Looking For Oil Change Tips

[Dragracer]

Took delivery of my '06 Gx on 7/24/06. Just did the first oil change myself, but I'm wondering how the rest of you are avoiding the oil spill on the skid plate. Are you removing that assembly or is there an aftermarket sheild that fits in there to divert the oil away from the cage/plate assembly. If there isn't one available I'm going to fabricate one. I spent more time cleaning the bottom end than actually performing the change. Also I'm looking for a wrench that fits on the end of the filter so I can use a ratchet and an extension from outside the caged area due to limited space. Does anyone know some tricks that the Lexus Techs do to simplify this task?

Thanks,

Tim

[studlee]

Took delivery of my '06 Gx on 7/24/06. Just did the first oil change myself, but I'm wondering how the rest of you are avoiding the oil spill on the skid plate. Are you removing that assembly or is there an aftermarket sheild that fits in there to divert the oil away from the cage/plate assembly. If there isn't one available I'm going to fabricate one. I spent more time cleaning the bottom end than actually performing the change. Also I'm looking for a wrench that fits on the end of the filter so I can use a ratchet and an extension from outside the caged area due to limited space. Does anyone know some tricks that the Lexus Techs do to simplify this task?

Thanks,

Tim

i have a small basin that i put on top of the skid plate to catch the oil from the filter

[dbj]

Took delivery of my '06 Gx on 7/24/06. Just did the first oil change myself, but I'm wondering how the rest of you are avoiding the oil spill on the skid plate. Are you removing that assembly or is there an aftermarket sheild that fits in there to divert the oil away from the cage/plate assembly. If there isn't one available I'm going to fabricate one. I spent more time cleaning the bottom end than actually performing the change. Also I'm looking for a wrench that fits on the end of the filter so I can use a ratchet and an extension from outside the caged area due to limited space. Does anyone know some tricks that the Lexus Techs do to simplify this task?

Thanks,

Tim

i have a small basin that i put on top of the skid plate to catch the oil from the filter

I also tried the small basin but unfortunately without success and ended up with more oil on me then in the basin. I tried to remove the skid plate and was able to take out all of the screws but still couldn't remove it. There must be a hook holding everything on. I used a Wal-mart filter cap wrench that fits on a ratchet about $4.

DBJ

[Dragracer]

Took delivery of my '06 Gx on 7/24/06. Just did the first oil change myself, but I'm wondering how the rest of you are avoiding the oil spill on the skid plate. Are you removing that assembly or is there an aftermarket sheild that fits in there to divert the oil away from the cage/plate assembly. If there isn't one available I'm going to fabricate one. I spent more time cleaning the bottom end than actually performing the change. Also I'm looking for a wrench that fits on the end of the filter so I can use a ratchet and an extension from outside the caged area due to limited space. Does anyone know some tricks that the Lexus Techs do to simplify this task?

Thanks,

Tim

i have a small basin that i put on top of the skid plate to catch the oil from the filter

I also tried the small basin but unfortunately without success and ended up with more oil on me then in the basin. I tried to remove the skid plate and was able to take out all of the screws but still couldn't remove it. There must be a hook holding everything on. I used a Wal-mart filter cap wrench that fits on a ratchet about $4.

Thanks for the info, I think I'm going to try a half piece of alluminum ductwork that may slide under the filter and channel the fluids outside of the plate. If it works I'll post it!

[turboBB]

I tried to remove the skid plate and was able to take out all of the screws but still couldn't remove it. There must be a hook holding everything on.

In order to properly remove the Metal Skid Guard (MSG), you have to first remove the plastic splash guard ahead of it (towards front of the car).

The plastic splash guard has a total of five 10mm bolts holding it in place including a pastic retainer in the center. Be careful when removing the plastic retainer as I snapped the edges off when trying to remove it with a flat head.

Once the plastic splash guard is off, there are a total of four 12mm bolts that hold the MSG in place. Remove the two bolts in the front (towards front of the car) first and then remove the two towards the back (these two are recessed in holes so you'll need an extension on your ratchet). Be very careful when removing the final bolt as the MSG is purty heavy (around 10-15 lbs). Once you remove the final bolt, the rear of the MSG should swing down and be about perpendicular with the car since there are two small latches in the front. You should support the MSG since those 2 latches don't seem all that strong. It's a little tricky to remove the MSG as the latches are a Z shape (but with 90 degree angles for the Z rather than 45). Carefully examine it and you should be able to remove it.

Once the MSG is off, you'll see that Lexus engineers actually added a little splash guard exactly where the oil will spill out once the oil filter is loosened. Purty slick. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

If this is too much work, I think there are oil funnels with tubing attached that you can buy at Pep Boys. I suppose you can arrange it so it'll catch the oil that spills out and divert the tubing into the oil pan. I may go this route next time since removing the MSG was a pain and added about 15 minutes total to the oil change.

As a side note, I used a Fram Tough Guard filter (TG 3614) which was about 15-20% smaller than the OEM filter. Anyone else used this?

[lenore]

I would not use the Fram filter, I know it is tempting (i have used them for years) but use the Toyota filter or equal in size filter. Wix, Puroator, There are a lot of oil filter threads on this site. Buy the toyota filter online or toyota and the cost is not bad.

[Lexus Master Tech]

Hey whats up guys... When I do a service on a GX, I take the 2 10mm bolts and the plastic clip out, and then remove the 4 12mms, the plastic splash guard will bend enough to get the pan out of the way, and like you said, they put a tin shield in there to send the oil right in the pan..... Of course, I dont know how easy it would be on the ground, cause i always have the car up in the air on a lift....Good Luck