bragado

do the Es 350s require sythetic oil? it doesn't seem to according to the manual. does anybody know for sure?

jagtoes

My dealer has told me the cars are shipped with 5W-30 Dino oil and that's what they use. They mentioned they use Castrol.

garsarno

Been using Mobil One since the ES350 new. Just a little more protection while hot and flows better in the winter upon frozen startup.

dreyfus

Same here, but synthetic is DEFINITELY not required.

CJS57

But synthetic oil is required on Porsche, Corvette and most other premium cars. Just nuts not to use it now a days unless it is a lease.

jagtoes

Just got back from my 5K 1st free service. They only use 5W-30 Castrol with recommended change at 5,000 miles. If you change at 5K intervals there is no advantage to putting in synthetic oil. They didn't have any 2011 models yet but expect them next month. They did tell me there are still a few LFA's available but the color selection is limited.

CJS57

Quote: "5K intervals there is no advantage to putting in synthetic oil". Simply not true. Many advantages over dino oil, increased mileage for one. Google it and you will see.

garsarno

I think a good intention for use of synthetic oil is:

Lease car (that you will not buy at the end of the lease) or purchase if you do not intend to keep past three years - Dino oil per maintenance schedule.

Purchase that you intend to keep for many years / 100,000 miles - synthetic oil every 5,000 miles or 4 months.

LexBob2

If you follow, at a minimum, the recommended intervals, you can't go wrong using either dino or synthetic. It's mainly personal preference unless synthetic is "required" for your vehicle.

JC07ES350

I would say reg. oil is fine if you do not drive with the foot on the pedal like me.

I was using mobile one on my car and decided to be cheap and change my oil with 5W-30 Castrol. I can tell you that the car doesn't seem to go as smooth or fast as if it had mobile one. Maybe it is just me...

jagtoes

It's just a figment of your imagination. 5-30 dino vs. 5-30 syn doesn't make a difference unless you change it at 10,000 miles . That's the major benefit of syn. I would also say that if you start with syn you should stay with it until you get rid of the car. This subject has been talked to death on many various auto threads and there are a lot of +/- reasons to use either. It nets out to how well you take care of your car as well as how much you want to spend.

safford197

I've been using Mobil1 5W-30 full Syn for years but for some reason after only about 15,000 miles in the ES350 and 20K miles my partner's IS250 I noticed some sludge at the bottom of the oil filter housing. I change my own oil, that's how I noticed. I switched to Pennzoil Platinum for the last three oil changes, I just did my oil change and ordered an analysis kit online so as soon as I'm ready for the next change I'll send it out and let you know what they find. It'll probably take a couple months.

safford197

In late 2006 when I bought my ES350 my dealer in Annapolis Maryland confirmed the oil changes they perform are with regular oil. I was surprised considering the price of the oil change. I did the first one there for free but have performed the rest myself ever since using fully synthetic 5W-30.

wolzy

Lexus of Silver Spring recently quoted $215 for Oil change and tire rotation.I assumed they'd use synthetic oil.How much were you charged at the Annapolis Dealership?

Lust4Lexus

215 dollars is an absolutely criminal amount of money to charge for an oil change and rotation, even if it is synthetic.