Borderbeemer

Hello Everyone~ I'm new to the forum and own an '08 RX 350. The original post with pics is great, but I noticed that there were several questions regarding the canister style oil filter (which my vehicle also has). I thought I would give it the 'ol college try and post an oil change with the canister style oil filter. So without further delay... 1: Of course you need to purchase your supplies. - 7 quarts of oil (my vehicle's capacity is 6.4 quarts. Yours may be different so check your owners manual) I went with conventional oil this time (Castrol GTX), but after doing some research, I'm switching to full-synthetic on the next oil change. - An oil filter (I went with the Fram Tough Guard #TG9972) courtesy of Wally World. Again, yours may be different so check with your parts department. The filter came with the needed replacement o-rings and a drain adapter for the initial canister drain (more about that later). 2: Lift the front end of the vehicle. Some of you may be small enough to work on it without having to do so, but I'm am not one of those people. 3: Approaching from the front you will see a small plastic cover panel just to the passengers side of center (I cleaned it so it appears darker in the pic). 4: Remove the two 10mm bolts at the rear of the panel and then remove it (it should just drop down). You should now be able to see the oil canister. 5: Now would be a good time to drain the oil. Remove the oil filler cap in the engine compartment and then with a 14mm wrench, remove the oil pan drain plug under the vehicle. The oil pan is just to the rear of the oil canister and there is no plastic panel to remove. Also, be sure to have a large oil collection container (I would recommend at least a 9 quart size). 6: After the oil has completely drained, it is time to drain the oil canister (or so I thought). There is a small round plate on the bottom of the canister that has to be removed first. It is designed to be removed with a 3/8" drive (square hole). Then the drain adapter that came with the oil filter is installed and the the oil drains from the canister (before ever having to remove the canister from its attachment to the vehicle). This makes for a very clean oil change, but....whoever did the last oil change (Lexus technician) tightened the plate so much that when I went to remove it, The whole canister (plate and all) came off and all of the oil in the canister came pouring out. Luckily, I had my trusty oil collection container underneath the work area, so clean up was not as bad as it could have been. 7: If your plate did not come off of the canister, you will need to remove it now (there is an o-ring underneath it that needs to be replaced). Clean any old oil off of the canister and install the new o-ring (the smaller of the two). I always like to apply a thin film of fresh motor oil to the o-ring before installing and tightening the plate in order to reduce the possibility of damaging the rubber. 8: Next you will need to replace the main o-ring (the larger of the two). Again, I recommend applying a thin film of fresh motor oil. 9: Install the new filter cartridge 10: Attach the canister to your vehicle and tighten to specs, then install the plastic cover panel with the two 10mm bolts (be sure to get the two plastic "tongues" at the front of the panel into their respective slots). 11: Install the oil pan drain plug and tighten to specs and you are finished with the bottom work (EXCEPT for a visual inspection after adding the oil) 12: Add your oil (again check your owners manual for quantity and grade of oil) 13: And finally tighten down your oil filler cap. 14: I don't know if every RX has the capability to reset the service interval computer, but mine does. If your vehicle has this option, the instructions for doing so can be found in your owners manual. Of course you will need to check your levels and be certain that nothing is leaking underneath, but you have now changed your oil. Sorry for the length of this post, but I was informed (by the girlfriend) that there might be some people out there who have never checked their own oil let alone changed it. In any case, I hope someone out there finds it useful. Cheers!!