bagofchips

Since getting my '03 RX300 (used), I've changed my oil twice and had it changed now twice. Apparently, the guy at Pep Boys forgot to make sure that there was no old filter gasket stuck to the engine, so the new filter didn't get a good seal. This is like one of the most basic things you should do before installing a new filter, especially if you're "professional". The location of the filter shouldn't make a difference, especially when viewed from below. Anyhow, you can imagine the result. Oil (under engine pressure) sprayed all over the front of the engine compartment through the resulting leak. The shop floor had so much oil on the floor, it looked somebody had been stabbed to death. Any horizontal area in the engine compartment at or below filter level has a little pool of shiny new 5w30, and lots of other parts have a sheen of fresh oil. I'm not convinced they did a good enough job cleaning up their boo boo, so I'm considering lobbying for professional engine cleaning (doesn't need to be show quality) on their dime. But, I'm wondering if steam cleaning per se is even advisable on an RX300?

There are 2 things underneath the RX300 engine that look like the bottom of the oil pan - for all I know the other is tran fluid reservoir or something. Anyway, is the oil pan / plug the one on the *passenger* side at about even w/ front axle. Plug I'm thinking is the one seems to have 14mm hex nut (the other is a torx or something). It also seems like the pan's plug hole is located slightly *above* the bottom of the pan. Am I right? If the hole is not naturally flush, that would seem like a great way to encourage sludge buildup. Just double checking - it's usually a pain in the !Removed! when you drain the wrong thing. I've never done an oil change on anything but a tractor, and the car is my wife's so if I botch it there will be hell to pay. :o

Anybody know the mfr-prescribed torque to apply to the oil drain plug on an RX300? Thx

These guys look OK too - free shipping for orders > $50 (as of this posting).

Am bumping this because I now have the exact same question. Can anybody else be more specific as to what else besides the clamps I need to work to get the air filter cover off? Also, in between scheduled maintenance, would anybody recommend shop-vac'ing the filter (in reverse direction of air flow) to yank out some of the trappings - ie would this do any good? (Doing so certainly works for the cabin filter.)

Figured it out. The site is creatively named http://www.lexus-parts.com. The dealer is Sewell in Texas. So that's not the southeast, but I was close. I don't work for them, and have never ordered but it's the only site I could find other than the usual carneybarkers by Googling. Initial inspection shows fair (read: not your usual dealer markup) pricing. fwiw...

Need to find a Lexus dealer w/ online store that sells things like touch up paint and cargo nets. I found a good one a few mos. ago that had reasonable prices (think it was an actual dealer in the southeast) but now can't remember the name.