AM1

iTrader: (6)

screw the dealers. i only go there for warranty issues. the only thing im doing for my POS rx330 until i return it next year when the lease is up is the oil changes and nothing else. and none of those oil changes will be at the dealer

mandyfig

AM1, you really despise your RX330! And yet, you still change the oil as required, now that's responsibility!

tjain

Thought this will help everybody on the forum:

mandyfig

Good finally somebody posted the schedule. Thanks.

AM1

iTrader: (6)

i change the oil every 7K. or something like that

lexuslover

DIY is always a good choice if you know how to do it and have the time to do it. but if you are interested in having the dealer do it, make sure you call around for prices. they all do just about the same thing but somehow charge vastly diff prices. in san diego there are 3 dealers, and the price for 5k interval maintenance ranges from $100-$250. of course i go to the $100 dealer where i can just sit and wait for my car to be serviced in 60-90 min while i do work on my laptop.

for me, having one stop is key. i can get free rotations and balancing at costco, but generally there is a wait. then you'd have to go somewhere to get oil change, then somewhere to wash your car. all in all it would take a few gallons of gas and 3-4 hrs to complete it all. so i don't think $100 is too bad.

Los Angeles has a ton of dealers, so make sure you call around to see who has the best price. i used to do mobile service w/ Longo and it was less than $100 and they'd come to your home or office to do it. (not to mention back then they'd drive down to san diego from LA to service my car)

flintRX04

Man I thought I was the only Lexus owner that changes their own oil... Yes the dealer is a rip off. I was recently quoted $800 to change the tranny fluid, radiator fluid, and brake fluid. So I went to a Toyota dealer (BTW if you visit their website they usually have printable coupons for 15%-20% off) and got all the factory Toyota fluids and gotten all them replaced by a good mechanic I know for $200 excludes the $50 on fluids. Saved me a bundle, just make sure to save all your receipts and log all the changes in a excel spreadsheet. Oh and stock up on the factory oil filters when they go on sale.

andreys

no worries, I change the oil myself as well

mandyfig

I am sitting on $500 worth of maintenance items...ready for the fluid changes as they are called for!

MDLexusMD

For those who change your own oil on the RX350: Do you skip the step where you drain the oil in the filter housing with the plastic nozzle as seen in the pdf that I posted? The pdf is for an Avalon but it seems very similar if not identical to the RX350. I figured you just use the 65mm wrench to take off the housing, which would mean that the excess oil will run off and get all over the metal housing as you're unscrewing it (basically like a canister oil filter). I'll see if I can get that nozzle at the Toyota dealership and save myself the mess, if possible. I've only changed oil with canister type filters and this would be my first change where the only the filter media is required. I've already dumped the factory oil (which is not a "break-in" oil) at 800 miles but left the filter alone. With this car, since it seems to be "moderately hard" on oil based on used oil analysis, I'll use Pennzoil Synthetic at 5K intervals, changing the filter every other oil change. Before I get flamed, I know that you can go longer on synthetic and I do on other vehicles (ie. 8K on Accord V6) but I think a shorter run is necessary on this suv. Thanks for the responses in advance.

moolman

Hi,
When you buy the oil filter it comes with a plastic thing that you screw on to drain the remaining oil in the metal cansister, so it doesn't leak out as you unscrew the metal canister. I bought a purolator filter not the original toyota filter and it even came with the plastic drain thing.

You remove the outer flat metal cap, screw in the plastic drain thing, remove the plastic drain thing, then you can remove the metal canister without a big mess.

Easy and no need to even jack up the car.

mandyfig

Will somebody do a DIY on the oil changes for the RX350's? This will give our 350 owners more confidence to do their own oil changes.

moolman

I used this post here on club lexus and the directions were great.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ght=oil+change

mandyfig

Oh yeah! Pictures would have been great. For the next guy who will do his 350 oil change, please take pics.....will help the 350 owners....think about doing their own oil changes.

MDLexusMD

Thanks for the reply. So it seems to be the identical procedure as the Avalon. The pdf has pictures at each step so it should be easy to follow, for those who've never done it.