jdavis500

Just had my 10,000 mile maintenance and realized that this car has conventional oil with a 5,000 mile regularly scheduled oil change. It seems counterintuitive that this high-tech car is fitted with conventional oil. Can anyone comment on this. Is it reasonable to switch to synthetic?

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

Should not be a problem to switch. Not even sure why its like that.

Afrosheen

Most manufacturers want a serious break in on conventional, if that's how it shipped, before you go synthetic. After that, you must stay synthetic. I'd say 10-15k is good before switching over. I had an '04 G35 that I switched to full synthetic but it had 19k on the dial when I bought it. Never leaked or burned oil on the synthetic (Mobil 1) so I stuck with it until I sold it.

etomori

Just got the 5000 mile service on my 2016 GS F, the oil used was 5-30 Castro Synthetic Blend Magnatec oil. Oil change interval for this vehicle is every 5000 miles. Dealers do not use straight conventional oil anymore. In fact, it is hard to find it at all.

jdavis500

So, just talked to my maintenance guy at the Lexus dealership. The oil used is Pennzoil Gold, a synthetic blend. I now understand that any synthetic blend is considered conventional. Only full synthetic is considered synthetic(So I am told). He told me that the 5k oil change is related more to the fact that it has a high-performance engine and not due to the fact that it has conventional oil over synthetic. The manufacturer, I believe, feels that if you are going to change the oil every 5k that you might as well use conventional. BTW, to reset the maintenance reminder that shows on the instrument cluster monitor, use the settings in the cluster and not the reminders that show up in the nav monitor.

etomori

It is getting interesting as to what brand of synthetic blend oil that the dealers uses as its basic stock for the oil changes at its shop. From my brief research, the oil must meet at least two criteria: (1) does it meet the manufacturer's spec for the lubricant; and, (2) the cost. So far our conversation shows that Pennzoil Gold and Castro Magnatec synthetic blends meet the criteria for use in Lexus engines. I am sure that other brands, which meet the criteria for oil as set by Lexus for that particular engine, will be approved for use.

My experience with synthetic oils has been with Mobile in my supercharged 1990 VW Corrado (191,000+ miles with changes at 6000 mile intervals) and Castro/BMW in my 2003 BMW 330i ZHP (145,000+ miles with 7500 mile change interval), have been very good. Both vehicles do not require any additional oil between changes. They are driven hard and fast, but not abusively. Based my experience, I prefer to use full synthetic as it is a form of cheap insurance for warranty and long life, after the warranties expire.

Zenw1e

Hello!
I prefer to using engine oil Liqui Moly Hightech Synthoil 5W-40 in my LS460 2011 AWD every 3730 miles (6000 km) and works very good! No problem ~3 years.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

The engine is built for 5w-30. Running thicker oil only loses hp and fuel economy.

If you are leasing your car, you can stop reading. Just put whatever the dealer has in your car and you'll be fine.

AFA synthetic vs. conventional - it really doesn't matter as long as the oil meets Lexus specs which is why the dealerships don't care and they buy oil locally so you never know what brand they might be using. The two biggest real world problems we have are getting the right weight because everything else Lexus uses 0w-20 or 5w-20 now and dealerships more often than not overfill 2UR engines. I've seen this in the IS F, RC F, GS F, and LC500 forums. This is a much worse problem than the brand of oil in the sump.

I run Renewable Lubricants 5w-30 in all three of my cars for my own reasons, mostly because it deals well with fuel dilution, and that is also a serious issue for anything coming from Toyota/Lexus for a lot of reasons. The only synthetic I would avoid for a bone stock Lexus is Mobil 1. I have plenty of used oil reports over 170k miles or so indicating it does not handle fuel dilution well despite being a perfectly good oil from a load capacity perspective. If I were being cost conscious, I would probably run Quaker State Ultimate Durability synthetic since it's cheap and performs quite well under load testing. Not sure about fuel dilution with QSUD though, and I have not used it myself, so that's just a possible if you want a quality oil at an unbeatable price.

lexus13dan

You guys are way overthinking this oil thing, It dosnt matter the brand, Just get the one rated for your car

LS460inAZ

Given the infrequency that I've needed oil changes (don't drive much), I just take it to the local Lexus dealer -- they've always got specials running so I overpay, but not by all that much. Unlike a lot of dealers, mine (Earnhardt in Phoenix, AZ) even on such a simple service they will give me a loaner car that I can drive without having to fill back up (gas) upon return -- so it's about as easy as can be and I don't have to worry about a thing.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

That all depends on how long you want to run between engine rebuilds. All oil is not the same.

GS350BO

@lobuxracer What are your thoughts on Amsoil full synthetic signature series? It’s what I started using based off someone talking about it in the ISF community.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Amsoil is great stuff, no question about it. I don't have direct experience with how it handles fuel dilution, but from the load numbers I've seen, it's an excellent oil. It's pricey, but will keep you running when others have given up long ago.

Jhang300

Are you talking about 540 rat's numbers? I don't know how credible he is, but have you seen the latest dexos 1 gen 3 stuff? Their load numbers fell off the cliff, even Amsoil.

The dealers around me used conventional. I used to use them cause they were free with my CPO, however they always way overfill (went to 2 dealers). Once my free services were up, I did my own oil changes with Amsoil. Given the numbers of the new stuff, I want to move away from amsoil. Maybe I'll try RLI or the HPL stuff that's hyped up on bitog. Wish there was more data on HPL stuff. BTW this is the RLI oil I should get right? https://renewablelube.com/assets/fil...-5W30-PCMO.pdf

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

That's the RLI I have been running in the wife's GS F from the first change I did. It gives very low iron on a Blackstone test. 4 ppm on a 5k mile OCI. Way better than what I get with my IS F that ran Mobil 1 for a very long time.

Yes, I see the Dexos 1 Gen 3 oils have significantly reduced their load capacity based on RAT's testing. AFAIK, RLI has not changed their formula, and my Blackstone results have not shown a reformulation, so I'll assume it's still in the FANTASTIC category.