automotive forum I've ever been a member of and it never, ever reaches a consensus. The threads just go on and on for weeks or months with everyone telling everyone else why their maintenance routine will bring an early demise to their vehicle, and why mine will save the automotive world as we know it. I'm going to take the cowards' way out and just say that following the manufacturer maintenance schedule is the minimum you need to do to keep the warranty in tact. If doing more makes you feel more comfortable, by all means do it. Best is what's best for you. I'm sure you will get lots of input on things you should add, remove, and when you should or should not do them. Since the only actual "source of truth" here is the factory maintenance schedule (of which there are two depending on the type of driving you do) and you're not convinced those are the best, the only thing your maintenance checklist can be checked against is someone else's opinion. And you know what those are like

 

That's awesome but also kind of wild! Never greased anything, never changed the coolant, diff fluid or anything else ever?




Yea I know and you're right, I'm not so much looking for someone to tell me what to do as much as I am looking to tailor my typical list which I posted to the RX.

 

There is no power steering fluid (electric rack) so you can remove that.

The spark plug interval on the 2.0t was 40k, it may be the same on this engine. That's what I'll do on mine. Some engines, especially certain four-cylinder turbo engines, tend to beat on plugs a little more but not too hard of a job to pull one and inspect to see how they are doing.

 

Excellent thank you, exactly the type of info I was looking for.




Are there any grease points on it, driveshaft maybe?

 

Never. Coolant gets changed at over 100,000 miles.

 

It makes sense, the RX doesn't have a lot of the mechanical stuff that a GX or LX has. Besides even that all the ones you see on the road with crazy amounts of miles on them going strong how many of them do you think actually do anything besides change the oil unless there is an actual problem? A very small percentage I'm sure....

But these models being a turbo 4 banger I feel like they are going to need a little extra care than the older gens did, but that being subjective of course as it's still a Toyota.

 

I've been driving cars and motorcycles continuously for over 55 years and have never changed coolant, trans fluid, brake fluid or power steering fluid in any of them and have never had an issue with any of those components that were directly due to not changing the fluid. Just an oil change and tire rotations at the recommended times, air and cabin filters which are easy to change and you're pretty much good to go for 100K miles anyway. I should sit down with a pencil and paper and add up all the money I've saved over the years on the unnecessary scheduled maintenance the dealer would love to perform on your car and charge you for.

 

💯 % spot on.

 

I thought brake fluid retained moisture over time and was supposed to be changed every 3 years or so. I could be wrong.

 

Yes that is correct but I just never bothered with it for the length of time I generally keep my cars. My last 2016 Cadillac XTS (owned longer than most) had 104K miles on the original brake pads and fluid and no issues.

 

yep, a lot of folks can't stand sticking with the manufacturer's recommendations (which have served me well). Had our snow tires put on today, the mechanic tried to get me to change the oil (synthetic oil, changed 4k miles ago) just not gonna do it.

 

Thank you sincerely for the replies everyone!


I'm happy everyone has had good luck with doing minimal maintenance to their cars and that's a testament to Toyota quality but with this being my sisters car I don't think I'm going to just do oil changes and tire rotations then call it good. Also there is the aspect that this is a new turbo 4 banger, it's not the same as the previous engines put into the RX.


Regardless of that I realize there is much less "moving parts" here on an RX compared to an LX or GX so here is my new list:

Oil & Filter (5k)

Rotate (5k)

Air Filter (15k)

Cabin Filter (15k)

Grease Driveshafts (40k)

Coolant (40k)

Front/Rear Diff fluid (40k)

Transfer Case Fluid (40k)

Brake Fluid (40k)

Trans Fluid Drain and fill (40k)

Sparks (40k)



Again being a turbo 4 the sparks should be changed at a decent interval and when it comes time to do that I'll just gather up all the fluids and change them out. Mind you we're talking probably $500 here IF that much and with how little my sister drives that's something that's going to be done every 4-5 years if that. I think peace of mind is much more valuable than a twice a decade $500 common maintenance expense.

 

Got this from a Car Car Nut Video below. Written for Toyota's with added hybrid notes.

1. Oil change: 5000 miles or 6 months, which ever is less. Use full synthetic and a Toyota Filter. (1st change at 1000 miles)


2. Engine coolant : every 50,000 miles or 5 years use original Toyota coolant. Also change coolant in the hybrid inverter every 50,000 miles/5yrs. Use EOM fluid


3. Transmission fluid: CHANGE every 60,000 miles or 6 years, which ever is less. Do not FLUSH. If you have gone over 100,000 miles than don't change because you could cause more problems. Use EOM fluid

4. Brake Fluid: Check brake fluid every 2-3 years with a brake strip and replace if the test shows too much moisture in the fluid. (esp if hybrid)

5. Spark plugs 120,000 miles with Toyota original plus (iridium spark plugs) can go 120K

6. Differential fluid on a hybrid change every 60,000 miles or 6 years which ever is less. WS fluid (different than what is in item # 3)

7. Hybrid fan filters, check yearly. Clean or replace if needed. (350h has 2)

8. HYBRID transmission fluid (ECVT) every 60,000 miles or 6 years . Ok to do even if have a lot more miles than 60K vs Item 3 above.

9. Brakes Inspect annually replace when have 3mm left and use original Toyota parts

10. Rotate tires every 5000 miles front to back, back to front. Check Tread depth and replace if 4/32 or less.

Keep record of what is done in a note book.