One I can think of. The underbelly of your Lex has an engine compartment bottom cover (dust/splash shield) which must be removed in order to perform an oil change. Tho not a vital component, it's nice to have it since it belongs there. Not too many Jiffy Lubers are apt to be diligent about reinstalling it or concerned if/when they lose one or more of the fasteners or forget to reinstall it at all. After all it was in their way and slowed them down.
No. In fact many new car sales as well as leases include some complimentary oil changes, so initially it's not a concern. However, if you have it done somewhere else, be sure to keep service records.
I've owned 3 Lexus automobiles, but have only taken them to the dealer for an oil change when it was free. Other times I take it to an independent shop that is the best in my area. They charge high prices for their work, but they always do it right and do it right the first time. To entice people to come to their shop, they offer an oil change deal. If you pay for 5 oil changes up front, they sell them to you for $9.95 plus tax each. They use premium oil and filters. It's the best oil change deal I've ever run across.
The only reason I can think of is the experience one of the guys I work with had. He bought a new Lincoln town car. Had a place called "Oil Can Henry's" do all of the service. One day, the brakes failed??? Took it to Ford. They told him they found MOTOR OIL in the master cylinder. He immediately went back to Oil Can Henry's. They denied all responsibility. He was going to file a law suit against them and in the process informed his insurance agent what had happened. His insurance company picked up the bill. (I was very surprised when they did this) Fixing everything, master cylinder, ABS pump etc came to well over 3K.
The quickie lube places do not employ top of the line techs. A lot of them have no automotive training except for what they get on the job. Keep that in mind when you let them work on your Lexus.
Don't know, don't care. I do my own changes with synthetic oil 2x a year and I have for 12 years on our LS400. Going to get an RX330 soon and will do the same. I would NEVER consider paying anyone $60 to do something so simple.
With all due respect GLitwinkski, it's not a matter of the complexity of doing an oil change for the folks that have posted here. I'd be willing to bet that a whole lot of them are professional people with extremely busy schedules, family commitments, etc.; and it is just quicker and simpler for them to take their vehicles somewhere by appointment for an oil change. Or maybe they have a fear of crawling underneath a car on ramps or a jack? Just kidding, they are probably all mechanically inclined and could do a lot of their own automotive repairs if they had the time, etc. Based on the responses given to the OP, it sounds as though most people just don't like the fact that they are being overcharged for "something so simple". Especially after they realize how much cheaper someone else will do it that is just as competent or more so than their friendly, neighborhood Lexus dealership. You make good sense with your comments. I don't think anyone would try and refute that. Based on the number of responses to this thread, one could conclude that there are lots of people getting ripped off on oil & filter chgs at the Lexus dealerships. My advice would be that they either:
A) Do like GLitwinkski and buy the oil, filter and drain plug washer and do it themselves.
B) Find a much cheaper, independent, competent garage that they can trust to do their oil and filter changes.
RR I'm intrigued by your mileage accomplishment, congratulations. Were any other major repairs necessary on your 92? What other regualr maintenance did you do besides changing oil every 5000 miles?
New radiator (it's plastic and it got a crack) Some wheel, half-shaft, and boot work Some other minor ($200 and less) work here and there Air conditioning has a freon leak (haven't fixed) Dashboard is basically black at this point (haven't fixed) brakes, tires, and antennas
"Major Service" every 30k Timing belt every 120k or so, I think Still original muffler and shocks
-- I feel for Cindy Sheehan's plight, but she's just a troll.
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