Took the LC on a road trip and changed the oil today after getting back (1200 miles). I was surprised to find that the "transmission and transfer case protection" is a plastic shield. Seriously? I'll be upgrading the skid plates sooner rather than later. The oil flows out sideways from the drain pan. I thought I was prepared for the flow, but the oil came out so fast that it splashed out of the pan and onto the passenger side wheel. Not great. But, the oil filter design with the lip to help get the oil to drain into the pan instead of on the frame is nice
Here are some pics if you are thinking about doing the oil change yourself.
1. Rear skid plate...err...plastic shield that won't protect anything. Note the access panel which can be removed to drain the oil. I removed the entire plate - it's only four bolts instead of the three for the access panel.
2. Here's a shot of the oil pan. Notice that the drain plug is angled at about 45 degrees to ensure the oil shoots out way to the left. Nice - if you like oil everywhere.
3. Here's a pic of the oil cooler/oil filter with the front skid plate removed. You must remove the skid plate for access.
4. Here's a pic with the oil filter removed.
5. New and old oil filter. Note that the original oil filter was made in Japan by Denso, but the replacement was made in Thailand by Denso. Not sure why they have different part numbers, other than the country of origin.
6. A shot of the rear skid plate. I mean "transmission and transfer case protection."
7. A shot of the front skid plate. It's steel, but about 1 mm thinner than the upgraded skid plate on the FE.
I am sending in my oil to Blackstone for analysis. Given the recent history of Toyota - think Taco transmission issues and V6 Twin Turbo failures - I want to know if any debris is found in my oil. Plus, it'll give me a baseline moving forward.
My two cents on changing oil and intervals. I watch an engine teardown every Saturday (
I Do Cars) and the biggest lesson is that keeping the oil changed is the single most important thing you can do to help maintain the health of your engine. Ask BMW how those 10K mile intervals worked out on the N20 (not great!) Spend time watching Gale Banks talk about engines and oil changes and he'll encourage you to test the oil at every change to have the actual data to decide how long you should go between changes. But, the cost of the analysis is almost the same as just doing the damn oil change. I'll keep on changing my oil every 5K because it's the cheapest and most effective way to keep my engine running well. Your engine might do ok with 10K mile oil changes, but Eric from I Do Cars has plenty of blown up engines on his stand to keep him busy. While not every engine blows due to an oiling issue, almost none of the engines that he sees on his stand are examples of well-maintained engines.
